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→Political life
In the Caldwell administration, the city obtained the former United Service Organization center in Princess Park, which later housed the Shreveport Regional Arts Council until it was destroyed by [[arson]]. Caldwell set the eight-hour day for city fire and police personnel and lobbied for frequent pay increases for these employees. He worked to obtain $2 million in funding for the city's first low-income housing and established public dental, prenatal, and maternity clinics without increasing taxes to do so. Caldwell was responsible for the municipal acquisition of Querbes Park, named for former mayor [[Andrew Querbes]], and the establishment of Ford Park, named for former mayor and commissioner [[John McWilliams Ford]].<ref name=caldwelladm/>
In the Caldwell administration, the city obtained the former United Service Organization center in Princess Park, which later housed the Shreveport Regional Arts Council until it was destroyed by [[arson]]. Caldwell set the eight-hour day for city fire and police personnel and lobbied for frequent pay increases for these employees. He worked to obtain $2 million in funding for the city's first low-income housing and established public dental, prenatal, and maternity clinics without increasing taxes to do so. Caldwell was responsible for the municipal acquisition of Querbes Park, named for former mayor [[Andrew Querbes]], and the establishment of Ford Park, named for former mayor and commissioner [[John McWilliams Ford]].<ref name=caldwelladm/>
In 1943, the strongly segregationist Caldwell declined to accept $67,000 in federal funds to finance a new medical center because the guidelines would have required him to hire twelve black persons on the project. He vowed that his administration would not be bribed by federal funding.<ref>Adam Fairclough, ''Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972,'' University of Georgia Press, 2008, p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8203-3114-0.</ref>
When he declined to seek a fourth term in office, Caldwell said that he had "tried sincerely to be a good mayor. I will be just as interested and solicitous of the welfare of the city ... as a private citizen as I have been as mayor."<ref name=caldwelladm/>
When he declined to seek a fourth term in office, Caldwell said that he had "tried sincerely to be a good mayor. I will be just as interested and solicitous of the welfare of the city ... as a private citizen as I have been as mayor."<ref name=caldwelladm/>