Existing comment:
Rosenman's Draft of Peroration, Annual Message to Congress (Four Freedoms Speech), January 6, 1941
On New Year's Day, 1941, FDR and his speech writing team were at work on the fourth draft of the upcoming Message to Congress, only five days away. Aide Samuel Rosenman later recalled that the president suddenly exclaimed that he had come up with a powerful conclusion (or peroration) for the speech. As the speech writers waited respectfully, FDR leaned back in his chair, gathering his words. He then slowly recited the passage that would forever be known as the Four Freedoms. Rosenman had his yellow legal pad ready, capturing the famous phrasing in his carefully written notes. |