His paternal grandparents were Attorney Don Tomas Anderson Calvo and Doña Regina Martinez Torres.

He embarked on a business career in his family's insurance company in 1958, and entered politics during the 1960s as a member of the Republican Party.

He was elected as a senator in the Legislature of Guam in 1965, and during his three terms in the body served as chair of the government Committee on Finance and Taxation and parliamentary leader of the Republican Party.

Camacho-Moylan lost the runoff, and afterward Carlos Camacho retired from politics and gave control of the Republican Party to Calvo.

But Calvo's term as governor was marred by the teacher's strike of 1981, which lasted many months and caused deep divisions in Guam's education system.