Tokyo Rose

Tokyo Rose was a name given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any of several English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda.

Iva Toguri (Wrongfully accused)

The name is usually associated, erroneously, with Iva Toguri D'Aquino (born Ikuko Toguri, July 4, 1916, Los Angeles, California), a United States citizen visiting relatives Japan at the start of the war. In 1949, perjured testimony led to D'Aquino being convicted of treason by the United States government. She was released after six years and later pardoned by U.S. President Gerald Ford, who also restored her citizenship.Siemaszko, Corky. New York Daily News (July 4, 2006): "Still not Tokyo Rose: Long free, at 90, she's imprisoned by a myth"

Unable to leave Japan after the start of hostilities, she took work at the Japanese radio show The Zero Hour, using some of her earnings to feed P.O.W.s.Ibid. She married Felipe D'Aquino, a Portuguese citizen of Japanese-Portuguese descent, in 1945. Later that year, Following Japan's surrender, two reporters offered $250 for the identity of Tokyo Rose. A monetarily tainted identification led to her arrest. Though she was released when the FBI and the U.S. Army's Counterintelligence Corps found no evidence against her, influential gossip columnist Walter Winchell lobbied against her. Forcibly separated from her husband, she was brought to the U.S., and charged and convicted of treason. Released after six years, she moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Chicago Tribune reporter Ron Yates found her accusers, who admitted they had lied under oath, claiming pressure from prosecutors. A subsequent Morley Safer report on the television news program 60 Minutes prompted her exoneration by Ford.

Conspiracy theory

Some conspiracy theorists have suggested that aviatrix Amelia Earhart, who some believe was forced to make propaganda broadcasts after her disappearance in 1937, based on the possibility that Earhart's plane went down in the South Pacific Mandate area, which was under Japanese Navy administration before World War II.

Popular Culture

Tokyo Rose has been the subject of both a movie and a documentary:

1946: Tokyo Rose, film; directed by Lew Landers; Blake Edwards played Joe Bridger
2000: Tokyo Rose, A&E Biography documentary, VHS release, was about Iva Toguri D'Aquino.

Tokyo Rose is a 1989 album by Van Dyke Parks. The album attempts to reflect an intersection between Japanese and American cultures, a common concern during the 1980s.

In 2004, actor George Takei announced he was working on a film titled Tokyo Rose, American Patriot, about Toguri's activities during the war.Chun, Gary C.W. "Star Trek 's Lt. Sulu plans to make his film, Tokyo Rose: American Patriot, in Hawaii", StarBulletin.com, April 12, 2004.

There are various restaurants and establishments named Tokyo Rose.

Footnotes

References

External links

Propagandists | Propaganda examples | World War II people

Tokyo Rose | Tokyo Rose | 東京ローズ