73 the country.”6 He further explained that those values come from the founding documents of the nation, The Bill of Rights, President Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, President Franklin Roosevelt’s Economic Bill of Rights, and the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. President Obama’s response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting echoes one of the freedoms cited in Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, freedom from fear. Roosevelt defined freedom from fear as a “worldwide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.”7 Although these Freedoms originally symbolized the war aims of the American people in response to helping Britain fight the tyranny happening throughout Europe, these Freedoms have since morphed into basic and universal rights of all people. They became the basis for the 1941 Atlantic Charter, the 1942 United Nations Declaration, and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was adopted by the United Nations with the help of Eleanor Roosevelt.8 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes these Freedoms as, “Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people… .”9 The tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School is unequivocally a barbarous act that “outraged the conscience of mankind,”10 and one that children and their families deserve the freedom from in the future. President Obama displayed moral leadership by prioritizing the goal that every person would have the ability to live up to the highest values of our society and not have to live in fear of barbarous acts by their neighbors. President Obama’s display of moral leadership can be used as a guiding light for political leaders facing similar circumstances in their leadership tenure. While President Obama did not accomplish all that he wanted to in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, he did use the power of the presidency to try to restore that fundamental truth that everyone should live with the freedom from fear. IN THE AGE OF SCHOOL SHOOTINGS: PRESIDENT OBAMA’S MORAL LEADERSHIP
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