Four Freedoms Award
The Four Freedoms Award is an annual award presented to those men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed in his historic speech to United States Congress on January 6, 1941, as essential to democracy: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear. The annual award is handed out in alternate years in New York City by the Roosevelt Institute to Americans and in Middelburg, Netherlands, by the Roosevelt Stichting to non-Americans.
History
The awards were first presented in 1982 on the centennial of President Roosevelt's birth as well as the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Netherlands. The awards were founded to celebrate the Four Freedoms espoused by President Roosevelt in his speech:
For each of the four freedoms an award was instituted, as well as a special Freedom medal. In 1990, 1995, 2003 and 2004 there were also special awards.
In odd years the awards are presented to American citizens or institutions by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York City, though in the past the American awards were given in Hyde Park, New York. In even years the award ceremony is held in Middelburg and honours non-Americans. The choice of Middelburg was motivated by the suspected descendance of the family Roosevelt from Oud-Vossemeer in the municipality Tholen.
Laureates
Freedom Medal
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Freedom of Speech
The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.
— Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
| Year | Middelburg | Year | Hyde Park |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Max van der Stoel | 1983 | Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. |
| 1984 | Amnesty International | 1985 | Kenneth B. Clark |
| 1986 | El País | 1987 | Herbert Block |
| 1988 | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf | 1989 | Walter Cronkite |
| 1990 | No Award | 1991 | James Reston |
| 1992 | Mstislav Rostropovich | 1993 | Arthur Miller |
| 1994 | Marion Dönhoff | 1995 | Mary McGrory |
| 1996 | John Hume | 1997 | Sidney R. Yates |
| 1998 | CNN | 1999 | John Lewis |
| 2000 | Bronisław Geremek | 2001 | The New York Times and the Ochs/Sulzberger Family |
| 2002 | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | 2003 | Studs Terkel |
| 2004 | Lennart Meri | 2005 | Tom Brokaw |
| 2006 | Carlos Fuentes | 2007 | Bill Moyers |
| 2008 | Lakhdar Brahimi | 2009 | Anthony Romero |
| 2010 | Novaya Gazeta | 2011 | Michael J. Copps |
| 2012 | Al Jazeera | 2013 | Paul Krugman |
| 2014 | Maryam Durani | 2015 | Arthur Mitchell |
| 2016 | Mazen Darwish | 2017 | Dan Rather |
| 2018 | Erol Önderoğlu | 2019 | The Boston Globe |
| 2020 | Maria Ressa | 2021 |
 M. vd Stoel 1982 |
 K. Clark 1985 |
 J. Lewis 1999 |
Freedom of Worship
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.
— Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
 C. King 1983 |
 E. Wiesel 1985 |
 B. Alfrink 1986 |
 Bartholomew I 2012 |
Freedom from Want
The third is freedom from want — which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.
— Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
| Year | Middelburg | Year | Hyde Park |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | H. Johannes Witteveen | 1983 | Robert S. McNamara |
| 1984 | Liv Ullmann | 1985 | John Kenneth Galbraith |
| 1986 | F. Bradford Morse | 1987 | Mary Lasker |
| 1988 | Halfdan T. Mahler | 1989 | Dorothy I. Height |
| 1990 | Emile van Lennep | 1991 | Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward |
| 1992 | Jan Tinbergen | 1993 | Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver |
| 1994 | Sadako Ogata | 1995 | Lane Kirkland |
| 1996 | Médecins Sans Frontières | 1997 | Mark O. Hatfield |
| 1998 | Stéphane Hessel | 1999 | George S. McGovern |
| 2000 | M. S. Swaminathan | 2001 | March of Dimes |
| 2002 | Gro Harlem Brundtland | 2003 | Dolores Huerta |
| 2004 | Marguerite Barankitse | 2005 | Marsha J. Evans |
| 2006 | Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank | 2007 | Barbara Ehrenreich |
| 2008 | Jan Egeland | 2009 | Vicki Escarra |
| 2010 | Maurice Strong | 2011 | Jacqueline Novogratz |
| 2012 | Ela Bhatt | 2013 | Coalition of Immokalee Workers |
| 2014 | Hawa Abdi Diblaawe | 2015 | Dr. Olufunmilayo Olopade |
| 2016 | Dr. Denis Mukwege | 2017 | Ai-jen Poo |
| 2018 | Emmanuel de Merode | 2019 | Franklin A. Thomas |
| 2020 | Sander de Kramer | 2021 |
 R. McNamara 1983 |
 M. Lasker 1987 |
 M. Yunus 2006 |
 E. Bhatt 2012 |
Freedom from Fear
The fourth is freedom from fear — which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world.
— Roosevelt, January 6, 1941
 W. Fulbright 1989 |
 B. Muller 1999 |
 L. Arbour 2000 |
 Aung San S. 2006 |
Special presentations
| 1984 | Simone Veil (Centennial Award) | 2002 | William vanden Heuvel | 2005 | BBC World Service |
| 1990 | Mikhail Gorbachev | 2003 | Arthur Schlesinger Jr. | 2005 | Mary Soames |
| 1995 | Jonas Salk | 2004 | Anton Rupert | 2006 | Mike Wallace |
| 1995 | Ruud Lubbers | 2004 | Bob Dole | 2008 | Forrest Church |
 Simone Veil 1984 |
 M. Gorbachev 1990 |
 R. Lubbers 1995 |
 M. Soames 2005 |
 F. Church 2008 |
References
- Roosevelt Institute, List of laureates
- NOS (2008) TV documentary on the Four Freedoms Award
- Oosthoek, A.L. (2010) Roosevelt in Middelburg: the four freedoms awards 1982-2008, ISBN 978-9079875214
- American Rhetoric, Four Freedoms Speech of Roosevelt
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Four Freedoms Awards. |
