Free World

The "Free World" is a propaganda term, primarily used during the Second World War, as well as the Cold War, to refer to the Allies, the Western Bloc, and aligned countries. It has traditionally primarily been used to refer to the countries allied and aligned with the United States, the European Union, and NATO. The term "leader of the free world" has been used to imply a symbolic and moral leadership, and was mostly used during the Cold War in reference to the president of the United States. During the Second World War, the term was primarily used against fascist states. During the Cold War, the term referred more broadly to all liberal democracies collectively, as opposed to Communist states.

History of the concept

Origins

The term "Free World" emerged in the political discourse of the United States in May 1940, following Germany's attack on Belgium, the Netherlands, and France during World War II. It denoted all democracies that resisted authoritarian and world revolutionary states such as Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union. In June 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt explicitly used the term when urging Congress to approve military aid. However, following the United States' entry alongside the Soviet Union in the war, Roosevelt used the term primarily in reference to the United Nations in opposition against Germany, Italy, and Japan.

In the years that followed the war, particularly during the Cold War, the "Free World" came to encompass a bloc of democracies, such as the United States and many Western European nations, along with their anti-communist but authoritarian allies. In 1950, U.S. Representative Daniel J. Flood commented "[The staff of Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Edward W. Barrett used the phrase 'free world' all the time—the free world, the free world, the free world. That impressed me very much vis-à-vis the Communist world, for instance.