Classical High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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erie Baise AND Wee El fae This volume is dedicaled to the sludenls of 225z Liassical High School whoare inlhearmed services. JS Berke lt:

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ah ilghie Bere AND Wort ieie The Four Freedoms On January 6, 1941, in his annual message to Congress, President Roosevelt said, “In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four es- sential freedoms.’ These he named freedom of speech and expression, freedom of every person to worship God in his own way, freedom from want, and freedom from fear of future aggres- sion. Before the end of that year, we were at war. Now, as millions of American boys are taking up the battle, as thousands of them are making the supreme sacrifice, as Americans at home are enduring privations never seen before in this land of plenty, these Four Freedoms have be- come our recognized goal. We are determined to attain not merely a military victory, but this social victory as well. This year The Four Freedoms has been chosen as the theme of our yearbook. Within its pages will be found editorials in each of which a Classical student has tried to interpret one of these freedoms. With many of Classical’s sons already in uniform and many more to go, with our courses of study changing to meet war needs, with the school at large cooperating in such a way with the war effort that much favorable comment from public officials has been brought forth, no theme could be more appropriate. BayYER SILVER

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Vitel ls Balser AMIN DD W? FiZE See Freedom of speech ‘I’m innocent and I can prove it, cries the prisoner at the bar, testifying in his own de- fense. Ladies, it is the duty of every American mother,’ says the main speaker addressing the Tuesday Morning Mothers’ Club. “It is time for our citizens to wake up to the facts,’ writes the editor of a newspaper. So speak the min- ister, the teacher, the student, the butcher, the baker, and the soap-box orator. The voice of John Doe, American, rings from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Maine to Florida. This is America speaking! not Germany, not Italy, not Japan, but America, America the beautiful! Man must speak freely in order to live freely. Free speech allows him to express himself, not without fear of contradiction, but without fear of retaliation. In America, freedom of speech was one of the first things the minds of far seeing people turned to. As a result, the first amend- ment was added to the Constitution. In total- itarian countries, because ideas are what tyrants fear most, freedom of speech has been cast aside. We must remember, however, that with free speech go definite responsibilities. Free speech does not give us the right to shout fire in a crowded place when no fire exists. Nor does freedom of speech give us the right to slander our neighbors or divulge secret information which would harm the country that protects us. The United States of America is fighting to preserve this heritage of free speech which is the essence of democracy itself. SHELDON GOIDELL