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Article: Freedom for and freedom from: Baptists, religious liberty, and World War II.
- Article from:
- Baptist History and Heritage
- Article date:
- June 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Baptist History and Heritage Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On January 6, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed both houses of the United States Congress in his state of the union speech.
Under normal circumstances, this would merely have been an annual ritual of American politics, but this year the speech was more than a perfunctory duty. An air of gravity and solemnity pervaded the president's remarks as a stunned nation listened by radio. Less than four weeks earlier, Roosevelt and Congress had declared war on the Axis powers following the surprise, early-morning attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese Imperial forces. As America measured carefully every word spoken by its commander-in-chief, he outlined four freedoms ...