Under The Banner Of "fair Policy" - The Internal Affairs Of The Truman Administration

After he succeeded presidency, Truman withstood the great pressure from the conservatives, inherited the political inheritance of President Roosevelt and put forward Fair Deal platform in domestic affairs. Fair Deal not only defended and inherited the achievements of the New Deal, but also expanded and perfected it. It was an important stage of the 20th century's New Liberalism Reform of the United States, which carried on the past and opened a way for future. With the implementation of Fair Deal, economic development was promoted, the living standard of the American people was enhanced and social equality was realized to a greater degree, so that the United States was made well on its way towards a welfare state. Besides, it was Truman's Fair Deal that carried on the New Liberalism Reform of the United States in the 20th century and pushed the American society to a new developing stage. This dissertation, entitled "Under the Banner of Fair Deal: a Research on the Domestic Policy of the Truman Administration ", is just an attempt to give a comprehensive analysis of Truman's Fair Deal.The dissertation consists of 5 chapters together with an introduction and the conclusion. The Introduction briefly discusses the significance of the research on Fair Deal, introduces Truman's life and the time period he lived, reviews the current research situation at home and abroad, and explains the original purpose of this writing.Chapter one, the Coming out of Fair Deal and its Background, gives a description of the domestic and international situations Truman faced when he succeeded the presidency, especially the difficulties in the aspects of domestic politics and economy. Then, the main contents of Fair Deal platform and its development are introduced, with an emphasis on the nature of the Fair Deal.When the World War Two ended, Truman submitted a 21-point program to the Congress, which covered reforming the government institution, realizing full employment, extending social security and providing public houses. It marked the beginning of the Fair Deal. After he was re-elected, Truman summed up all of his advices in his State of Union Message 1949 and transformed them into a program more comprehensive, more systemic and more specific, which he formally named it the "Fair Deal". From then on, "Fair Deal" became a symbol of Truman's municipal program just as that of Roosevelt's New Deal. Fair Deal was the continuing and further development of the New Deal, as well as a historic stage of the New Liberalism reform that carried on the past and opened a way for future.Finally this chapter analyses the three factors that made Truman put forward Fair Deal platform: the political need of Truman, Truman's political faith and the inevitable requirement of Truman's foreign policy.Chapter Two, The Institutional Reform of the Government and the Perfection of the Constitutional System, describes Truman's adjustment of national machine that was very necessary at that time. Truman finished a series of reformation to the government institutions and perfected the Constitutional system.Truman revised the rules about the succession of presidency and extended the power of the president, especially in the field of diplomacy and legislation, thereby perfected the constitutional system.Truman's institutional reforms involved cutting the wartime organization, reshuffling some organizations, and establishing some new organizations. Truman established the Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Council, Atomic Energy Commission, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Council of Economic Advisers and some other important government departments. What he did made the government's administrative mechanism more effective. It was, therefore, an adaptation to the demand of the development of the time.Truman's institutional reforms made the American government's decision-making mechanism more perfect, decision-making process more canonical, more scientific and more democratic. At the same time, the extension of president's power incre...