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| Governor Carr signs bill |
Courtesy, Colorado Historical Society
Photo by Denver Post
10027360
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Santa Fe Trail
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Wayside
Excursions: Governor Carr:
“Person of the Century”
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| Ralph Carr was born in 1887. His father was a hard-rock miner, and Carr grew up in the mining camps of the Cripple Creek Mining District. He graduated from Cripple Creek High School, then attended the University of Colorado for both his undergraduate degree and his law degree. After being admitted to the Colorado Bar in 1912, Carr returned to the Cripple Creek area to work in journalism. Later, as an attorney, he specialized in irrigation and interstate river law. He served as an assistant attorney general and as U. S. Attorney for the District of Colorado. In 1938 he was drafted as the Republican candidate for governor and re-elected in 1940. He was known as fiscally conservative but socially progressive, and was credited with rescuing Colorado from insolvency during his first term. |
| William Wei, writing in Colorado Heritage, credits Carr’s early years in rural Colorado and his ideals of Americanism for providing him with "the moral compass that would guide both his words and his actions." At a time when every other western governor insisted upon internment if forced to accept Japanese-American evacuees into their states, Ralph Carr alone stood fast in his belief that these people were Americans and as such must not be denied the basic rights due to all citizens. |
Governor Carr displayed courage, compassion, and an unflinching belief in liberty, democracy, the rights of the individual, and the principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution. His own words convey his exemplary qualities:
America is made up of men and women from the four corners of the earth, of every racial origin and nationality. It is truly the melting pot of the world. There is no place here for the man who thinks that his people or those who speak his language are in turn entitled to preference over any others. When we reach the United States, we have been transformed into new people, and we have left behind us everything but our memories and our relatives. We have become new men and women with new interests and new devotions and new loyalties.
I am not in sympathy with those who demand that all evacuees be placed in concentration camps, regardless of their American citizenship or of the legality of their presence here. Our Constitution guarantees to every man, before he is deprived of his freedom, that there be charges and proof of misconduct in a fair hearing.
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| When facing a threatening mob who was angry at the arrival of the first Japanese-American evacuees, Carr said: “If you harm them you must harm me. I was brought up in small towns where I knew the shame and dishonor of race hatred. I grew up to despise it because it threatened the happiness of you, and you and you.”
Colorado’s Japanese-American community was openly appreciative of Carr’s support. A memorial with the following inscription stands in Denver’s Sakura Square:
In the hysteria of World War II, when others in authority forgot the noble principles that make the United States unique, Colorado’s governor Ralph L. Carr had the wisdom and courage to speak out on behalf of the persecuted Japanese-American minority. "They are loyal Americans," he said, "sharing only race with the enemy." He welcomed them to Colorado to take part in the state’s war effort, and such were the times that this forthright act may have doomed his political future. Thousands came, seeking refuge from the West Coast’s hostility, made new homes and remained to contribute much to Colorado’s civic, cultural, and economic life. Those who benefited from Governor Carr’s humanity have built this monument in grateful memory of his unflinching Americanism, and as a lasting reminder that the precious democratic ideals he espoused must forever be defended against prejudice and neglect. August 21, 1976
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| It took until 1996 for the Colorado General Assembly to honor Carr with a resolution in appreciation of his “efforts to protect Americans of Japanese descent during World War II.” In 1999 The Denver Post named Governor Carr Colorado’s “Person of the Century” for his humanity and decency. |
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Governor Ralph Carr, 1943
Courtesy, Colorado Historical Society, 10027316
In a radio address three months after Pearl Harbor, Carr states, “We cannot test the degree of a man’s affection for his fellows or his devotion to his country by the birthplace of his grandfathers. All Americans had their origins beyond the border of the United States.” But most government leaders disagree.
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Governor Carr
Courtesy, Colorado Historical Society, F-32.202, 10028117
Governor Carr is the only governor to welcome Japanese-Americans to his state.
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“I am not in sympathy with those who demand that all evacuees be placed in concentration camps, regardless of their American citizenship or of the legality of their presence here. Our Constitution guarantees to every man, before he is deprived of his freedom, that there be charges and proof of misconduct in a fair hearing.”
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