Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms at 80

About the Lecture: In his State of the Union Address of 1941, President Roosevelt proclaimed “Four Freedoms.” Eighty years ago this month, the publication of four paintings by the Vermont artist Norman Rockwell inspired Americans. The Office of War Information launched a major information campaign directed at both domestic and foreign publics. The Four Freedoms became shorthand for the war goals of the Allies.

Both FDR’s Four Freedoms and the famous paintings by Norman Rockwell are, however, fading from public memory. Mr. Bishop will review the campaign’s antecedents, the State of the Union address of 1941; the impact of Norman Rockwell’s four paintings; elaboration of Four Freedom themes in sculpture, music, and film; OWI’s messaging directed at domestic and foreign audiences, and the impact of the Four Freedoms in the postwar period.

About the Speaker: An Air Force Vietnam veteran who also served in Korea and on the Air Force Academy faculty, teaching history, Mr. Bishop joined the U.S. Information Agency as a Foreign Service Officer in 1979. During a 31-year career in USIA and State, he served in Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Capitol Hill, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and twice in China. At the Pentagon, he was the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commandant of the Marine Corps and then the USAF Chief of Staff before a final year at the American Embassy in Kabul. He is now a Krulak Center Distinguished Fellow at Marine Corps University in Quantico.

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