Paragraph 1. On June 29, 1947, the thirty-third president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, addressed the 38th Annual Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In a speech calling for civil rights and human freedom, Truman described the efforts his administration had initiated as well as his hopes for the future.

Paragraph 2. Opening with a determined tone, Truman urged Americans to work together to repair racial schisms. He suggested that the country had reached a turning point—that for the first time in its history, America was ready and willing to guarantee freedom and equality to all its citizens. He continued with an assertion that the government should protect and provide for all its peoples. According to the president, all Americans should possess decent homes, adequate medical care, worthwhile employment, and the right to a fair trial.

Paragraph 3. Truman did not paint a one-sided, naive picture, though. At the heart of his speech was a sobering depiction of the social situation facing the nation during its post–World War II era, which included a discussion of disheartening issues ranging from racially motivated insults and intimidation to mob violence. However, he did not dwell on these grim topics but instead cited the issues as fuel for promoting change.

Paragraph 4. After observing the complexities in expanding and improving federal laws, Truman pointed out several examples of his administration's efforts to make such improvements, including the 1946 appointment of the President's Committee on Civil Rights and the request that Congress pass legislation to extend basic civil rights to people living in both Guam and American Samoa. Additionally, the President cited the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, chaired by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and the committee's efforts to prepare the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Paragraph 5. Truman concluded his speech by invoking words Abraham Lincoln had written in 1862. The sixteenth president had called for the nation to remain united—despite class or conditional barriers—not only for itself but for future generations.

Paragraph 6. In 1948, during Eleanor Roosevelt's tenure as chairman of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, she gave a speech, "The Struggle for Human Rights," at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.

Paragraph 7. She began her speech by informing her audience that her purpose was to talk with them about the preservation of human freedom. Throughout the course of her talk, she tackled several topics, including the commission's Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the difficulties she and the members of the United Nations faced during the drafting process.

Paragraph 8. In the speech, the former First Lady outlined the two components of the International Bill of Rights. The first part, Roosevelt explained, served as a declaration of the basic human rights that any individual is entitled to no matter where he or she lives. The second part, unfinished during the time she spoke, was a covenant on human rights that would be presented to every nation. It was intended that, once ratified by each nation, the bill would be used as a reference to reshape any national laws that did not conform to the bill's principles.

Paragraph 9. At the time of Roosevelt's speech, the bill's declaration had been approved by most of the United Nations' member countries. However, four nations, including the Soviet Union and other Soviet satellite states, abstained from a vote of acceptance of the bill. Drawing the audience's attention to these nations, Roosevelt described the difficulties in deciding upon universal definitions for the bill's conception of democracy. She drew out the comparison between the United States and the Soviet Union and spoke about the two governments' divergent approaches to and uses of power, citing the media in each country as examples. While stating that the U.S. government did not punish expressions of any political viewpoints in its newspapers, Roosevelt suggested that the government in the USSR would close down any papers that criticized its political philosophy.

Paragraph 10. She concluded her speech by repeating a call to action from the opening statement of the assembly. Roosevelt passionately encouraged unity from the delegates and asked that they overwhelmingly approve the Declaration of Human Rights.