Louis Caldera
Edward Louis Caldera ( born April 1, 1956 in El Paso, Texas ) is an American politician (Democratic Party). From 1998 to 2001 he was the 17th Secretary of State of the United States Army. In the administration of President Barack Obama, he was director of the White House Military Office, but resigned from this post back on May 8, 2009.
Study and career
The son of Mexican immigrants entered the military service in the U.S. Army and initially studied at the Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree.
After a subsequent five-year period of military service and the final promotion to captain at Fort Dix (New Jersey), he studied Economics Education ( Business Education ) and law at Harvard University. He completed these two courses in 1987 with an MBA and a Juris Doctor. At university he met his wife Eva Orlebeke Caldera know. The marriage produced three daughters were born.
After the lawyer's approval, he was from 1987 to 1991 worked as a lawyer. He then spent two years as Deputy General Counsel ( Deputy Counsel ) of Los Angeles County.
After leaving the government of President Clinton left office, he became a managing director ( Vice Chancellor ) of the California State University. After that he was from August 2003 until his resignation in January 2006 President of the University of New Mexico ( UNM ). Since then, he has been Professor of Law at the Law School of the UNM for the subjects of corporate governance, electoral and parliamentary law.
Supervisory positions
Caldera from 2002 to the Supervisory Board of IndyMac Bank, and remained in that post until the bank was acquired in July 2008 by the Government of the United States.
Caldera was also on the board of Southwest Airlines. He wrote this post on January 15, 2009, to change to the position of Director of the White House Military Office.
Political career
Caldera began his political career in 1992 with the election of the members of the California State Assembly. There he took up in 1997 as a Democrat to the 46th electoral district of his state, a region with 400,000 inhabitants in the center of Los Angeles. During this period he was also Chairman of the Banking and Finance Committee, the taxes and levies Committee and the Budget Committee.
Before the end of his third term in 1997, he moved to Washington, where he was managing director and chief operating officer (COO ) of the domestic volunteer program Corporation for National and Community Service. On 22 May 1998 he was appointed President Bill Clinton to the Secretary of the Army. He was sworn in on July 2 and practiced it until the end of Clinton's term of office on 20 January 2001.
In the administration of Barack Obama Caldera held from January 2009, the Office of the Director of the White House Military Office. In this capacity, Caldera approved an April 27, completed flight at low altitude over New York City and adjacent areas in New Jersey from a Boeing VC -25 flying as Air Force One when the president is on board to photographs of the aircraft to prepare for PR purposes.
While the Federal Aviation Administration and selected authorities were informed of the photo flight in advance, before the public, the mission was kept secret. The flyover in the city caused panic and fear of a terrorist attack - thousands left precipitately their jobs. It turned out that both New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Obama learned of the mission only by the press coverage.
The incident led to strong criticism directed at Caldera. After a arranged of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina investigation Caldera resigned on May 8, from his office.
Web links, and background literature
General biographical information
- Biography on the website of the U.S. Army
- Biography in Hispanic Biographies Volume 3
Article in TIME Magazine
- "The Risks Of Air Power", article in TIME Magazine, April 5, 1999
- "Who Owns The River", article in TIME Magazine on 10 July 2000