The Costa Rican political leader José Figuéres Ferrer (1906-90) was president of Costa Rica and one of its most influential figures.

José Figuéres was born in San Ramon on Sept. 25, 1906, soon after his parents' arrival from Spain. He received most of his education in Costa Rica but also studied in the United States, as an unmatriculated student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Upon his return home Figuéres took over a small plantation in the mountains and during the 1930s devoted most of his attention to converting it into a modern enterprise. He gained some local fame for the progressive manner in which he treated his employees.

Figuéres gained sudden national fame when he bought radio time to denounce a riot on July 4, 1942, and the government of President Rafael Calderon Guardia as encouraging violence by Communists to divert...