 Freedom from Want was published with an essay by Carlos Bulosan as part of the Four Freedoms series . Bulosan 's essay spoke on behalf of those enduring domestic socioeconomic hardships rather than sociopolitical hardships abroad , and it thrust him into prominence . As he neared his thirtieth birthday , the Philippine immigrant and labor organizer Bulosan was experiencing a life that was not consistent with the theme Rockwell depicted in his version of Freedom From Want . Unknown as a writer , he was subsisting as a migrant laborer working intermittent jobs . Post editors tracked down the impoverished immigrant to request an essay contribution . Bulosan rose to prominence during World War II when the Commonwealth of the Philippines , a United States territory , was occupied by Japan . To many Americans , Bulosan 's essay marked his introduction , and his name was thereafter well recognized . The essay was lost by The Post , and Bulosan , who had no carbon copy , had to track down the only draft of the essay at a bar in Tacoma . 
