1970 New York Times Article; Death of Former Costa Rican President

On June 10th, 1970, the former president of Costa Rica Dr. Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia died at 72 years old after a two month long battle with illness. Attached is a newspaper clipping from the New York Times which shows the various activities of Calderon’s life. He had been the head of the republican party, also known as the Calderonista party. While president he was a close ally to the United States and, after a failed election bid in 1948, was eventually forced to flee to Mexico. Eventually, he returned when there was a revival of the Republican Party and served as an ambassador between Costa Rica and Mexico. 

The newspaper clipping only takes up a small portion of the page and it includes a large picture of Dr. Calderon’s face, looking down and smiling lightly. According to John Charles Chasteen, the author of Born in Blood and Fire; 4e, the period from 1960-1990 in Latin America can generally be conceived the Reaction period. The pendulum swing of revolution had swung back and people generally realized that despite the optimistic and promising rhetoric of revolutions, people were still dissatisfied with that country’s leadership. If Calderon represented pre-revolution Costa Rica, it is telling that after the revolutionary leaders were given sufficient time to try and lead the country to prosperity, eventually pre-revolution styles of leadership began to seem more attractive again. Calderon’s eventual return to Costa Rica is symbolic of this swinging public preference. 

It is also important to highlight the perspective of the people who wrote the New York Times article. Most of them are likely American and are therefore writing about the country with an outsider’s perspective. Therefore, perhaps parts of the article, or maybe just the tone, is convincing us that Dr. Calderon was worse than he is depicted here. If he was “a friend of the United States,” perhaps the American authors of this article felt somehow obligated to paint him in a positive light. Of course, this is impossible to tell just with this one article, but it being a possibility means it should be something we consider.

Primary Source:

“Or. Rafael Calderon, 72, Dies Former Costa Rican President” New York Times, 1970, https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/10/archives/dr-rafael-calderon-72-dies-former-costa-rican-president.html

Referenced Source:

Chasteen, John Charles. Born in Blood and Fire. 4th ed. New York City, New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.