Governor Ralph Carr

Colorado Governor Ralph L. Carr, who served one term from 1939 until 1943, was one of the few U.S. governors who did not give in to the war hysteria. While he favored declaring war against the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, he did not believe that the Japanese-Americans should be stripped of their rights, especially if they were United States citizens. On the other hand, he had to uphold the federal laws, which dictated that Japanese-Americans from the West Coast were to be interned in camps where they lost many freedoms regardless of their citizenship status.

 

The attitudes of Carr and Americans about the Japanese can be seen through Governor Carr's correspondence files. The war obviously stirred up some very strong and emotional opinions as these letters to Governor Carr clearly indicate:

A response by Carr June 2, 1942 to the Philips County Republican Committee, Rex Evans states that he would refuse to oblige the state to do the job of managing the internment camp:

Many Japanese-Americans wanted to work whether they were interned at the camps or lived on the outside. Because of the jurisdictional disputes with the federal government, however, Carr could not promise these Americans assistance:

With many young men in the military, there were major labor shortages throughout the state, especially in the agriculture industry. This letter from the Mayor of Julesburg and Carr’s response documents the labor shortage and Carr’s efforts to get the internees employment: 

As Carr was leaving office, he warned the State Legislature about the threat of U.S. citizens losing their freedoms in the "Address of the Honorable Ralph L. Carr, Governor of Colorado Delivered Before the Joint Session of the Colorado Legislature Thirty-fourth Session at Denver January 8, 1943." 

“The Allied armies are battling today, carrying all the force of civilization against a plan which would control the lives of all other people and determine their courses. A plan which would move into any state and say to its farmers, to its industrialists, to its housewives and to its business men that they must change their chosen ways of life…

Have we come to the point in this country where it is necessary, in order for us to live, that we must modify and control the attitudes and thoughts and actions of every human being in America according to a chart developed by some group which would make us conform to a national scheme?” 

Amache Homepage
Section I: Short History of Amache Japanese Internment Camp
Section II: Documents from Governor Ralph Carr's Collection (1939-1943)
Section III: The Amache Camp in Documents
Section IV: The Amache Camp Through a Report on the Educational System
Bibliography

Last modified December 12, 2006