Editing Joseph McCarthy (section)

===McCarthy and the Truman administration===
McCarthy and [[Harry S. Truman|President Truman]] clashed often during the years both held office. McCarthy characterized Truman and the Democratic Party as soft on, or even in league with, Communists, and spoke of the Democrats' "twenty years of treason". Truman, in turn, once referred to McCarthy as "the best asset the [[Moscow Kremlin|Kremlin]] has", calling McCarthy's actions an attempt to "sabotage the foreign policy of the United States" in a cold war and comparing it to shooting American soldiers in the back in a hot war.<ref>
{{cite book|last = Herman
  |first = Arthur
  |title = Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator
  |publisher = Free Press
  |year = 2000
  |page = [https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/page/131 131]
  |isbn = 0-684-83625-4
  |url = https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/page/131
  }}</ref>
It was the Truman Administration's State Department that McCarthy accused of harboring 205 (or 57 or 81) "known Communists". Truman's [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]], [[George Marshall]], was the target of some of McCarthy's most vitriolic rhetoric. Marshall had been [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army|Army Chief of Staff]] during World War II and was also Truman's former [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]]. Marshall was a highly respected general and statesman, remembered today as the architect of victory and peace, the latter based on the [[Marshall Plan]] for post-war reconstruction of Europe, for which he was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1953. McCarthy made a lengthy speech on Marshall, later published in 1951 as a book titled ''America's Retreat From Victory: The Story of George Catlett Marshall''. Marshall had been involved in American foreign policy with China, and McCarthy charged that Marshall was directly responsible for the loss of China to Communism. In the speech McCarthy also implied that Marshall was guilty of treason;<ref name="Retreat">
{{cite book
  |last = McCarthy
  |first = Joseph
  |title = Major Speeches and Debates of Senator Joe McCarthy Delivered in the United States Senate, 1950–1951
  |publisher = Gordon Press
  |year=  1951
  |pages = 264, 307, 215
  |isbn = 0-87968-308-2}}</ref>
declared that "if Marshall were merely stupid, the laws of probability would dictate that part of his decisions would serve this country's interest";<ref name="Retreat"/> and most famously, accused him of being part of "a conspiracy so immense and an infamy so black as to dwarf any previous venture in the history of man".<ref name="Retreat"/>

In December 1950, McCarthy teamed with right-wing radio star [[Fulton Lewis Jr.]] to smear Truman's nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense, [[Anna M. Rosenberg]]. Their smear campaign attracted allies in anti-Semites and extremists like [[Gerald L. K. Smith]], who falsely claimed Rosenberg, who was Jewish, was a communist.<ref name="Gorham 2023">{{Cite book |last=Gorham |first=Christopher C. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1369148974 |title=The confidante : the untold story of the woman who helped win WWII and shape modern America |date=2023 |isbn=978-0-8065-4200-3 |location=New York |oclc=1369148974}}</ref> Unlike other women targets of McCarthyism, Rosenberg emerged with her career and integrity intact. When the smear campaign fizzled out, journalist [[Edward R. Murrow]] said "the character assassin has missed."<ref name="Gorham 2023"/>

During the [[Korean War]], when Truman dismissed General [[Douglas MacArthur]], McCarthy charged that Truman and his advisors must have planned the dismissal during late-night sessions when "they've had time to get the President cheerful" on bourbon and [[Bénédictine]]. McCarthy declared, "The son of a bitch should be impeached."<ref>
{{cite book
  |last = Oshinsky
  |first = David M.
  |title = A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy
  |publisher = Oxford University Press
  |year=  2005
  |page = 194
  |isbn = 0-19-515424-X
  |orig-year= 1983}}</ref>