As a Democrat, John F. Kennedy inherited the New Deal Commitment to America’s Social Welfare System. He generally cast liberal votes in line with the pro-labor sentiments of his low-income, blue collar constituents. Kennedy’s rhetoric and style captured the imagination of many Americans. Another attribute that made him more appealing was the fact that his advisers were mostly young and intellectual as well. Unfortunately though, Kennedy avoided controversial issues such as civil rights and the censure of Joseph McCarthy. From the beginning, Kennedy gave top priority to waging the Cold War. In the campaign he had criticized Eisenhower’s foreign policy as unimaginative, accusing him of missing chances to reduce the threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union and of weakening America’s standing in the Third World. Kennedy’s advisers had one thing going for them, and that was confidence. Kennedy, along with his advisers were firm in the sense that they were going to change things, and by doing so, they developed a multi-million dollar Alliance for Progress in 1961 to spur economic development in Latin America. In that same year the Peace Corps was also created. Critics later dismissed the Alliance and Peace Corps as Cold War tools by which Kennedy sought to counter anti-Americanism and defeat communism in the developing world. The programs didn’t have those aims, but both were recognized as being born of genuine humanitarianism.