Background
Caldwell was born in Abbeville, the seat of government of Vermillion Parish in southwestern Louisiana, to Charlie Caldwell and the former Camille LeBlanc.
Caldwell was born in Abbeville, the seat of government of Vermillion Parish in southwestern Louisiana, to Charlie Caldwell and the former Camille LeBlanc.
Under his direction, one Works Progress Administration project (the Panhellion) on the Louisiana State University campus was completed in thirty days.
In the 1930s, Caldwell became State Superintendent of Construction, during which time he launched work at Louisiana State University. He displayed a talent for organization and swift construction. Another (Building "G") took only ten days to finish. Investigations later revealed that Caldwell was keeping 2 percent of the funds budgeted for Louisiana State University construction.
Some of this was spent on a lavish mansion, estimated to have cost $45,000, then a large amount of money, which he built near the university.
The mansion featured air conditioning, solid gold bathroom fixtures, and black marble floors, ceilings and walls. Caldwell"s salary at the time was $6,000 annually.
With state and federal investigations underway into the Louisiana Hayride scandal, Caldwell was asked to resign as superintendent. In 1939, he and his successor were arrested for violating the Federal Emergency Relief Acting.
Caldwell was later indicted by a federal grand jury on a number of other charges related to misusing Works Progress Administration funds.
The prosecutor, Malcolm Lafargue of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in Shreveport, claimed that Caldwell and his cronies were using federal funds to pay contractors for work conducted at their own houses. Caldwell ultimately pleaded guilty to seven federal charges. After being convicted of tax evasion and bribery, Caldwell was sentenced in 1940 to four years in a federal prison.
In 1941, he was paroled and subsequently pardoned by United States. President Harry Truman.
Caldwell, who was Roman Catholic, died in Baton Rouge at the age of seventy-three. He is interred in the Garden of Faith plot at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge beside second wife Margaret though her grave is unmarked.
