Author Adam Schrager (left) and former Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr.

by J.K. YAMAMOTO
Hokubei Mainichi

DENVER — Ralph Carr, the governor of Colorado during World War II, is a hero to local Japanese Americans, but has been virtually unknown to the general public — until now.

Adam Schrager, a reporter for the NBC affiliate in Denver, discussed his new book, “Principled Politician: The Ralph Carr Story,” as the luncheon speaker at “Whose America? Who’s American? Diversity, Civil Liberties and Social Justice,” a conference held by the Japanese American National Museum from July 3 to 6.

A Republican, Carr was twice elected as governor and was known for his philosophy of limited government. He turned down a chance to run for vice president, but there was talk about him someday being the party’s presidential nominee. The events of 1942 changed everything.

Schrager, who spent six years reading everything written by and about Carr, said the governor was outraged when he heard about President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which authorized the internment of Japanese Americans.

Maintaining that “if you do not preserve the principles of the Constitution for every man, then its protections will not be available for any man,” Carr argued that if Japanese Americans could be interned without due process, “what’s to say six months from now, we won’t follow them into that same prison without evidence or a trial?”

Before the internment orders went into effect, some Japanese Americans decided to relocate to states outside the West Coast. But Wyoming Gov. Nels Smith said that if they came to his state, “they’ll be hanging from every pine tree.” Idaho’s attorney general declared that his state “is a white man’s country and we want to keep it that way.”

Going against public opinion in his own state, Carr decided to “offer the hand of friendship” to Japanese Americans, “secure in the knowledge that they will be as truly American as the rest of us,” Schrager said. Carr also warned his constituents, “If you harm them, you must harm me first.”

Carr even asked a Japanese American woman to live at his house and work as a nanny to his first grandchild. Schrager said that neighbors would ask, “Aren’t you afraid you’ll wake up and the baby will be dead?” But Carr “would not assume the worst in people and absolutely would not judge them based on their race, ethnicity or heritage.”

As a result of his stand, Carr faced calls for impeachment and death threats. In November 1942, he lost a race for the U.S. Senate. He ran for governor again in 1950 but died during the campaign at the age of 62.

He was recognized by the JACL in 1946, and a monument to Carr was placed in Denver’s Sakura Square in 1976.

“This is an amazing story ... a story with relevance today, a story about the best of humanity during the worst of times, a story about a man relegated to an undeserved obscurity,” said Schrager.

Carr is starting to emerge from that obscurity. A major state highway and a new Colorado Supreme Court building have been named after him.

“We tend to believe it’s rare that a politician would so clearly set aside self-interest for the sake of the public’s interest, especially at a time when the public didn’t realize it,” commented Schrager. “That’s what makes this story so unique.”

Noting that many politicians are now claiming Carr as their hero, Schrager said, “If it means holding that standard over their heads, we could do worse.”