Editing Joseph McCarthy (section)

===Malmedy massacre trial===
{{Main|Malmedy massacre trial}}
In an incident for which he would be widely criticized, McCarthy lobbied for the commutation of death sentences given to a group of [[Waffen-SS]] soldiers convicted of war crimes for carrying out the 1944 [[Malmedy massacre]] of American prisoners of war. McCarthy was critical of the convictions because the German soldiers' confessions were allegedly obtained through torture during the interrogations. He argued that the U.S. Army was engaged in a coverup of judicial misconduct, but never presented any evidence to support the accusation.<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
  |pages = [https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/page/54 54–55]
  |isbn = 0-684-83625-4
  |url = https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/page/54
  }}</ref>

Shortly after this, a 1950 poll of the Senate press corps voted McCarthy "the worst U.S. senator" currently in office.<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 = 1999
  |page = [https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/page/51 51]
  |isbn = 0-684-83625-4
  |url = https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/page/51
  }}
</ref>

McCarthy biographer [[Larry Tye]] has written that antisemitism factored into McCarthy's outspoken views on Malmedy, and noted that McCarthy frequently used anti-Jewish slurs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |last2=Cushman |first2=Larry Tye,Chloe |title=When Senator Joe McCarthy Defended Nazis |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/senator-mccarthys-nazi-problem-180975174/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> In this and McCarthy's other characteristics, such as the enthusiastic support he received from antisemitic politicians like Ku Klux Klansman [[Wesley Swift]] and his tendency, according to friends, to refer to his copy of ''[[Mein Kampf]],'' stating, "That's the way to do it," McCarthy's critics characterize him as driven by antisemitism. However, Tye notes that it was not, in his opinion, antisemitism ''alone'' that led to McCarthy's actions regarding the Malmedy massacre.{{CN|date=May 2025}}

It was later found that McCarthy had received "evidence" of the false torture claims from Rudolf Aschenauer, a prominent Neo-Nazi agitator who often served as a defense attorney for Nazi war criminals, such as Einsatzgruppen commander [[Otto Ohlendorf]].<ref>Richard Halworth Rovere: ''Senator Joe McCarthy''. University of California Press, Berkeley 1996, {{ISBN|0-520-20472-7}}, S. 112. (Reprint der Originalausgabe erschienen bei Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, New York 1959.)</ref>