The Four Freedoms are freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear, principles President Franklin D. Roosevelt set out in his State of the Union Address on January 6, 1941, as Americans prepared to support allies in Europe against Hitler’s aggression. Roosevelt urged Congress, industry, and citizens to understand the sacrifices ahead and presented these freedoms as essential human rights for people everywhere. In the spring of 1942, American artist Norman Rockwell, moved to contribute to the war effort, decided to interpret the Four Freedoms in paintings drawn from simple scenes in his hometown, including town meetings. After the Ordnance Department could not fund his poster idea, he showed his sketches to Saturday Evening Post editor Ben Hibbs at Curtis Publishing Company, which arranged to publish the illustrations. Though delayed, the paintings made an immediate connection with Americans and audiences around the world. Requests for reprints exceeded 25,000, and a joint U.S. Department of the Treasury and Saturday Evening Post campaign used them to promote war bonds and stamps. An exhibition that traveled to sixteen cities drew more than a million visitors and raised 133 million dollars in war bonds and stamps, while the Office of War Information printed four million poster sets bearing the words “Buy War Bonds.” The paintings became an enduring symbol of values sought by Americans and other peace-loving people around the world and are now in the permanent collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.