Venezuelan Rafael Caldera Rodríguez (born 1916) founded the Christian Democratic Party of Venezuela and served as his country's president from 1969 to 1974.

Rafael Caldera Rodríguez, the son of Dr. Rafael and Rosa Sofia Caldera, was born in 1916 in San Felipe in the north-central state of Yaracuy, Venezuela. An exceptional student, Caldera earned a doctor of philosophy degree in political science, taught at a leading Venezuelan university, and wrote a scholarly study of the distinguished Latin American educator Andrés Bello. His scholarly interests also included the rights and responsibilities of labor. He served in Venezuela's Ministry of Labor between 1936 and 1938 and published a comprehensive review of Venezuela's labor laws. In 1941 he married his wife, Alicia.

Caldera's political career began in 1936 when he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. A devout Catholic, he organized Catholic civic groups, and, in 1946, helped establish the Christian Democratic Party...