Ralph Carr had neither expected, nor wanted, to be governor. Carr was at the midpoint of his second term as governor when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Public sentiment and the popular press overwhelmingly supported the incarceration of Japanese Americans. On February 18, 1942, for example, one Colorado newspaper editor endorsed Pulitzer Prize winner Westbrook Pegler's view that "the Japanese in California should be under armed guard to the last man and woman right now and to hell with habeas corpus until the danger is over." Government leaders evidently felt the same way: one day later, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. The order outraged Carr, who vehemently believed that all American citizens, regardless of race or ethnicity, should be guaranteed their constitutional rights. Given this escalating tension, Carr felt it more imperative than ever that he firmly express the state's official stance on Japanese internment. Terrified of being forcibly relocated to internment camps, many Japanese Americans decided to flee the West Coast before internment was officially imposed on March 1, 1942. Because of Carr's open-hearted stance, Colorado became one of their most common destinations. By enabling Japanese Americans to avoid internment by fleeing to Colorado before relocation officially took effect, Carr saved thousands of citizens from suffering these adverse consequences and safeguarded their rights and livelihoods. However, Carr's effect on minority rights continued long after his time in government. This espousal of the constitutional rights of all Americans, regardless of race or ethnicity, had profound implications for minority rights in the United States.