Ralph Lawrence Carr (December 11, 1887September 22, 1950) was an American attorney and politician who served as the
29th Governor of Colorado
The governor of Colorado is the head of government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The governor is the head of the executive branch of Colorado's state government and is charged with enforcing state laws. The governor has the power to either app ...
from 1939 to 1943.
Early life
Born in
Rosita in
Custer County, Carr grew up in
Cripple Creek in
Teller County, graduated from
Cripple Creek High School in 1905, and earned a law degree in 1912 from the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...
. After more than a decade in private practice, he moved to Denver, and in 1929, President
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
appointed him
U.S. Attorney for Colorado.
Governor
In 1938, after running unopposed in the Republican primary, Carr was elected to a two-year term as governor of Colorado, defeating Democrat
Teller Ammons
Teller Ammons (December 3, 1895 – January 16, 1972) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 28th Governor of Colorado from 1937 to 1939. He was the first Colorado governor to be born in the state.
Early life
On December 3, ...
, the incumbent governor.
A conservative
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, Carr was committed to fiscal restraint in state government and opposed the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
policies of President
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
.
In July 1939, he joined 33 other governors is a statement calling for "moral rearmament" as a solution to the current economic crisis. In August he sent the Colorado national guard to quell violence between AFL-organized strikers and non-strikers at the
Green Mountain Dam
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...
construction site. In late 1939, when he was mentioned as a possible Republican candidate for vice-president on the national ticket in 1940, he indicated he preferred to seek re-election as governor: "I am not interested in any job outside Colorado right now." At the
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...
in June 1940, Carr supported
Wendell Willkie
Wendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 Republican nominee for President. Willkie appealed to many convention delegates as the Republican ...
and seconded his nomination.
He was re-elected in 1940. In January 1941, Carr issued an unconditional pardon to Michael Fillipo, who had been convicted of assault in 1915, escaped from a Colorado prison farm, served in the U.S. Army in World War I, and lived in Brooklyn with his wife and seven children before revealing his Colorado criminal record voluntarily when filing his
alien registration.
In July 1942, the state Republican Convention nominated Carr unanimously for the U.S. Senate. Facing the Democratic incumbent
Edwin C. Johnson
Edwin Carl Johnson (January 1, 1884 – May 30, 1970) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as both governor of and U.S. senator from the state of Colorado.
Background
Johnson was born in Scandia in Republic County in ...
, a former isolationist who pledged unreserved support for FDR, Carr called for "a return to the two-party system, preservation of constitutional rights and an end to bureaucratic dictatorship". He lost the race narrowly in November, with 49.2% of the vote to Johnson's 50.2%.
In September 1950, attempting a political comeback, he won the Republican nomination for governor shortly before his death.
[
]
Support for Japanese Americans
Following Roosevelt's issuance of Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...
on February 19, 1942, the War Relocation Authority
The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...
decided to resettle Japanese American
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
s from the West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
into internment camps
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...
in the interior of the continent. One camp was Amache
The Amache National Historic Site, formally the Granada War Relocation Center but known to the internees as Camp Amache, was a concentration camp for Japanese Americans in Prowers County, Colorado. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor o ...
near Granada, Colorado
The Town of Granada is a Statutory Town in Prowers County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 445 at the 2020 United States Census.
History
A post office called Granada has been in operation since 1873. The community most likely t ...
. Carr took a unique position among Western governors, who largely adopted the popular anti-Japanese sentiment
Anti-Japanese sentiment (also called Japanophobia, Nipponophobia and anti-Japanism) involves the hatred or fear of anything which is Japanese, be it its culture or its people. Its opposite is Japanophilia.
Overview
Anti-Japanese sentim ...
of the period. The governors supported internment of all Japanese, whatever their citizenship, and also objected to locating internment camps in their states. Carr, on the other hand, opposed interning American citizens, depriving them of their basic rights as citizens based only on their racial background or the citizenship of their ancestors. Unlike his peers, Carr agreed that Colorado should accept its share of the evacuees and treat them respectfully. He also underscored the broader context of war against several enemy countries in order to downplay the struggle with Japan that could easily be seen as a racial conflict. When he volunteered Colorado for housing Italian, German, and Japanese relocated from the West Coast, he said:
In one speech to a large and hostile audience, made up primarily of worried Colorado farmers, Carr said of the evacuees:
Carr's advocacy for racial tolerance and for protection of the constitutional rights of the Japanese Americans are generally thought to have cost him his political career. He narrowly lost the 1942 Senate election to incumbent Democratic Senator Edwin C. Johnson
Edwin Carl Johnson (January 1, 1884 – May 30, 1970) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as both governor of and U.S. senator from the state of Colorado.
Background
Johnson was born in Scandia in Republic County in ...
, who in 1942 had advocated using the National Guard to prevent Japanese Americans from entering Colorado and charged that Carr was more interested in exploiting Japanese labor than protecting civil liberties.[
]
Personal life
Carr married Gretchen Fowler, and together they adopted two children, a boy and a girl.
Carr died in a Denver hospital on September 22, 1950, after a long illness related to diabetes. He was buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
.
Legacy
In 1976, a bust of Carr was erected in Denver's Sakura Square
Sakura Square ( ja, サクラ・スクエア, ''Sakura Sukuea'') is a small plaza located on the north/east side of the intersection of 19th Street and Larimer Street in Denver, Colorado. The square contains busts of Ralph L. Carr, Governor of C ...
to commemorate his efforts on behalf of Japanese-Americans. The inscription reads, in part: "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."
Carr has a street named after him which runs through the western suburbs of Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
, Arvada
Arvada () is a home rule municipality located in Jefferson and Adams counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 124,402 at the 2020 United States Census, with 121,510 residing in Jefferson County and 2,892 residing in Adams Cou ...
, Wheat Ridge
The City of Wheat Ridge is a home rule municipality located in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Wheat Ridge is located immediately west of Denver and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The ...
, and Lakewood.
In 1994, Emperor Akihito
is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide.
Bo ...
and Empress Michiko
is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who served as the Empress of Japan, Empress consort of Japan as the wife of Akihito, the 125th Emperor of Japan reigning from 7 January 1989 to 30 April 2019.
Michiko married Crown Prince Akihito an ...
of Japan included a visit to Denver on their tour of the U.S. to honor Carr and Colorado's role in the Japanese internment.
In 1999, the ''Denver Post'' named Carr its "Person of the Century".
On March 14, 2008, both houses of the Colorado legislature, in a unanimous vote, named a section of U.S. Route 285 between Kenosha Pass and C-470 the "Ralph Carr Memorial Highway." A monument to him at Kenosha Pass
Kenosha Pass, elevation , is a high mountain pass located in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado in the United States.
The pass is located in the Rocky Mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, just northeast of the town of Fairplay, Colora ...
was dedicated on December 12, 2010. The inscription includes a quotation from Carr: "When it is suggested that American citizens be thrown into concentration camps, where they lose all privileges of citizenship under the Constitution, then the principles of that great document are violated and lost."
On June 4, 2008, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter
August William Ritter Jr. (born September 6, 1956) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 41st Governor of Colorado from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the district attorney for Denver before his ele ...
signed legislation authorizing the construction of a new state judicial complex in Denver to be named the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center, occupying the entire block between 13th and 14th Avenues and Broadway and Lincoln Street. The center is home to the Colorado State Supreme Court, as well as other major courts and legal agencies.
On July 6, 2012, the Japanese American Citizens League
The is an Asian American civil rights charity, headquartered in San Francisco, with regional chapters across the United States.
The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) describes itself as the oldest and largest Asian American civil right ...
decided to create a special award in his honor.
References
;Further reading
* Bill Hosokawa, ''Colorado's Japanese Americans: From 1886 to the Present'' (University Press of Colorado, 2005)
* ''Who Was Who in America'', v. 3 (1951–1960) (Chicago: Marquis - Who's Who, 1963)
External links
Governor Ralph L. Carr Collection at the Colorado State Archives
*
"A Small Voice, But a Strong Voice"
- A short documentary film about Gov. Carr (here in streaming .wmv format) that won the "2006 National History Day" competition for the History Channel's Award of Excellence in Documentary Film. The film was created b
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Ralph Lawrence
1887 births
1950 deaths
American Christian Scientists
Republican Party governors of Colorado
Internment of Japanese Americans
20th-century American politicians
People from Custer County, Colorado
People from Cripple Creek, Colorado
United States Attorneys for the District of Colorado
Old Right (United States)
Conservatism in the United States