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to welcome you to tonight's >>History Club dinner meeting.ed
It's my pleasure to introduce our speaker.
Rudyard Kipling once wrote, "If history were taught in the
form of stories, it would never be forgotten."
And if this is true, then as
fortunate this evening to have History Club members, we're very
a reporter, news anchor, author, as our speaker Adam Schrager,
a storyteller. teacher, and most importantly,
more than 70 years ago in one of The story he will tell is set
the daStates history.United
Thank you.
I'll start over. [laughter]
The story Adam will tell is set 70 years ago in one of the
darkest periods in United States
It takes place in early 1942, just after the United States
was forced into World War II. The victorious German Armies
dominate the European continent.
Moscow, and in North Africa, They are on the outskirts of
the British Army back, they have pushed
The heart of the U.S. Pacific aFleet lies at the bottom
of Pearl Harbor.
across the Eastern Pacific, from The Japanese Empire extends
Southeast Asia to the outer islands of the Aleutian chain.
Against this backdrop of
president signs an executive military doom, the American
With a few strokes of his pen, order.
thousands of American citizens, depriving them of their liberty,
their livelihoods, and their
process. property all without due
the order, transferring many Federal authorities implement
descent from their homes and loyal Americans of Japanese
internment camps throughout the businesseAmerican West.Coast to
It's at this point in time that the hero of the story emerges,
to speak up for the constitutional rights of these
American citizens.
Carr, then the governor of As Adam will explain, Ralph
individual, a principled Colorado, is that rare
risk his personal and professional future by standingo
up for what he believes is
who are being deprived of their rightconstitutional rights.hose
It is a compelling and inspiring
with us today, particularly in story, one that will resonate
We are fortunate to have Adam Schrager tonight as our
storyteller.
for more than 20 years, first Awith CBS News in London, thenes
with stations in La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, before
moving on to KUSA-TV in Denver, where he became the preeminent
political reporter in the Mountain West.
Adam is now a reporter and news anchor with Wisconsin Public
Television. He is the author of
"The Principled Politician,"
of Colorado, Ralph Carr. a biography of former governor
Colorado Legislature to name the His acclaimed book led the
Colorado after their former chief executive, Ralph Carr.
Adam's latest book, which he
is "The Blueprint: How the co-authored with Rob Wittwer,
and Why Republicans Everywhere Democrats Won Colorado
This book has been lauded by the Should Care."
Washington Post and political figures on both sides of the
aisle.
Adam as our speaker for the We History Club this evening.ve
Please join me in welcoming Adam
[applause] Schrager.
much for having me today. >I'm honored to be sharing withy
you a story that while set in Colorado, I think you will find,
has no borders. Make no mistake, that while this
story is set in the 1940's, it also has relevance today.
It's a story about the best of
times. humanity during the worst of
Colorado governor Ralph Carr This is the story about former
unapologetically, "if I don't speak the feeling of
the people of Colorado in my
haven't any right to be there." oAt the time, he was standingI
up for the constitutional rights
That stand against of Japanese Americans.
would cost Ralph Carr his ignorapolitical career.igotry
You all will be thankful to know
governor's pre-eminent rule to I'm embracing the former
never out speak the bladder capacity of your audience.
I've already had a cup
I do what to be sensitive though of coffee.
go because I think you'll find as to how long I
hopefully will inspire some tquestions that I'll be able to
answer after the conversation.
my job as a reporter, and yes, I I've long said the best part of
I know I look like I'm 12 years old but I've been doing this for
a long time.
covering politicians. The single best part of my job
is that I get to meet extraordinary people who
describe themselves as
Maybe it the woman with three prosthetic limbs who comes down
to the state capitol to lobby lawmakers so other amputees have
proper healthcare coverage. Maybe it's the foster couple
that looks after 250 children and ends up adopting ten of
them. When asked why, simply says, "We
loved them all and we wished we could have adopted more."
Or maybe it's the 30-something
IT careers to open up a cafe couple that sets aside lucrative
You only pay, if you can afford where they sit.e free food.
They are all extraordinary
as ordinary. people who describe themselves
this country lost one of those In September, 1950, Colorado and
A man who I have come to know over the course of roughly the
last decade now, immersing
personal records and pretty much myself in his professional and
written about him or by him. reading every single word ever
all sincerity and tell you that AI believe that Ralph Carr is
more extraordinary than I believed on that first day that
I met him, in the figurative sense.
It was back in January 2002, and
proposed measure at the state capitol to make Governor Carr's
birthday a voluntary state
In the course of the story, I met a state capitol tour guide
by the name of Carol Keller at
is a small plaque on the wall the outside the Coloradohich
governor's office.
had in tow, Miss Keller Tdescribed a man of conviction,
of dedication and of principle. They are words that, let's be
frank, we don't always associate
The week that he died in 1950, with our elected officials.
Hornsby Ferril wrote the Colorado's poet laureate, Thomas
Ralph Carr was a one man following:
he wrote, for freedom all of his life.
I've heard it said that Ralph Carr could have gone down
as a great American, known to everybody in every state, if
he'd simply been willing to wangle more the breaks his way
and be less bull-headed about standing up for the
constitutional rights of the underdogs.
Well, Thomas Hornsby Ferril believed they could have their
definition of what a great
But it seems to me, Ahe wrote,s.
that if we had more men like
we wouldn't need to keep Ralph Carr along the line,
men" to bail us out. other "great
we'll look at why Ralph Carr has Over the course of this talk,
importantly, why he needs to be been forgremembered.maybe more
Now, it was known throughout the
that the state's chief executive Colorado state capitol in 1939
I stand here today sharing with you the story of a man of great
political courage, but by no
No politician was too big, no businessman too powerful to.
escape his wrath. And sometimes even the littlest
of things would set him off.
story about the time His friends liked to tell the
played at the University of aDenver when the line of carss
to get out of the parking lot seemed interment, just seemed to
go on and on and on.
Carr's turn to leave the parking And finally when it was Governor
You had a 1940s version of lot someone cut him off.
The governor rolls down his window, and shouts, "You
son-of-a-Beep!" It's the governor of the state
of Colorado.
described through the years as a Well, the other driver who is
of his car to confront the "large, hulking man," jumps out
Governor Carr. 5'8 1/2", diminutive
Governor Carr points his finger in his chest and said, "I called
you by your right name, didn't
Now, maybe it was because the man recognized Governor Carr, or
by that moment the state petrol officer was standing behind him.
Either way, he demurred, the
went on their respective ways. governor smiled and they both
Ralph Carr's staff was On February 19th, 1942
trademark eruptions, but it was winot over anything trivialis
at all, and it was directed squarely at President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt. The governor was pacing,
clenching in his fist a telegram that announced
executive order 9066, which starts out,
whereas the successful
war requires every possible protection against espionage prosecuandn of the
against sabotage to national
defense premises and defense material, national
Governor Carr paused and took a deep breath before he read aloud
what he believed to be the most onerous sentence of all.
I hereby authorize, President Roosevelt wrote,
and direct the secretary of war and the military commanders
whom he may from time to time designate, to prescribe military
areas in such places, from
be excluded. which any or all persons may
may be excluded. From which any or all persons
when you got past the formality of this language, that thisw
was a de facto declaration
Coast, and it had one not very of martial law on the West
That was to remove anyone of well hidden agenda.
"Now that's wrong," the Governor Japanese descent.
these Japanese are citizens of shouted at his staff, "some of
And in case they had missed that the United States."
citizens!" he shouted again. point, "They're American
the example and the memories of I9-11 and the seminal momentat
in this country's history.
the many of us felt that day is Treal and still present today.er
Yet, I believe it paled in
this country after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th,
1941. The thousands of post cards,
notes and telegrams sitting in
the Colorado State Archives Godid not need to be writtent
in all capital letters or have
every sentences to literally exclamation points at the end of
They came from homemakers and scbusinessmen, from easternou.
Colorado and western Colorado,
I've had a lot of people who from big cities and small towns.
these sentiments in the book have shared with me that reading
Carr is the most that I've written about Governor
They've have said to me, difficult thing.
examples." "You've included too many
"I get it already." "You'vPeople were scared,point."
they were angry,
Carr for his defense of the apeople they thought were going
to attack them. Those who were of Japanese
decent. "You've over-proved your point,"
they said to me, "move on already."
In response I've told them
that I was trying to make. apparently you missed the point
we've grown so accustomed to Because in today's society,
We don't like what's in the newspaper, we turn the page.
We don't like what's on the radio, we turn the station.
We don't like what's on TV, maybe we turn it off.
You have to understand that in
Ralph Carr, as Colorado's chief executive, did not have that
luxury. You see, every newspaper, from
front to back, was chronicling
the war. how the American's were losing
hour and the hour, were Ebroadcasting the names of thef
local boys who had either been
Every friend, colleague and neighbor had a brother, husband
or son who was going to fight,
And so the critical letters kept or was already fighting.
The telegrams kept coming. coming.
state's newspapers kept The editberating him.hout the
And his phones kept ringing.
phone on the first floor I'm not just talking about his
I'm talking about Ralph Carr's governor's office.
Because, if you can believe it, it was listed in the phone
book. He always told his teenagers
at the time, "The rich and
a hold of you, but if you're powerful always know how to get
got to give the common man a going to be the governor, you've
honest day's work." Well, they called all right.
He couldn't escape it.
along the West Coast sincerely Coloradans and folks living
would come closer to home, believed that the next attack
aided by people of and that that attack would be
That is what the government had Japatold them.nt.
That is what the media had
attack at Pearl Harbor that killed thousands of Americans.
Now, the evidence would be
sketchy at best, but a court secondary and later found to be
its verdict immediately. of public opinion had delivered
Colorado State Archives are teeming with examples of that
fear and that anger.
friends he was being cussed in He told one of his college
was being discussed in Colorado. Colorado almost as often as he
you can believe this, were People of Japanese descent, if
front pages of newspapers cas large as the Denver Post.
At the time, roughly
Japanese descent lived on the West Coast, many of whom were
American citizens.
2/3 of whom actually, were
Governor Carr did not differentiate between citizen
and non-citizen. We don't want Denver overrun by
the yellow race, read one letter to the governor.
A homemaker from Boulder pleaded
with the governor, May god of
heaven speak to your
No one wants Japanese here soul , she wrote,
and raped by the to see our bodies ravished
One farmer sent a telegram very devil himself.
Japanese descent simply be suggesting that anyone of
That would solve the problem, he suggested.
As if the anecdotes weren't enough, Ralph Carr actually had
poll results sitting on his desk
conducted at the from a survey that had been
Across the board, men and women, University of Denver.
uneducated, urban and rural, young and old, educated and
two to one margin that answered by a more than
unfavorably toward the Japanese than they did toward America's
other enemies in the war, the Germans and the Italians.
Again, they did not differentiate between American
citizens of Japanese descent and
And neither, frankly, did Governor Carr's political peers.
For example, Arizona governor Sidney Osborne said his state
did not want to be a dumping
He wouldn't permit it. ground for enemy aliens.
said, "Japs are not wanted Kansas governor Payne Ratner
of Kansas." anHe said he'd call up histe
National Guard to ensure they didn't cross his border.
Idaho attorney general Bert Miller proudly proclaimed the
state of Idaho as "white man's country."
The goal was to keep it that way throughout the war.
And Wyoming governor Nels Smith worried that Japanese would
overrun his state if given the
Wyoming residents, he said, "Have a dislike of any
Orientals.
and this is the chief executive of the state of Wyoming mind
you.
"If anyone of Japanese descent He said,
state of Wyoming were going to be sent to the
from the state's pine trees." thEven Earl Warren, who many'
people in this room would argue is the greatest advocate for
civil rights in US Supreme Court
desegregated this country's histschools, authoring theally
Brown vs. Board of Education
In 1942 Earl Warren was California's attorney
general, he had an eye on running for governor,
and Earl Warren was scared. He was asked specifically about
evacuating the West Coast of anyone with Japanese blood
in them and he said,
a menace." "American born Japanese are
He'd later go on to tell a A menace!
reckoning was bound to come because it was, "Impossible to
distinguish between dangerous and loyal Japs."
So in this environment then,
this kind of fear, you can with this kind of hostility,
when Colorado's governor says publicly, "To the American born
citizen of Japanese parentage,
guidance, and we offer you the we look to you for example and
the knowledge that you will hbe as truly American as then
rest of us."
have been significant enough, but I stand here today to tell
you that at the time Ralph Carr was no ordinary governor.
Even though he'd only been in elected office just three years,
he was one of the sought after
Republican party circuit. He talked to audiences in New
York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Detriot.
He was an outspoken opponent of the New Deal, an outspoken
opponent of big government. The newspaper columnists who
would cover him loved the pithy quotes that he would give.
For example, he made the front
by telling their reporter that page of the Los Angeles Times
was to stop spending when the the waymoney was gone. budget
He made the front page of New York Times by telling their
reporter that way to save taxpayers' money was to stop
spending taxpayers' money.
they fawned all over him in These rtheir papers.d it and
He was keeping the company of people like former president
Herbert Hoover, the man who was maybe the second most popular
American at the time NBC radio
man who would offer him the chance to run for vice president
in 1940, that being Wendell Willkie.
Ralph Carr turns down that
to reform Colorado state opportunity to continue to try
talked about in the papers as a possible future presidential
candidate.
many people get mentioned in We think in our history not that
His political star was rising at that sentence.
And then came Pearl Harbor break-neck speed.
of Japanese Americans. and Ralph Carr's stand on behalf
If the principles of the A stand where he proclaimed,
for every man than we shall not have it to protect any preman.ed
If you remember nothing else
I'm going to read that quote from this conversation tonight,
If the principles of the again.
for every man than we shall not have it to protect any preman.ed
It's safe to say that the governor of a land locked
state quickly found himself isolated on a political island.
Ralph Carr believed, as Teddy Roosevelt believed, that there
was no room in this country for what they called "a hyphenated
American."
Americans, Mexican Americans, Japanese Americans, what have
you, needed to identify with
American rather than their similarities of being
differences. highlighting their ethnic
the Melting Pot of the United GStates, and said on state-wideo
radio just two days after Pearl Harbor, that he personally would
not judge the loyalty of any
grandparents were born. He would tell audiences,
"The constitution starts out
United States.' It does not say, 'we the people
who are descendants of the
of the French. English or the Scandinavians or
United States." And the point that he made over
and over again, to anybody that would listen throughout
Colorado, throughout 1942, was
was not standing up for the rights of Japanese Americans.
Ralph Carr believed he was
of all Americans. If American citizens of any
descent were going to be
removed from their homes, deincarcerated behind barbed,
wire and military police with machine guns, without any
evidence of wrongdoing or a trial to determine guilt,
what's to say six months
into that same internment camp, fbehind barbed wire, militarym
police with machine guns, and no evidence of wrongdoing,
and no trial to determine guilt.
American citizens to lose their rights as citizens, under this
constitution, then the
that Ralph Carr revered more principles of the document
in his view, would be violated than any other but the bible,
"Principles," Ralph Carr was and lost.
truth and will last as long as fond of saying, "are as true as
Because of that belief, you have God's creation."
this evening. He's a footnote in a time period
celebrated by numerous volumes. You're probably sitting there
right now thinking to yourself
happening today are quite eerie the parain fact. what's
A number of decades after World War II, we are still struggling
with the same topics, we're still asking ourselves and each
other the same questions. How do we balance personal
privacy versus public safety? How do we live in a world
where we know there are people
It's indisputable. out there who want to hurt us.
and we also know they will not We know they want to hurt us
codes. follow our moral and legal
the government and the courts How dduring a time of war?le of
How should we handle a rising immigrant population?
Yet, I'd like to think we've
past. For example, we did not uproot
large populations of Arab Americans after 9-11.
We did not call them derogatory names on the front pages of our
newspapers. And leaders at the highest
levels of our government
but also to respect the encontributions made in ourt,
society everyday by Arab
Yet still we are asking what Americans.
sacrifice, what personal price are we each
willing to pay so we're not scared anymore?
In 2012, without question the world has changed.
The threats are different,
of World War II Americans, but to know the daily sacrifices
that Americans today are any you'd be hard pressed to say
a war than those who lived in more vigthe 1940's. winning
Back then, curtailed their use
metals, even of certain foods, of rubber, they drove less, of
And in the case of roughly to aid in the war effort.
descent, 2/3 of whom were 1American citizens, theyse
sacrificed the most basic thing of all.
They sacrificed their freedom.
through things like the Patriot TAct, the Foreign Intelligence,
Surveillance Act and Guantanamo Bay, that we are experiencing a
case of history repeating itself
those examples to be sacrifices wat all to our basic freedoms.r
In both times, good people, people with true and noble
intentions made choices.
the choices of America's World History has shown that some of
were wrong. Congress, in the 1980's, passed
a law officially apologizing to Japanese Americans
and it was signing into law by
If you think about it, this country still hasn't officially
apologized for slavery. It passed an amendment
abolishing it, but has not
Yet there was not way for Ralph officiCarr to know this.r it.
He didn't have the foresight to know that by the end of the war
that there would be no evidence of espionage or sabotage on
the part of anyone of Japanese
He did not know the 442nd military unit comprised entirely
of Japanese Americans would become the most decorated
unit in US military history,
its efforts fighting in Europe. Yet, Ralph Carr still took the
stand he did in dramatic
politicians of his time. contrast with so many other
"Inherit the Wind," which many of you may have seen the
movie with Spencer Tracy and
It's about evolution and Gene Kelly.
talk about evolution tonight, I'but here's the parallel.to
One of the central characters there is put on trail for what
he believes.
where his girlfriend comes to There's a scenhim. the courtroom
She pleads with him, "Just say
Please, just say you're sorry and then, everything can go back
to the way that it was."
you buy back his respectability To tby making him a coward?"Can
It's the loneliest feeling in the world, to find yourself
standing up when everybody else is sitting down."
Who stands up when everybody
That's really what drew me into this story so many years ago.
And why I love to share it
Because, it seems to me that everyday since.
say we want. this is the leader that we all
Carr did, "Regardless of what it The one who says, as Governor
I will be governor in fact as does towell as in name." assured
The one who says only half
that if he's elected, he will jolikely become the most hated,
man in Colorado because he
principles. This is an elected official who
does not stick a finger in the
he or she should follow wind to detthat day.ich current
Now, it wasn't that Ralph Carr
had to say. In fact, the opposite was true.
He'd engage anyone in a conversation.
There are numerous stories of men in three piece suits in
the entry way of the Colorado governor's office while he spoke
his self-taught Spanish to
of the fields. farmers and ranchers just in out
the Union Pacific railroad, Hewhere Robinson worked as am
dining car attendant. Back then Colorado's governor
was allowed one colored employee.
That person had historically
They would run messages from the been a messenger.
to the legislature on the first flosecond floor. office up
Well, Ralph Carr hires George Robinson as an
information clerk.
you saw in Colorado's governor's Which means the very first face
of an African American man. Ralph Carr would listen to
anybody and everybody, no matter
But after he had taken their race, class or age.
that he saw his job differently than we tend to
believe our current elected officials do.
You see, Ralph Carr said he did not take his job to feel the
public pulse or to follow the popular demand.
"I think it's up to a person in my job," he said, "to direct
public opinion and not to follow it."
Two-thirds of us these days tell
elected officials. pollsters we don't trust our
It's an astonishingly sad Tstatistic.
We criticize them for pandering,
interests, for being survey driven, and yet I stand here
before you today telling you
of us, responsible for this that we arsituation.vely, all
We've turned the very individuals who seek to be our
leaders into followers because
the politician who stands for history haprinciple.en kind to
They lose elections.
That is entirely accurate.
Carr. THe looses one of the closest
elections in Colorado history in
the state's roughly 1,500 194precincts and you have a of
completely different response.
this story, but while Ralph Carr Maybe I've overly romanticized
1942, he retained something did noso much more basic,fice in
so much more fundamental. Ralph Carr retained his
conscience. And that's really what makes
this story bigger than politics and elections.
Ralph Carr's story is a life
we have all had situations in our lives where we did not stand
up for what we believed in. Maybe we didn't protect a kid on
the playground. Maybe we didn't defend a
colleague at work.
for our own values, whatever the Maybe we just didn't stand up
If we're being honest with case may be.
instances. ourselves we can think of many
today for not standing up, when everybody else was sitting down.
There is a poem that's on display at the holocaust
museum in Washington D.C. and it was written by a German
pastor, the Reverend Martin Neimoller, who spent the last
couple years of World War II
a German concentration camp. himself imprisoned in
as follows: First, they came for theem goes
socialists and I did not
sp socialist. Then, they not came for the trade
unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade
unionst. Then, they came for the Jews and
I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then, they came for me and
Ralph Carr did not wait to speak for me.
This story is really a call to out.
If we get another chance to be action to all of us.
to get past that feeling that we courageous, to take it,
to cause waves. Coincidentally, when I stumbled
this story, I was re-reading
Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage," former President John F.
school. The stories that he shares of
Stalwarts in the United States
the right thing, that has been senate who sacrificed to do
nationwide for decades now. President Kennedy wrote that in
a democracy, every one of us is in a position of responsibility
and in the final analysis, the
depends on how we fulfill our kindresponsibilities. get
I guess the modern day cliches
will we practice what we are will we walk the walk,
Because as the former president concludes, we the people are
the boss and the kind of
to get, be it good or bad, political leadership we're going
That's what we need to demand and deserve.
In 1942, the political
believed in standing up for the Bill of Rights, for what he felt
defined America.
elected officials today, when confronted with criticism,
and Governor Carr faced death threats, threats of impeachment,
and yet he still refused to back
resolute. dHe said if you try to do
Japanese Americans harm,
For he said, he had been raised with the shame and dishonor of
race hatred and he challenged crowds by saying that it
threatened the happiness of all of us.
Ralph Carr had faith in Coloradans.
All he had to do was to get out there and explain his position.
He showed them a faith that they
the next election. didn't necessarily show him at
He was willing to walk away to Yet this point is so critical.
Walk away to do the right thing. accept his fate.
former US senator Henry Clay who There's a famous quote from the
right than to be president." once said, "It is better to be
Henry Clay was never elected And interestingly enough,
If you had any doubt about Ralph president.
and how sincerely he believed in Carr's integrity on this issue
share with you two anecdotes. The first deals with a woman
named Mitchie Terasaki. She was a Coloradan who had
passed the civil service exam before the war and couldn't
get a job.
but she didn't speak any She had Japanese grandparents
English, having been born and Japraised in Denver.only
She approaches Governor Carr
shared with him her story. after a speech that he gave and
number and then he calls her the He takes her name and her
Her phone rings and he says, next week.
Ralph Carr. "MrsYou're to report to theernor
Department of Health and Human
Don't be late." SerHe was a stickler forday.
punctuality.
The only other time He hMrs. Terasaki spoke withte.
Governor Carr was a few days after Pearl Harbor when her
phone rings at home again.
Ralph Carr. "If you're scared to come in tor
work today, I'll send my car and
The other story deals with a my driver for you."
Wakako Domoto, who was interned at Camp Amache which was one of
the internment camps in Colorado.
Despite Ralph Carr's
not stop the inevitable internment of Japanese Americans
and non-citizens alike. Ralph Carr brings her to Denver
just days before leaving office.
that he believed he lost because Days before he leaves a position
She lives at his house, he pays for her college education
and he hires her as a nanny for his first grandchild.
All the while, his neighbors
aren't you worried when you wake across the fences are saying
"We get the kind of political leadership," President Kennedy
wrote, "be it good or bad,that we demand and deserve."
We the people are the boss. When Ralph Carr died in the fall
of 1950, the gates at the internment camps had been
open for five years.
them were given a modest amount Thof money and a bus ticket,de
and told to recapture their lives and they were in the
process of once again assimilating into the society.
And Ralph Carr was once again running for governor.
One of his campaign planks was
the rights of American citizens. that he had always stood up for
eight years earlier, he was counting on Colorado voters to
see the wisdom in that stand and
mansion. bring him back to the governor's
primary. Ralph Carr dies after the
diabetes. All indications were that he
would have been successful that fall.
He was memorialized throughout
Tributes flowed in from every tcorner.e.
Maybe the most poignant came
day, who wrote in the newspaper, a political columnists of the
to man." "Ralph Carr was a friend
I'll leave the answer to that question in your able hands.
Thank you so much for having me here tonight and letting me
share this story with you.