Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia was president of Costa Rica 1940-44. He was one of the first Central American presidents to primarily focus on improving social conditions. Calderón worked hard to address issues of poverty and poor health among the working classes of Costa Rica, abandoning the coffee-growing oligarchy which had helped elect him. During his presidency he introduced the minimum wage and founded the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (the national social security system), and the national healthcare system. The secret to his success was a broad alliance of support, including such disparate sectors as the Progressive archbishop Víctor Sanabria, the urban and rural poor and the Communist Party. However, he was opposed by a strong coalition of land owners, industrialist, the military, and Conservative church members.
In 1944, because the Costa Rican constitution prohibits consecutive presidencies, he passed the presidency to Teodoro Picado Michalski, whom shared his same base of support. In 1948 he ran for president again, but lost to Otilio Ulate Blanco. The congress, dominated by Calderón's party, annulled the election results, allowing Calderón to seize power. José Figueres Ferrer rallied a rebel army against Calderón, who, despite being backed by the Costa Rican Army and various Communist militias, lost and was sent into exile to Nicaragua. Figures, however, mainted Calderón's social welfare programs, which continued to be extremely popular.
Calderón would later attempt invasions of Costa Rica in December 1948 and then 1955, but was unsuccessful and forced to flee to Mexico. Calderón returned to Costa Rica in 1958, ran unsuccessfully for president in 1962, and served as ambassador to Mexico from 1966 until his death in 1970.
His son, Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier, was later elected president, and was ironically imprisoned from embezzling money from the social welfare programs his father had founded.