Question

Read the excerpt from Roosevelt’s "Four Freedoms.”

The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

Roosevelt includes the second paragraph to serve as a rebuttal for which counterclaim?

Fighting one war to escape a future war is not logical.
Joining the war will not keep America safe from attack.
Americans will be attacked if they do not join in the war.
A world free from fear is not possible in the near future

Answer 1

D. A world free from fear is not possible in the near future.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

Roosevelt includes the second paragraph to serve as a rebuttal for the following counterclaim:

D. A world free from fear is not possible in the near future.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the first paragraph of the excerpt, Roosevelt speaks of "freedom from fear" and explains that it refers to the safety one feels when one knows there aren't enough weapons in any country for an attack to happen. Simply put, it would be the reduction of the production and possession of weapons, which would ensure no more wars would happen.

The second paragraph of the excerpt serves to rebut a possible counterclaim. The very first sentence reveals what it is: "That is no vision of a distant millennium." Roosevelt is answering the possible counterclaim that such a freedom cannot be achieved in the near future. According to him, it is possible to be attained "in our own time and generation." Therefore, letter D is the best option:

"D. A world free from fear is not possible in the near future" is the counterclaim being rebutted.