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Louis Caldera served as United States Secretary of the Army from July 2, 1998 - January 20, 2001, the 17th man to hold that office.
The son of Mexican immigrants, Caldera was born in El Paso, Texas. His family left Texas for California when he was four, living briefly in public housing in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles before moving to the suburb of Whittier. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1978 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, then served on active duty from 1978 to 1983, mostly at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He went on to enroll at Harvard University and in 1987 earned both a master's degree in business education and a law degree. Caldera practiced law from 1987 to 1990 at the firm of O’Melveny & Myers, then worked as a Deputy Counsel for Los Angeles County.
Caldera then served as California state assemblyman from 1992 to 1997, representing the nearly 400,000 residents of the 46th District, which is located in and around downtown Los Angeles. As an assemblyman he served as chairman of the Banking and Finance Committee, the Revenue and Taxation Committee, and the Budget Committee. Before finishing his second term in the Assembly, Caldera left to begin serving as managing director and chief operating officer for President Bill Clinton's Corporation for National and Community Service, a domestic volunteer program. Less than a year later he became Army Secretary. He went on to serve as Vice Chancellor for University Advancement in the California State University System, the largest four-year university system in the country. Caldera became the 18th president of the University of New Mexico in August 2003.
While studying at Harvard, he met his wife, Eva Orlebeke Caldera; together they have three daughters, Allegra, Sophia and Camille.
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