Iva Toguri(1916-2006)
Iva Toguri D'Aquino was an American citizen who was convicted of being
the infamous World War II propagandist "Tokyo Rose", a nickname given
by American GIs and applied to several female radio broadcasters
responsible for anti-American propaganda broadcast over the radio waves
by the Japanese that were intended to demoralize U.S. soldiers.
D'Aquino was the only U.S. citizen identified by that name.
D'Aquino was born in Los Angeles to Japanese immigrant parents. She had
graduated from UCLA just prior to the outbreak of World War II, and was
visiting relatives in Japan when she became trapped in the country when
war broke out. She worked odd jobs to support herself while trying to
find a way out of the country. She started working on a Japanese
propaganda radio show manned by Allied prisoners, called "Zero Hour."
She later claimed that she was forced to broadcast propaganda by her
Japanese captors.
When D'Aquino attempted to return to the U.S. in 1948, the right-wing
American press went into an uproar. The relentless pressure brought to
bear on the government resulted in her being put on trial for treason.
Among the witnesses against her were two of her supervisors at Radio
Tokyo and several U.S. soldiers who had heard the broadcasts, although
those witnesses later admitted that they had couldn't remember if they
had heard the actual broadcasts, and that they had been pressured to
lie. D'Aquino, in her defense, said that the scripts for the broadcasts
were written by U.S. and Australian POWs.
She was found guilty of one count of treason (the seventh person to be
convicted of treason in American history), fined $100,000, and
sentenced to ten years in prison. She was released after six years, and
after an appearance on the CBS-TV news series
60 Minutes (1968) highlighted her
case, she was pardoned by President
Gerald Ford in 1977. She spent her
final years living a quiet life on Chicago's North Side.
the infamous World War II propagandist "Tokyo Rose", a nickname given
by American GIs and applied to several female radio broadcasters
responsible for anti-American propaganda broadcast over the radio waves
by the Japanese that were intended to demoralize U.S. soldiers.
D'Aquino was the only U.S. citizen identified by that name.
D'Aquino was born in Los Angeles to Japanese immigrant parents. She had
graduated from UCLA just prior to the outbreak of World War II, and was
visiting relatives in Japan when she became trapped in the country when
war broke out. She worked odd jobs to support herself while trying to
find a way out of the country. She started working on a Japanese
propaganda radio show manned by Allied prisoners, called "Zero Hour."
She later claimed that she was forced to broadcast propaganda by her
Japanese captors.
When D'Aquino attempted to return to the U.S. in 1948, the right-wing
American press went into an uproar. The relentless pressure brought to
bear on the government resulted in her being put on trial for treason.
Among the witnesses against her were two of her supervisors at Radio
Tokyo and several U.S. soldiers who had heard the broadcasts, although
those witnesses later admitted that they had couldn't remember if they
had heard the actual broadcasts, and that they had been pressured to
lie. D'Aquino, in her defense, said that the scripts for the broadcasts
were written by U.S. and Australian POWs.
She was found guilty of one count of treason (the seventh person to be
convicted of treason in American history), fined $100,000, and
sentenced to ten years in prison. She was released after six years, and
after an appearance on the CBS-TV news series
60 Minutes (1968) highlighted her
case, she was pardoned by President
Gerald Ford in 1977. She spent her
final years living a quiet life on Chicago's North Side.