Harry Truman was one of the most controversial men ever to occupy the White House. Despite an essential humility, his waspish insistence on being himself meant that he often spoke his mind. This facet of his character sometimes disadvantaged him with labor leaders in the politically and economically troubled years following the end of World War II. But in the final analysis this militant individualism gained for him the respect and votes of most of the nation's members of organized labor. How did he do it? During the span of Truman's first four years in office labor problems represented one of the most difficult questions posed for presidential policy and planning. It is the involvement of President Truman and his administration in this atmosphere of conflict that is the central theme of this study by Arthur F. McClure. Dr. McClure's emphasis is on chronicling the Truman labor policies, 1945-1948, but he is also concerned with showing how and why Truman reacted in certain situations involving labor. The early chapters describe the historical background of labor's postwar problems, Truman's pre-presidential labor record, labor's reconversion to a peacetime economy, governmental wage-price policy, legislative attempts to restrict union activities in the Seventy-Ninth and Eightieth Congresses, and seizure of strike-bound industries by presidential executive order. --