Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia
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His Excellency Rafael Ángel Calderón |
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| 19th President of Costa Rica | |
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In office May 8, 1940 – May 8, 1944 |
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| Preceded by | León Cortés Castro |
| Succeeded by | Teodoro Picado Michalski |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 8, 1900 San José, Costa Rica |
| Died | June 9, 1970 (aged 70) San José, Costa Rica |
| Political party | National Republican Party |
| Spouse(s) |
Yvonne Clays Spoelders (m. 1927–45); divorced Rosario Fournier Mora (m. 1947–70); his death |
| Children | Rafael Ángel, Jr. (1949–), Alejandra Calderon Fournier (1954-1979), Maria Calderon Fournier (1960-) |
| Parents | Rafael Calderón Muñoz and Ana María Guardia Mora |
| Alma mater |
Université catholique de Louvain Université libre de Bruxelles |
| Profession | Doctor |
| Religion | Catholic Church |
| Signature |  |
Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (March 8, 1900 – June 9, 1970) was a Costa Rican doctor and politician, who served as President from 1940 to 1944.
Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia was born on 8 March 1900 in San José. In his youth, Calderón Guardia studied in Costa Rica, France and Belgium, where he married Yvonne Clays Spoelders, who was later to be the first female diplomat of Costa Rica. After finishing his studies in Belgium, Calderón Guardia became a medical doctor and practicing surgeon, which he would remain for most of his life, even after serving as president.
He became the Municipal President of San Jose at the age of 30 and in 1934 he won a seat in congress as a member of the Republican Party before being backed as a presidential candidate by then President Leon Cortes Castro in 1940.
In 1940, with the support of conservative coffee elites, Calderón was elected President of Costa Rica. Shortly after becoming president-elect, he met with American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor on March 25 and 26 of that year in Washington, D.C.
Prior to Calderón, Costa Rican Presidents, while democratically elected, had largely supported the interests of the conservative coffee oligarchy.
Calderón soon turned his back on the conservative coffee elite to address widespread poverty and poor health conditions among the working poor. He became the first Central American president to primarily focus his attention on poverty and deteriorating social conditions.
Calderon Guardia responded to the demand for reform when he assumed the presidency in 1940, and, in doing so, he offered the electorate a viable alternative to the Communist solutions to social questions. His inaugural address outlined measures by which his government proposed to foment the social, cultural and economic development of the nation. He promised particular attention to the less well developed areas of Costa Rica, such as Guanacaste and the Atlantic region which had been largely abandoned by the United Fruit Company. He pledged himself to a revision of the entire system of taxation on the just basis of capacity to contribute. He promised to give a new impulse to rural credit, to provide for a program of land distribution through the National Bank, and to initiate a program of low-cost housing. He proposed to found a national university that would orient public opinion on social questions and promote the general progress of the republic. As contribution to the welfare of all, he promised to institute a modern system of social security.
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