A difficult story properly told

books:

	• The Principled Politician: The Story of Ralph Carr Adam Schrager Fulcrum Publishing, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A difficult story properly told

Adam Schrager is a precise and thoughtful writer. He allows history to be told and not to be judged by him but by the reader. He wrote of an important and historical episode in American history. Within that episode stood a unique man who not only believed in the Constitution but did so as a politician. Today, there is a preponderance of revisionism. Adam Schrager would have none of that. No previous reviewers would turn their anger toward the Empire of Japan. This one will. As much as I hurt for the true and legal citizens of Japanese decent, I hurt for the rest of our population who saw their sons' intestines removed with bayonets while they lie, still alive, on the side of the road during the Bataan Death March (read Ghost Soldiers). A truly evil enemy felt little remorse, albeit unwarranted, toward an honorable segment of America by its follow citizens in the only true multicultural country on the planet.
Ralph Carr was a man to revere. Principle guided his life and accompanied him to Colorado's highest office. What a fine and necessary need fulfilled at a desperate and frightening time. The Japanese easily found their enemies within their borders. Americans didn't have the luxury or the time.
That there was one State having an authority in Ralph Carr to have the clear head and clear morality to see past the appearance of the ancestry and into the heart of the American within, there was a story to be told... a story long needing to be told and, perhaps, soon to be forgotten.
I thank the author for his writing style that allowed me to read on with interest and his humanity for putting me there and not out here second guessing. And to you Governor, you can finally be appreciated.

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A Principled Politician

An excellent book about Colorado political history which also takes in national politics, and the story of a great man who stood up for righteousness even though, in fighting all the prejudice around him, it meant he would not be re-elected. It is a shining example of what a politician should be, although sadly, there aren't many like him in this day and age. It should be mandatory reading for everyone who seeks a political office!

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Unsung Hero

Ralph Carr is one of my heroes!

Governor of Colorado during the trying times from 1939-43, Carr, a Republican, was, well, a principled politician. He was a guy who personally answered the hundreds of letters he received from constituents, who welcomed the so-called little guy into his office (sometimes before the big donor), and who sat all night with condemned criminals on death row to offer solace when he didn't feel the evidence warranted a pardon. A former small-town lawyer, Carr was a fervent patriot and a supporter of states rights.

Carr is mainly remembered, however, for being among the few who took a public stand and welcomed American citizens of Japanese descent to Colorado. He also argued against interning them during WWII, warning that such an abrogation of the rights of American citizens would result in further abuses of the U.S. constitution. Yet, when Roosevelt issued Executive Order no. 9066, interning the west coast Japanese, whether citizens or not, Carr stood behind the president's decision. Later, he also defended the building of an internment camp in Colorado because he felt it was necessary to support the president during the wartime emergency.

Carr's views cost him his political career. After his term as governor, he was defeated in a close race for the U.S. Senate against longtime senator Edwin C. Johnson. Eventually pressured by the party to attempt a comeback in 1950, he entered and won the primary race for another term as governor. Sadly, though, he died 11 days after his victory at the age of 62. In the 1980s, he lost again, this time to astronaut Jack Swigert, when supporters failed in their attempt to erect a statue of Carr in the capitol in Washington, D.C. Nontheless, a bust of Carr and a plaque can be found in Denver's Sakura Square in what is known as "Little Tokyo." He's their hero, too.

Adam Schrager, a political reporter for the NBC affiliate in Denver, has done a creditable job of describing Carr's heroism and his folksy approach to public office. He accurately conveys the venomous attitude of the time toward Japanese people in the U.S.

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Awesome read

This book is totally awesome, I'm not much of a reader, but I literally could not put this book down until I finished it. Adam's storytelling makes Ralph Carr come alive....I actually feel like I know him personally now. Carr was an amazing and too little recognized giant of Colorado politics. This book is a must for anyone who loves Colorado or who thinks we should again have politicians of principle.

Excellent Condition!

Book is in excellent condition. Delivery was prompt. Well packed. Smooth Transaction.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

This important biography tells the true story of the only political leader in the country to welcome Japanese-Americans to his state during World War II. Colorado Governor Ralph Carr was an unwilling candidate who catapulted to the top of the national Republican Party and was even pegged as a possible future presidential candidate by the New York papers. But when he took a courageous, yet unpopular, stance on the internment of Japanese-Americans, Carr fell rapidly from favor. He resisted demands from his political opponents to call up the National Guard to keep the Japanese out of the state, declaring, "If you harm them, you must harm me first." Speaking out on the issue, Carr fielded thousands of insults and fought off threats of impeachment. A riveting biography, The Principled Politician is the story of a courageous man sadly forgotten by Colorado and never known by his country.

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