Editing Four Freedoms (section)

==Opposition==

The Four Freedoms Speech was popular, and the goals were influential in postwar politics. However, in 1941 the speech received heavy criticism from anti-war elements.<ref>David M. Kennedy, '' Freedom From Fear: the American people in depression and war, 1929–1945'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) 470–76</ref> Critics argued that the Four Freedoms were simply a charter for Roosevelt's [[New Deal]], social reforms that had already created sharp divisions within Congress. Conservatives who opposed social programs and increased government intervention argued against Roosevelt's attempt to justify and depict the war as necessary for the defense of lofty goals.<ref>John Bodnar, ''The "Good War" in American Memory'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), 14–15.</ref>

While the Freedoms did become a forceful aspect of American thought on the war, they were never the exclusive justification for the war. Polls and surveys conducted by the [[United States Office of War Information]] (OWI) revealed that self-defense and vengeance for the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] were still the most prevalent reasons for war.<ref>Bodnar, ''The "Good War" in American Memory'' p. 14.</ref>