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For Louis Caldera, who rose from the barrio, public service is the calling even if more lucrative jobs beckon.
By PAUL DE LA GARZA
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 3, 2000
FORT MONMOUTH, N.J. -- Louis Caldera's life story is the kind from which political legends are crafted. Born and raised in the barrio, Caldera was believed to be retarded in kindergarten because he could not speak English.
Today, however, he serves as secretary of the Army and holds degrees from West Point and Harvard University.
While it does not take a genius to see that he could have an extraordinary political future in a country where Latino political power is rising, Caldera is somewhat baffled when people ask him: What will you do next?
For the first time in his life, Caldera, 44, whose term expires when President Clinton vacates the White House, is entirely dependent on events that are beyond the reach of his remarkable self-will and drive. If Vice President Al Gore is elected on Nov. 7, Caldera likely would get another appointment of even higher rank in the new administration. If Republican George W. Bush wins, odds are, he's out.
Either way, of course, he will likely be successful. But Caldera is not the least bit neutral about these options. While many men in his position would be eager to cash in on his government experience by taking a job in the private sector, perhaps with a defense contractor, he passionately wants to continue in public life.
"If all you think the world is about just me, how quickly can I get my professional degree and start making my high-paying salary and buy a house in a gated community," Caldera said, "you're going to miss out on what this whole country is about."
Not surprising, Caldera's devotion to country comes from his experience growing up with immigrant parents. The second-to-the-oldest of five children, he had a life of privation and discrimination, laced with humiliating memories of waiting in the grocery line with food stamps.
"There was a sort of sense that people looked down at Mexican-Americans," Caldera said in an interview the other day, as his Cadillac of an airplane cruised back toward Andrews Air Force Base after a hectic day in New Jersey. "It wasn't that you walked around telling people that you were Italian or Greek or something, but you didn't want them to ask, "Oh, you're Mexican?' "
Caldera was born in El Paso, Texas.
His father, Benjamin Luis Caldera, was born in the Mexican state of Zacatecas and his mother, Soledad Caldera, in Sonora.
When Caldera was about 5, his parents moved the family to East Los Angeles, settling, before too long, in Whittier, Calif.
His father, a jack-of-all-trades, ultimately became a beautician, while his mother mostly looked after the house and the children.
His father was so determined that his children master English that in addition to watching television, he would make Caldera and his siblings listen to the time and weather recording on the telephone.
His father, Caldera said, "showed me how to do things with creativity and with style, and with a high standard of excellence."
While he described his mother as "very warm and nurturing," it was his "Uncle Johnny," Juanito Siqueiros, a metallurgist in Mexico, whom Caldera admired.
"He'd encourage you and he'd tell you how pleased he was that you were doing so well, that you've got to keep working and you'll achieve your dreams," Caldera said, smiling at the recollection of his uncle. "He cared for people."
It was a trait Caldera would come to emulate.
Growing up, Caldera also would struggle with his sense of identity, with the feelings of shame and insecurity that sometimes come with being a minority.
"Kids like me weren't supposed to go to college, weren't supposed to succeed," he said. "I was really determined that a kid from my background could achieve those things."
And he devoted himself to school and to sports.
After he scored an impressive 1,290 on his SAT, the college entrance exam, several schools came calling, Caldera said.
He decided on West Point.
"In a sense," he said, "I wanted to prove I was an American."
Herman Bulls, a classmate at West Point, said Caldera always displayed a desire "to respond to a public calling."
After West Point, Caldera served as a commissioned officer in the Army from 1978 to 1983. After leaving active duty, he attended Harvard, earning a law degree from Harvard Law School and a master's in business administration from Harvard Business School in 1987.
Caldera met his wife, Eva Orlebeke, also a lawyer, at Harvard. They have three daughters.
Before arriving in Washington, Caldera served for five years in the California Legislature.
While in his second term, Caldera was tapped for the No. 2 job at the Corporation for National Service, the Clinton administration's domestic volunteer program. Two years ago, Clinton nominated him for secretary of the Army, with the ultimate charge of making sure the service is ready for war.
The Army's top civilian, Caldera oversees a budget of $70-billion and a workforce of 1-million regular Army, National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers, and 270,000 civilian employees.
His morning delayed because Air Force Two had gobbled up the runway at Andrews, Caldera and his aides scrambled to make up time.
After arriving at Fort Monmouth a good hour late, Caldera addressed a packed luncheon celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, beginning by thanking, in Spanish, an uncharacteristically serene mariachi band, resplendent in charro outfits of sky blue.
Afterward, it was off for a whirlwind briefing on the Army's latest high-tech weaponry, and, by midafternoon, a dash through the aged barracks at the U.S. Military Academy Prep School, the institution that helps prepare cadets for West Point.
At the school auditorium standing before 225 sleepy-eyed cadets who had been up since 5:30 a.m., Caldera extolled the virtues of hard work and a good education.
"Ask yourself why you want to be an officer in our Army, why you want to be a leader of soldiers," Caldera said. "Make sure it is for the right reasons, that you want to be a caring leader for our soldiers."
A caring leader for our soldiers? Hardly the fearless image of the Army warrior.
But a background without privilege, of sometimes going hungry, of getting up at 3 a.m. to help his parents clean parking lots, of getting dirty looks for speaking Spanish, has made him especially sensitive to the needs of his soldiers, a role his predecessors traditionally reserved for the chain of command.
While previous Army secretaries have been content to give speeches and cut ribbons, aides say Caldera has come to run his office like a chief executive officer, reviewing, for example, the promotions of senior officers.
Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, characterized Caldera as a role model. "Young people in my district," Reyes said, referring to El Paso, "can relate to the experiences he's had.
"It gives them hope."
Just a few nights after his trip to New Jersey, Caldera was at the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala, sharing a table with Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater.
Although the gala marked his third consecutive black-tie event of the week and he had sat through yet another Clinton speech and it was late, Caldera was not about to leave.
"I am waiting for Vice President Gore's speech," he shouted over a mariachi band.
With at least 2,000 people celebrating in near-darkness at the MCI Center in Washington -- the place had been converted into a palace of glittering stars -- Gore wouldn't see Caldera.
But it couldn't hurt to strut his stuff as one of the nation's Latino power brokers, as the vice president came looking for help to secure his future, and as Caldera contemplated his own.
Clinton probably could put in a good word for Caldera with Gore. At the dinner, in response to a reporter's question, the president said he had followed Caldera's career with admiration.
"He has worked miracles," Clinton said of the Army secretary.
One of Caldera's priorities has been providing educational opportunities for soldiers and incoming recruits. He is also focusing on increasing the number of Hispanics in the Army.
Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino rights group, has known Caldera for years. He thinks the Army secretary is poised for greatness.
"Louis Caldera is smart, photogenic, well-credentialed and articulate," he said. "And that is a recipe for success in the political world."
His West Point buddy, Bulls, said Caldera could make "a bundle of money" in the private sector. But, he added, "At the end of the day, I think he wants to say, "I made a difference.' "
Caldera envisions a future as university president, governor or even senator. He also thinks about writing and teaching.
In typical Caldera fashion, he says, "There's a lot of ways to serve."