During the early Cold War Hale supported the formation and role of the United Nations but was otherwise on the right wing of the Republican Party during the Truman administration. In 1950 he said of Sen. Joseph McCarthy that "people should give him credit for what he is trying to do instead of carping on his methods", a position opposite to that of his Maine Republican colleague Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, and early critic of McCarthyism. He also defended Gen. Douglas MacArthur when he was fired by Truman, claiming MacArthur "has always been right" about the "Far Eastern situation", and introduced a resolution to impeach Truman after the president nationalized steel mills in 1952. On the other hand, he advised against the use of atomic bombs in the Korean War while his more liberal colleague Sen. Smith joined right-wing Maine Sen. Owen Brewster in sanctioning their use against Communist China "if necessary". Hale voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.