[7] This series has been the cornerstone of retrospective art exhibits presenting the career of Rockwell,[8][9] who was the most widely known and popular commercial artist of the mid-20th century, but did not achieve critical acclaim.

[11] At one time they were commonly displayed in post offices, schools, clubs, railroad stations, and a variety of public and semi-public buildings.

Rockwell's idyllic and nostalgic approach to regionalism made him a popular illustrator but a lightly regarded fine artist during his lifetime,[8][12][13] a view still prevalent today.

[6] In his annual State of the Union address to Congress on January 6, 1941, which was delivered at a time when Nazi Germany occupied much of Western Europe,[15] he asked the American citizens to support war efforts in various ways.

[3] The speech helped to awaken Congress and the nation to the dire war calling, articulate ideological aims of the necessary armed conflict, and appeal to the universal American belief in freedom.

[20][21] In a pre-electronic era where mass production magazine color illustration was the most popular form of media, Rockwell became a national name, and by the 1950s was rivaled only by Walt Disney for his familiarity to the public among visual artists.

[22] During World War I, Rockwell had taken a bit of a back seat to more established illustrators under the editorship of George Horace Lorimer, who had died in 1937.

By mid-1942, the Office of War Information determined that despite the efforts of OFF in distributing pamphlets, posters, displays, and other media, only a third of the general public was familiar with Roosevelt's Four Freedoms and at most one in fifty could enumerate them.

On the same day, he visited with Thomas Mabry of the Graphic Division of the War Department's Office of Facts and Figures, which coordinated war-themed posters and billboards.

[42] Rockwell remembered a scene of a local town meeting in which one person spoke out in lone dissent, but was given the floor, and was listened to respectfully, despite his solitary opposition.

[45][46] In mid-June, accompanied by Schaeffer, he took four charcoal sketches to Washington, where they stayed at the Mayflower Hotel, as the two sought commissions to design war art.

"[47][48] On his return trip to Vermont with Schaeffer on June 16, they stopped in Philadelphia to meet with new Saturday Evening Post editor Ben Hibbs.

[54] At about the same time, despite its Graphics Division chief Francis Brennan's outrage, the OWI began showing signs of renewed interest.

[23] The press release associated with the resignation asserted that the OWI was dominated by "high-pressure promoters who prefer slick salesmanship to honest information.

[56] Several artists were commissioned to promote the war, including Jean Carlu, Gerard Hordyke, Hugo Ballin, and Walter Russell.

They cite an encouraging April 23, 1943 correspondence with Thomas D. Mabry of the OWI (a former executive director of the Museum of Modern Art).

[64] Roosevelt instructed The Post to have the OWI have the essays translated into foreign languages so they could be presented to leaders at the United Nations.

War Bonds are “debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war.”[76] Rockwell noted that the series took an emotional toll on him, saying the works were "serious paintings which sucked the energy right out of me like dredges, leaving me dazed and thoroughly weary".

[77] Bronx Inter-Racial Conference chairman Roderick Stephens, requested Rockwell's services to highlight the need for improved interracial relations in a series that would complement the original Four Freedoms.

For the Seventh War Loan Drive, they used direct appeals from all five-star generals and admirals (George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Henry H. Arnold, Ernest King, Chester W. Nimitz, and William D. Leahy),[79][80] and used a commemorative bond image of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the Eighth War Loan Drive.

[83] Between January and April 1943, The Post and the United States Department of the Treasury collaborated to plan the Second War Bond Drive tour featuring the Four Freedoms beginning at Hecht's in Washington, D.C.[84] Thousands of people volunteered to be part of the War Bond Drive and The Post used its resources to promote the tour.

Using an all-star celebrity roster and the Hollywood Writers Mobilization, they created a March 1943 radio dramatization via their "Free World Theater".

[89] The show ran for eleven days in Washington, D.C., with a wide variety of celebratory festivities,[90] such as hourly featured guests and entertainers, chorus performances, and military unit exhibitions.

[8][22] Also, Rockwell's style of backwoods New England small-town realism, known as regionalism, was sometimes viewed as out of step with the oncoming wave of abstract modern art.

[12] John Canaday, a New York Times art critic, once referred to Rockwell as the "Rembrandt of Punkin' Crick" for his aversion to the vices of big city life.

"[65] Roosevelt also wrote of the corresponding essays, "Their words should inspire all who read them with a deeper appreciation of the way of life we are striving to preserve.

[72] Although all four images were intended to promote patriotism in a time of war, Freedom from Want, which depicts an elderly couple serving a fat turkey to what looks like a table of happy and eager children and grandchildren, has given the idyllic 'Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving' as important a place in the promoting of family togetherness, peace and plenty as Hallmark movies at Christmas.

[101] The success of Rockwell's depictions was due to his use of long-standing American cultural values about unity and respect of certain institutions while using symbols that enabled a broad audience to identify with his images.

The nostalgia seemed to cause a bit of revisionism in the art world, according to The New York Times which said, "What's odd is the show's enthusiastic reception by the art world, which in a lather of revisionism is falling all over itself to embrace what it once reviled: the comfy, folksy narrative visions of a self-deprecating illustrator  ..."[104] Some found Rockwell's presentation somewhat patronizing, but most were satisfied.

[9][12] They returned to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, which had been part of the Pictures for the American People tour, for an exhibition in association with the National World War II Memorial grand opening in 2004.