Essay by Ellen Hay, Professor Emerita of Communication Studies

One of the early magazines, the Saturday Evening Post, began publication on August 4, 1821. The Post focused on current events and featured prominent writers of fiction and nonfiction. In 1916, Post editor George Horace Lorimer purchased two cover illustrations by 22-year-old artist, Norman Rockwell. Rockwell's illustrations are noted for the stories that they suggest. His "stories" connote All-American values and celebrate everyday experience. To create these depictions of life, Rockwell would meticulously stage each image. He hired models, preferring his friends, family and neighbors over professionals. He then costumed them, and surrounded them with the necessary props. Initially, he would sketch these scenes, but later turned to photography to preserve the images that he would eventually draw (Rockwell).

These four images, the Four Freedoms, are among Rockwell's best-known illustrations. On January 6, 1941, in his State of the Union speech to Congress, with the intent of garnering support for the Lend-Lease plan that would provide needed resources for Great Britain, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) articulated four essential freedoms that the United States should seek to defend. These were freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom from fear and freedom from want (Crowell 265). Later that year after U.S. entry into World War II, Rockwell, wanting to assist in the war effort, created four sketches for posters that would illustrate each of the freedoms. The four finished oil paintings were reproduced in the Post in early 1943.

The first to appear was Freedom of Speech on February 20, 1943, accompanied by an essay from Booth Tarkington. It features a working man standing to speak at a town meeting. His plaid shirt and casual, stained-jacket contrasts with the more formal white-collar attire of other attendees. On February 27, 1943, Freedom of Worship was printed along with an article by Will Durant. The only image with text ("EACH ACCORDING TO THE DICTATES OF HIS OWN CONSCIENCE") "portrays representatives from different faiths, different racial backgrounds, different ages, and both genders, providing a spectrum of people with whom most Americans can identify" (Olson).

Along with an essay by Carlos Bulosan, Freedom from Want was featured on March 6, 1943. In it a multi-generational family gathers at the table to partake in the annual holiday meal. Rockwell noted, "I painted the turkey in 'Freedom from Want' on Thanksgiving Day. Mrs. Wheaton, our cook (and the lady holding the turkey in the picture), cooked it, I painted it, and we ate it. That was one of the few times I've ever eaten the model" (Rockwell 196). While seemingly glib about the creation of this illustration, Rockwell later expressed disappointment in this image and one other, Freedom from Fear. "He felt they came off as smug, especially to Europeans lacking in comfort of distance from the battlegrounds that Americans at home enjoyed" (Claridge 311)

The final image, Freedom from Fear appeared on March 13, 1943 with one of the last writings of Stephen Vincent Benet. (Benet died on the day of publication) (Murray and McCabe 62). While toys lay lifeless on the floor, young parents tuck their children into bed. The father grasps a newspaper depicting the carnage of war. For Rockwell, Freedom from Fear erred "by allowing American viewers to sigh in relief that they tuck their children into bed safely each night, in sharp contrast to the victims of the bombings alluded to in the newspaper the father holds" (Claridge 311).

The Four Freedoms were immediately popular with the American public. Over 25,000 sets of prints sold. The U.S. Treasury, realizing their propaganda value, organized the Four Freedoms War Bond Show. The four paintings were displayed in 16 cities, ultimately raising over $130 million (Rockwell). Frequently Rockwell autographed copies of the illustrations. Although Rockwell's meticulous attention to exact detail was well-known, not so well-known was his ability to omit detail so as to promote varied identifications (Olson 16).