"Think ambitiously"

FDR emphasized "the great dangers of 'rightist reaction' in this Nation" and concluded that government should promote security instead of paying heed "to the whining demands of selfish pressure groups who seek to feather their nests while young Americans are dying."

What made it possible for Roosevelt to propose the second Bill of Rights? Part of the answer lies in the recent memory of the Great Depression; part of it lies in the effort to confront the dual threats of fascism and communism with a broader vision of a democratic society. But part of the answer lies in a simple idea, one now lost but pervasive in American culture in Roosevelt's time -- that markets and wealth depend on government intervention. Without government creating and protecting property rights, property itself cannot exist. Even the people who most loudly denounce government interference depend on it every day.

Political scientist Lester Ward vividly expressed the point in 1885: "Those who denounce state intervention are the ones who most frequently and successfully invoke it. The cry of laissez faire mainly goes up from the ones who, if really 'let alone,' would instantly lose their wealth-absorbing power." Think, for example, of the owner of a radio station, a house in the suburbs, an expensive automobile, or a large bank account. Each such owner depends on the protection provided by a coercive and well-funded state -- equipped with a police force, judges, prosecutors, and an extensive body of criminal and civil law.

From the beginning, Roosevelt's White House understood all this quite well. In accepting the Democratic nomination in 1932, Roosevelt insisted that we "must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings." Or consider Roosevelt's address to the Commonwealth Club in the same year, where he emphasized "that the exercise of ... property rights might so interfere with the rights of the individual that the government, without whose assistance the property rights could not exist, must intervene, not to destroy individualism but to protect it."

Thus, against the backdrop of the Depression and the threats from fascism and communism, Roosevelt was entirely prepared to insist that government should protect individualism not only by protecting property rights but also by ensuring decent opportunities and minimal security for all. In fact, this was the defining theme of his presidency. When campaigning against Herbert Hoover in 1932, Roosevelt called for "the development of an economic declaration of rights, an economic constitutional order" that would recognize that every person has "a right to make a comfortable living."

Extending this theme to the international arena in his State of the Union address in 1941, Roosevelt endorsed the "four freedoms" -- freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear -- that, he said, must be enjoyed "everywhere in the world." As the Allied victory loomed on the horizon, Roosevelt offered details about "freedom from want" in his speech proposing a second Bill of Rights.

Roosevelt died within 15 months of delivering this great speech, and he was unable to take serious steps toward implementing the second bill. But his proposal, despite being mostly unknown in the United States, has had an extraordinary influence internationally. It played a major role in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, finalized in 1948 under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt and publicly endorsed by the leaders of many nations, including the United States, at the time. The declaration proclaims that everyone has a "right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control." The declaration also proclaims a right to education.

By virtue of its effect on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the second Bill of Rights has been a leading American export -- influencing the constitutions of dozens of nations. The most stunning example is the interim Iraqi Constitution, written with American help and celebrated by the Bush administration. In Article XIV, it proclaims: "The individual has the right to security, education, health care, and social security," adding that the nation and its government "shall strive to provide prosperity and employment opportunities to the people."

Next Page: America could have taken the attacks of 9/11 as the basis for a new recognition of human vulnerability

• View blog reactions