All quotations from this article are from Adam Schrager's "The Principled Politician: The Story of Ralph Carr"

December 7th, 1941: “a day which will live in infamy.” The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor catapulted America into the frontlines of the new World War. As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued new laws and orders for war against Japan, Germany, and Italy, he also issued an order against American citizens. According to journalist Adam Schrager: “Roosevelt had signed Executive Order no. 9066 in February, establishing military zones along the [west] coast and calling for the removal of its 120,000 residents of Japanese descent. Two-thirds of them were American citizens." Yet in response to this federal order, there arose one politician who opposed the bigotry, barbarism, and hysteria of war: Colorado Governor Ralph Carr.

Ralph Carr was a unique combination of principles, tenacity, and courage. In fact, he “was Colorado’s first Republican governor since the mid-1920s when Clarence Morley rode the support of the Ku Klux Klan to the state’s top job”. However, Carr’s principles couldn’t be a sharper contrast to Morley’s racism. Carr’s definition of courage was in line with his father’s, who prevented the lynching of an innocent man in 1887. Carr put his principles over personal success by rejecting a vice presidential nomination from Wendell Willkie (the Republican nominee) in 1940 as well as a Senate opportunity in 1941 since Carr believed he should finish what the people had elected him to do as Colorado’s governor. Carr’s convictions clearly transcended his political ambitions.

In the days after Pearl Harbor, many politicians compromised their principles and gave into the bigotry and hysteria of war. Most governors followed the example laid out by President Roosevelt. Wyoming Governor Nels Smith said that: “if anyone with Japanese ancestry were brought to his state, ‘There would be Japs hanging from every pine tree.' Similarly, Idaho attorney general Bart Miller said: “We want to keep this a white man’s country." Mississippi Rep. John Rankin went the farthest, saying: “I’m for catching every Japanese in America, Alaska, and Hawaii now and putting them in concentration camps and shipping them back to Asia as soon as possible...This is a race war, as far as the Pacific side of the conflict is concerned. The white man’s civilization has come into conflict with Japanese barbarism… One of them must be destroyed."

Yet despite this almost uniform sentiment of racism, Governor Ralph Carr took a different approach. On December 10th, just three days after Pearl Harbor, Carr called on his constituencies to “remember that America is the great melting pot of the modern civilized world." On December 23rd, Carr offered this steadfast sentiment in his radio speech: “Above the confusion and grief and apprehension of war, let us remember this: this is not so much a war between nations and peoples--it is a war between the true and the false. It is a war in which the Christmas spirit must survive. It must survive the spirit of barbarism--of animalism--in which honor, integrity, the brotherhood of man, and the dignity of the individual have no place whatsoever." Rather than ambush Japanese-Americans and their loyalty after Pearl Harbor, Carr treated them with dignity and decency every American deserved and called out fellow Coloradans who sought vengeance and barbarism.

On February 19th, 1942 President Roosevelt enacted Executive Order no. 9066. The order meant that all West Coast Japanese (with or without American citizenship) would be forcibly removed from their homes to inland concentration camps. In addition, Japanese bank accounts were frozen, they were unable to purchase homes due to housing discrimination, and many Japanese students were forced to stop their schooling.

Governor Carr was incensed. He could not comprehend President Roosevelt's logic: “Why would a man want to put those people in jail?” In California--the epicenter of the Japanese West Coast population--attorney general Earl Warren (and future Chief Justice) said: “American-born Japanese are a menace. Many of them…. have been indoctrinated with Japanese ideas of imperialism and the religious fanaticism which surrounds the empire”.

California, Oregon, and Washington called on many inland states to take in their Japanese population in order to adequately assemble a war effort without fear of Japanese internal espionage. Ralph Carr was the only governor to agree to take in the displaced Japanese (Paul). He felt it was wrong for the Japanese to be removed altogether, saying: “The suggestion that an American citizen should be seized, deprived of his liberty, or otherwise placed under restraint without charge of misconduct and a hearing is unthinkable."

Despite his citizens’ hysteria and fear towards the Japanese, Carr used the office of the governorship to maintain the Japanese’s constitutional rights and defend them from the animosity of many Coloradans. Twenty-one years later in 1963, President Kennedy would affirm Carr’s sentiments in his own Civil Rights Address: “the rights of every man are diminished, when the rights of one man are threatened” (“President Kennedy Addresses the Nation on Civil Rights”). Carr’s response is even more impressive given the fact that his own son faced the Japanese in the Pacific theatre.

As he defended the Japanese, Carr’s political popularity began to wilt. Thousands of Coloradans wrote him and criticized his position. Many even threatened him and his family. Newspapers that had formerly commended him began to criticize his stubbornness on the Japanese issue. Carr traveled across the state to defend his position. He told a hostile crowd in La Junta: “If you harm [the Japanese], you first harm me. I was brought up in small towns where I know the shame and dishonor of race hatred. I grew to despise it because it threatened the happiness of [everyone]. In Colorado [the Japanese] will have full protection” (Roberts).

In 1942 Ralph Carr announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate. His opponent would be incumbent Democratic Senator Edwin Johnson. Johnson was the polar opposite of Ralph Carr. He gained votes off of fear and bigotry. The primary issue of the campaign was Carr’s stance on the Japanese. Johnson said that he would order the Colorado National Guard to keep every “Jap” out similarly to how he treated Mexicans when he was governor. Carr defended his stance and put his political career on the line: “If we put American-born Japanese in concentration camps we abrogate their constitutional rights. Further if we put them in the camps or physically injure them in anyway, there will be reprisals against our soldiers later…. If I’m right let’s stop making threats against the Japanese. If I’m wrong, you can oust me at the next election.”

Carr remained steadfast in his position. “[The] Constitution starts out by saying ‘We the people of the United States.’ It doesn’t say ‘We the people who are descendants of the English or the Scandinavians or the French.’ It says ‘We the people.’ …. When it is suggested that American citizens be thrown into concentration camps, where they lose all the privileges of citizenship under that Constitution, then the principles of that great document are violated and lost." Unlike Johnson, Carr’s comments showed unwavering grit by defending Americanism and the liberty of all citizens.

As both the campaign and war continued, Carr’s opponent Johnson suggested, “[Carr] cares more about winning the war than his own election." Johnson was right. Carr was a man of principles. He had political ammunition on Johnson that he could have chosen to release but he didn’t want to stoop to that level of a campaign so he kept it to himself. Meanwhile, Johnson earned the Hispanic vote by alienating them from Carr. Johnson led a fear-driven and hate mongering campaign earning votes off of bigotry and hysteria. He told the Hispanics that the Japanese would steal their jobs. Carr had formerly won the Hispanic vote with his fluency in Spanish. However, many of the Hispanics he had relied on in past campaigns had their sons at war with the Japanese. Carr had alienated a majority of his base due to his stance on the Japanese.

On election day nearly every Colorado Republican won. All except Ralph Carr. The chief of his party had lost. He had sacrificed his political career for the sake of his principles. As President John F. Kennedy wrote: “A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality." Ralph Carr was a man who served with unwavering principles and courage.

As one of his advocates said: “Find a man who has served his term…. who has come through unscathed by offers of wealth and power and threats of personal ruin and even loss of life and the lives of his loved ones, and you will have found a man who has stood the fire test of integrity, impartiality, and courage. Such a man is Ralph Carr.” Although there were no instances of Japanese espionage ever reported, Ralph Carr was never elected to political office again. He died on September 22, 1950.

Today in an era of hate-mongering rhetoric and on the recent passing of the 76th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Ralph Carr stands as a beacon of light for liberty. Through his courage and principles, Ralph Carr was able to show his rivals, constituencies, and fellow Coloradans what true Americanism is.