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In the 1950s his position became so anti-communist that he believed McCarthy was a force of [[evil]] not so much for disrespecting civil liberties as for being ineffective in rooting out Communists and their sympathizers.<ref> Fox, ''Reinhold Niebuhr" (1985) p 252</ref> He thought the [[Rosenbergs]] should be executed, stating "Traitors are never ordinary criminals and the Rosenbergs are quite obviously fiercely loyal Communists....Stealing atomic secrets is an unprecedented crime".<ref> Fox, ''Reinhold Niebuhr" (1985) p 252</ref>.
In the 1950s his position became so anti-communist that he believed McCarthy was a force of [[evil]] not so much for disrespecting civil liberties as for being ineffective in rooting out Communists and their sympathizers.<ref> Fox, ''Reinhold Niebuhr" (1985) p 252</ref> He thought the [[Rosenbergs]] should be executed, stating "Traitors are never ordinary criminals and the Rosenbergs are quite obviously fiercely loyal Communists....Stealing atomic secrets is an unprecedented crime".<ref> Fox, ''Reinhold Niebuhr" (1985) p 252</ref>.
===Niebuhr and Dewey===
===Niebuhr and Dewey===
==="The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world"===
==="The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world"===
[[Jimmy Carter]]<ref> [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914159,00.html "Jimmy Carter's Big Breakthrough"], ''[[Time magazine]]'' Monday, May. 10, 1976</ref> liked to quote Niebuhr's statement that "The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world". Time magazine explicitly stated that President [[Ronald Reagan]], unlike Carter, <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967579,00.html "Ronald Reagan: a Man of Certitudes"], ''[[Time magazine]]'' Monday, May. 06, 1985 </ref> would not use such a phrase.
[[Jimmy Carter]]<ref> [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914159,00.html "Jimmy Carter's Big Breakthrough"], ''[[Time magazine]]'' Monday, May. 10, 1976</ref> liked to quote Niebuhr's statement that "The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world". Time magazine explicitly stated that President [[Ronald Reagan]], unlike Carter, <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967579,00.html "Ronald Reagan: a Man of Certitudes"], ''[[Time magazine]]'' Monday, May. 06, 1985 </ref> would not use such a phrase.
===Liberalism===
Dorrien (2003) argues that Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, John Coleman Bennett, and many other leading critics of theological liberalism from the 1930s to the 1950s nonetheless stood clearly in the liberal tradition in their view of the symbolic-mythic nature of much of Scripture (and how one is to understand its authority), in their theology, in their social ethics, and in their openness to the historical and natural sciences. And in this they actually advanced the legacy of liberal theology.
Niebuhr and the other neo-liberals rejected the excessively sentimental moralism, optimism, and idealism of the liberal Protestants of the 1890-1940 era. Liberalism, they insisted, must be modified, not rejected. Contrary to what some conservatives who admire Niebuhr suggest, he spoke of himself late in life as "a liberal at heart," and acknowledged that much of his early polemic against Liberalism was indiscriminate.<ref>Gary Dorrien, '' The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity 1900-1950'' (2003) </ref>
===Serenity Prayer===
===Serenity Prayer===