Editing Clark Clifford (section)

===Presidential adviser===
[[File:Photograph of White House staff members during President Truman's vacation at Key West, Florida, (left to right)... - NARA - 200493.jpg|thumb|right|Close associates of President [[Harry S. Truman]], photographed in spring 1948, during the President's vacation at [[Key West, Florida]]. Left to right: Clark Clifford (White House Counsel), William D. Hassett (White House Correspondence Secretary), [[John R. Steelman|John Steelman]] (Assistant to the President) and [[Matthew J. Connelly|Matthew Connelly]] (White House Appointments Secretary).]]
In 1945 he was assigned to the White House and quickly promoted to [[Captain (United States O-6)|captain]] while serving as assistant naval aide and then naval aide to [[Harry S. Truman|President Harry S Truman]]. He became a trusted personal adviser and friend of Truman.<ref>John Acacia, ''Clark Clifford: The Wise Man of Washington'' (2009), pp 1-16.</ref>

Clifford went to Washington,  first to serve as assistant to the President's Naval Adviser, after the naming of a personal friend from Missouri as the President's Naval Adviser.  Following his discharge from the Navy, he remained at Truman's side as [[White House Counsel]] from 1946 to 1950, as Truman came rapidly to trust and rely upon Clifford.

Clifford was a key architect of Truman's campaign in 1948, when Truman pulled off a stunning upset victory over Republican nominee [[Thomas Dewey]]. Clifford encouraged Truman to embrace a left-wing [[Populism|populist]] image in hope of undermining the impact on the race of third-party [[Progressive Party (United States, 1948)|Progressive]] candidate [[Henry A. Wallace]], who had served as President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s Vice-President from 1941 to 1945. Clifford also believed that a strong pro-civil rights stance, while sure to alienate traditional [[Southern Democrat]]s, would not result in a serious challenge to the party's supremacy in that region. This prediction was foiled by [[Strom Thurmond]]'s candidacy as a splinter [[Dixiecrat|States' Rights Democrat]], but Clifford's strategy nonetheless helped win Truman election in his own right and establish the Democratic Party's position in the [[Civil Rights Movement]].<ref>Acacia, ''Clark Clifford''  (2009), ch 1-5.</ref>

In his role as presidential adviser, one of his most significant contributions was his successful advocacy, along with [[David Niles]], of prompt 1948 recognition of the new Jewish state of [[Israel]], over the strong objections of Secretary of State General [[George Marshall]].<ref>[[David McCullough|McCullough, David G.]] (1992) ''[[Truman (book)|Truman]]''</ref><ref>[http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0591/9105017.htm Truman Adviser Recalls May 14, 1948 Decision to Recognize Israel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927190340/http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0591/9105017.htm |date=September 27, 2007 }}, Richard H. Curtiss, [[Washington Report on Middle East Affairs]], May, June 1991</ref><ref>[http://www.shapell.org/btl.aspx?2929174 Weizmann Thanks Clark Clifford for His “Magnificent” Help In Getting Truman to Support Partition and Recognize Israel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509070315/http://www.shapell.org/btl.aspx?2929174 |date=May 9, 2012 }}. shapell.org</ref>

Of similar importance, with the input of senior officials in the Departments of State, War, and Justice, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Central Intelligence Group, and utilizing the expertise of [[George F. Kennan]] and [[Charles Bohlen]], was his preparation, along with [[George Elsey]], of the top secret [https://web.archive.org/web/20131203025127/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/coldwar/documents/sectioned.php?documentid=4-1&pagenumber=1&groupid=1 Clifford-Elsey Report] for President Truman in 1946.  That report, solicited by the President, which detailed the numerous ways in which the Soviet Union had gone back on its various treaties and understandings with the Western powers, along with Kennan's [[X Article]] in ''Foreign Affairs'', was instrumental in turning U.S. relations toward the Soviet Union in the direction of a harder line.<ref name=Memoir>{{cite book |first1=Clark M. |last1=Clifford |author-link1=Clark Clifford |first2=Richard C. |last2=Holbrooke |author-link2=Richard C. Holbrooke |title=Counsel to the President: A Memoir |publisher=Random House |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eeJ4AAAAMAAJ |date=1991 |isbn=9780394569956 |access-date=13 April 2020 |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803220635/https://books.google.com/books?id=eeJ4AAAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Arthur Krock, ''Memoirs: Sixty Years on the Firing Line'' (1968)</ref> During this period he participated extensively in the legislative efforts that resulted in the [[National Security Act of 1947]] and its 1949 amendments.<ref name="Historical Office Clark M. Gifford"/>

After leaving the government in 1950, Clifford practiced law in Washington, D.C., but continued to advise [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] leaders. One of his law clients was [[John F. Kennedy]], then a U.S. Senator, and Clifford tried to assuage Truman's suspicion of Kennedy and his father, [[Joseph P. Kennedy]].<ref>Acacia, ''Clark Clifford'' pp 207-22.</ref>

Clifford was the head of the [[presidential transition of John F. Kennedy]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rosenbaum |first1=David E. |title=Reagan Transition Costs Will Exceed $2 Million |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/659446958 |via=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Times Argus | agency= Times News Service |access-date=4 February 2021 |language=en | url-access= subscription |date=9 Dec 1980}}</ref> Clifford was also a member of [[President-elect of the United States|President-elect]] Kennedy's [[Committee on the Defense Establishment]], headed by [[Stuart Symington]].  In May 1961, Kennedy appointed Clifford to the [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]], which he chaired beginning in April 1963 and ending in January 1968.<ref name="KS1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.kansas.com/2010/06/14/1359182/4-presidents-heard-advice-of-fort.html |title=4 presidents heard advice of Fort Scott man |access-date=December 20, 2010 |archive-date=August 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820143035/http://www.kansas.com/2010/06/14/1359182/4-presidents-heard-advice-of-fort.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

After Johnson became president in November 1963 following [[John F. Kennedy assassination|Kennedy's assassination]], Clifford served frequently as an unofficial White House Counsel and sometimes undertook short-term official duties, including a trip with General [[Maxwell Taylor]] in 1967 to [[South Vietnam]] and other countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.