The Four Freedoms Medals
The Four Freedoms Medals are presented each year to men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which President Roosevelt proclaimed in his historic speech to Congress on January 6, 1941, as essential to democracy: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear.
The Roosevelt Institute has awarded the Freedoms Medals to some of the most distinguished Americans and world citizens of our time, including Harry S. Truman, H.R.H. Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, J. William Fulbright, Arthur Miller, Desmond Tutu, Terry Waite, and Jimmy Carter.
The international award of the Four Freedoms Medals, which is made in Middelburg, the Netherlands, in even-numbered years, began in 1982, the centennial of President Roosevelt’s birth and bicentennial of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Netherlands. In odd-numbered years the awards are presented to Americans in Hyde Park, New York.