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Gradually Truman created his own administration, using the '''''Fair Deal''''' label to express its goals in domestic affairs.  Truman systematically removed the Roosevelt cabinet and inner circle of advisers. The most dramatic episode was firing [[Henry A. Wallace]] in 1946 because of his outspoken criticism of the administration's foreign policy as too harsh on the Soviet Union.  Liberals saw themselves in a struggle with conservatives for Truman's soul after the 1946 election. Linked to the President through top aide [[Clark Clifford]], these liberals included Oscar Ewing, former party official and director of the Federal Security Agency, Leon Keyserling, member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, and David Morse, assistant secretary of labor. They embraced the memo plotting 1948 campaign strategy written by former Roosevelt adviser James Rowe, which urged Truman to "move to the left and focus on building a coalition of groups that centered on organized labor, liberals, and northern urban African Americans."<ref>The memo until 1991 was mis-attributed to Clifford, who passed it along to Truman.</ref> Liberals had national support from the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), led by [[Walter Reuther]], [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], Joseph Rauh, James Rowe, [[Reinhold Niebuhr]], [[Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.]], [[Hubert Humphrey]], and [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref>Reagan was an energetic liberal supporter of Truman. He moved to the right in the late 1950s.</ref> The ADA was hostile to the Soviet Union, battled American Communists and fellow travelers like Wallace, and supported the purge of Communists from the [[CIO]] labor unions. Truman agreed with the ADA and moved left after 1946.<ref>Steven M. Gillon, ''Politics and Vision: the ADA and American Liberalism, 1947-1985'' (1987).</ref>   

Gradually Truman created his own administration, using the '''''Fair Deal''''' label to express its goals in domestic affairs.  Truman systematically removed the Roosevelt cabinet and inner circle of advisers. The most dramatic episode was firing [[Henry A. Wallace]] in 1946 because of his outspoken criticism of the administration's foreign policy as too harsh on the Soviet Union.  Liberals saw themselves in a struggle with conservatives for Truman's soul after the 1946 election. Linked to the President through top aide [[Clark Clifford]], these liberals included Oscar Ewing, former party official and director of the Federal Security Agency, Leon Keyserling, member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, and David Morse, assistant secretary of labor. They embraced the memo plotting 1948 campaign strategy written by former Roosevelt adviser James Rowe, which urged Truman to "move to the left and focus on building a coalition of groups that centered on organized labor, liberals, and northern urban African Americans."<ref>The memo until 1991 was mis-attributed to Clifford, who passed it along to Truman.</ref> Liberals had national support from the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), led by [[Walter Reuther]], [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], Joseph Rauh, James Rowe, [[Reinhold Niebuhr]], [[Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.]], [[Hubert Humphrey]], and [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref>Reagan was an energetic liberal supporter of Truman. He moved to the right in the late 1950s.</ref> The ADA was hostile to the Soviet Union, battled American Communists and fellow travelers like Wallace, and supported the purge of Communists from the [[CIO]] labor unions. Truman agreed with the ADA and moved left after 1946.<ref>Steven M. Gillon, ''Politics and Vision: the ADA and American Liberalism, 1947-1985'' (1987).</ref>   

However he could not tolerate [[Henry A. Wallace]] and the far left, which had considerable Communist support. When Wallace, then Secretary of Commerce, in 1946 denounced Truman's tough stand against Stalin, Truman fired Wallace.  

However he could not tolerate [[Henry A. Wallace]] and the [[far left]], which had considerable Communist support. When Wallace, then Secretary of Commerce, in 1946 denounced Truman's tough stand against Stalin, Truman fired Wallace.  

In 1947 Truman asked Congress for stand-by price controls, rationing, and bank and consumer credit control as parts of an anti-inflation program, but his ideas were ignored by the Republicans who controlled Congress.  [[Image:Rrstrike48.jpg|thumb|350px|When railroad unions threatened to shut down the national transportation system in May 1948, Truman stopped them by threatening to seize the railroads and use the Army to move trains.]] In his state of the union message of Jan. 7, 1948, Truman called for rent control, increased social security benefits, universal military training, national health insurance, and other social legislation. The next week he again asked for passage of his anti-inflation measures. In February 1948 he asked for civil-rights legislation, including a federal anti-lynching law, a federal fair employment practices commission, a permanent civil rights commission, and abolition of the poll tax—measures that enraged many Southern Democrats. None of his proposals became law.  More successful was Truman's drive to increase the efficiency of the executive branch; he appointed a commission headed by former President [[Herbert Hoover]] which recommended numerous changes, including unification of the armed services.

In 1947 Truman asked Congress for stand-by price controls, rationing, and bank and consumer credit control as parts of an anti-inflation program, but his ideas were ignored by the Republicans who controlled Congress.  [[Image:Rrstrike48.jpg|thumb|350px|When railroad unions threatened to shut down the national transportation system in May 1948, Truman stopped them by threatening to seize the railroads and use the Army to move trains.]] In his state of the union message of Jan. 7, 1948, Truman called for rent control, increased social security benefits, universal military training, national health insurance, and other social legislation. The next week he again asked for passage of his anti-inflation measures. In February 1948 he asked for civil-rights legislation, including a federal anti-lynching law, a federal fair employment practices commission, a permanent civil rights commission, and abolition of the poll tax—measures that enraged many Southern Democrats. None of his proposals became law.  More successful was Truman's drive to increase the efficiency of the executive branch; he appointed a commission headed by former President [[Herbert Hoover]] which recommended numerous changes, including unification of the armed services.