Ralph Lawrence Carr
| Ralph Lawrence Carr | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 29th Governor of Colorado | |
|
In office January 10, 1939 – January 12, 1943 |
|
| Lieutenant | John Charles Vivian |
| Preceded by | Teller Ammons |
| Succeeded by | John Charles Vivian |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 11, 1887 Rosita, Colorado |
| Died | September 22, 1950 (aged 62) Denver, Colorado |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Gretchen Fowler (2) Eleanor Fairall Howe |
| Profession | lawyer, newspaper editor |
Ralph Lawrence Carr (December 11, 1887 – September 22, 1950) was the 29th Governor of Colorado from 1939 to 1943.
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. After more than a decade in private practice, he moved to Denver, and in 1929, President Herbert Hoover appointed him US Attorney for Colorado.
In 1938, Carr was elected governor of his home state. A conservative Republican, Carr was committed to fiscal restraint in state government and opposed the New Deal policies of President Franklin Roosevelt.
Following Roosevelt's issuance of Executive Order 9066 in 1942, the War Relocation Authority decided to resettle Japanese Americans evicted from the West Coast in a camp at Amache near Granada, Colorado. Carr, by now in his second term as governor, insistently went against popular anti-Japanese sentiment and urged Coloradans to welcome the evacuees. For example, in one speech to a large and hostile audience, made up primarily of worried Colorado farmers, Carr said of the evacuees:
They are not going to take over the vegetable business of this state, and they are not going to take over the Arkansas Valley. But the Japanese are protected by the same Constitution that protects us. An American citizen of Japanese descent has the same rights as any other citizen.... If you harm them, you must first harm me. I was brought up in small towns where I knew the shame and dishonor of race hatred. I grew to despise it because it threatened [pointing to various audience members] the happiness of you and you and you.
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