Iva Toguri(1916-2006)
Iva Toguri D'Aquino was an American citizen who was wrongly convicted of being the infamous World War II propagandist "Tokyo Rose". The nickname was applied by American GIs to several female radio broadcasters responsible for anti-American propaganda broadcasts over the radio waves by the Japanese that were intended to demoralize U.S. soldiers.
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 and caring for her grandmother in Japan when she was unable to return to the USA when war broke out. She worked odd jobs to support herself and smuggled food to Allied prisoners. She was forced to work 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. She was investigated and cleared of any treasonous activities by the both the FBI and the American military authorities after the war ended.
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 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.
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 and caring for her grandmother in Japan when she was unable to return to the USA when war broke out. She worked odd jobs to support herself and smuggled food to Allied prisoners. She was forced to work 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. She was investigated and cleared of any treasonous activities by the both the FBI and the American military authorities after the war ended.
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 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.
