Tokyo Rose

Tokyo Rose
(High School)
Active: 1943 - 1945

Iva Toguri D’Aquino
Birth: 1916
Death: 2006
Rank: Radio Broadcaster

‘Tokyo Rose’
Propaganda turned millions of otherwise normal Germans towards Nazi ideology, sowing the seeds of destruction; on the other side of the world, propaganda similarly stroked the fires of racial superiority amongst the Japanese, setting them down the road of conquest and slaughter. The United States turned upon its own citizens, because they shared the same features as the enemy. The Soviets, well remembering the rape and murder of millions at German hands on the Eastern Front, unleashed their fury when their divisions pressed the dying Wehrmarchy back unto the very streets of Berlin, indulging in atrocities every bit as cruel as what was directed against them earlier in the war. Propaganda serves the myriad purpose of misleading and brewing hatred amongst people. It is a way to demonize your enemy, in order to affirm the righteousness of your cause against the ‘barbarians.’ The means of transmitting this information to the masses was via radio broadcasts, and the personalities that delivered them quickly took on a certain notoriety amongst listeners.

The Germans utilized the services of American expats, like Mildred Sisk. Dubbed ‘Axis Sally’ by the GI’s, she directed her broadcasts toward an American born-Brit, William Joyce, who may have been the eponymous ‘Lord Haw Haw,’ who spoke with a crusty upper-class English accent, as a taunt against his former homeland. In the Pacific, several women, operating from cities throughout Japan’s conquered territories, delivered a stream of material against the allied fighting forces, to wit, these broadcasters were nicknamed ‘Tokyo Rose.’ However, in one of the grossest miscarriages of justice of the war, a young American woman, named Iva Toguri D’Aquino, press-ganged into broadcasting by the Japanese government, was tried for treason and sent to prison in the United States, despite the fact that her broadcasts consisted of playing music and comedic sketches - never anything to do with the news.

‘Orphan Annie’
Born on the 4th of July, 1916, Iva Toguri D’Aquino was a typical American girl from Los Angeles. “Our family home was located in a typical American community,” she remembered later. “I went to the neighborhood grammar school and attended church in the neighborhood.” Japanese and English were spoken in her family and the customs of both nations pervaded. But like so many other immigrants, Iva’s parents wanted to ensure their children were Americans first, and Japanese second. “My parents tried to raise us according to American customs. We celebrated all the national holidays, all Christian holidays...anniversaries, birthdays, etc.” A graduate of UCLA in zoology, Iva found herself in Japan at the time of Pearl Harbor, nursing a sick aunt back to health. Departing the United States in July 1941, Iva would not return to her homeland until after the war, when she came back under arrest for treason.

What brought this about was questions concerning her wartime activities within Japan. Unable to return to the United States after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Iva was effectively trapped, in a nation at war against her own. Her parents, like many other Japanese-Americans, were sent to internment camps in the American interior, and Iva was forced to resist pressure by the Japanese authorities to renounce her U.S. citizenship. “If you keep your American citizenship there will be all kinds of trouble for you from now on,” she was told, “so it would be smart for you to enter your name on your family register and become a Japanese citizen.” Bravely, Iva refused. As such, her troubles in getting food were considerable, until the Japanese finally relinquished and gave her a ration card. As for work, Iva gained a position with Radio Tokyo and, beginning in 1943, found herself the host of a program entitled ‘Zero Hour,’ to be directed against U.S. forces operating in the South Pacific.

Her producer was an Australian army officer named Charles Cousens; captured when Singapore fell, Cousens was brought to Tokyo because of his pre-war experience in radio. The Japanese, seeking to create ‘Zero Hour,’ needed an English speaker who knew how radio broadcasting worked. His initial refusal gave way, and Cousens was later joined in his endeavors by U.S. Army Captain Wallace Ince. and Philippine Lieutenant Normando Reyes. Though prisoners of war, the three men had a radio background. The final piece of the ensemble came in the form of Iva. An American, she was perfect for the role. Her responsibilities, however, did not delve into the realm of propaganda, rather, as reported in a post-war memorandum by the Assistant Attorney General, Iva’s activities did not go beyond “the announcing of musical selections,” and that those who said otherwise contradicted the physical evidence which consisted of several recording cylinders of her broadcasts, multiple scripts, and several transcripts - all of which pointed to Iva’s role as bringing music to her countrymen from afar. Her upbeat style and knowledge of American music made her a favorite among American servicemen in the sweltering jungle heat. A segment from her broadcast of February 22, 1944, reveals why:

“This is Radio Tokyo with your playmate Orphan Annie at the microphone presenting our regular special program for our Friends, sure I said ‘Friends’...in the South Pacific...and this musical group is strictly sentimental...One American item, and one British...America presents Louis Alter’s ‘Manhattan Moonlight’...”

The surviving transcripts of her broadcasts lack the threat of death and destruction. There is no hostility in the words, for Iva did not consider her audience to be the enemy, but rather fellow Americans - orphans, like her, in the harsh realm of the Pacific war. The name ‘Tokyo Rose,’ by which she came to be known, was not of her own creation, but given her - and other female broadcasters employed by the Japanese - by her avid listeners: U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, battling their way across the Pacific. This title, Iva would lay claim to after the war, and steadfastly asserted that she was the one and only ‘Tokyo Rose.’

Still, despite the fact that no evidence exists to the contrary, that Iva had in fact engaged in propaganda efforts for the Japanese, she was arrested shortly after the war ended in 1945, on charges of treason. Wayne M. Collins, Iva’s defense attorney, wrote of the bias against his client, complaining that witnesses for the prosecution were brought from Japan, free of bond, and given the freedom of the country, while several allied soldiers who sought to speak in Iva’s defense were not given the same courtesy. “No objection has been raised to the prosecution’s alien enemy Japanese witnesses,” Collins thundered in a letter to both the Attorney General of the United States and the Special Assistant to the Attorney General, for to deny “former Australian soldiers who are our Allies the right to enter this country to testify for the defendant unless bonds be posted for them is a flagrant discourtesy...and is an arbitrary discrimination against Mrs. D’Aquino who is penneless [sic].” Her trial and subsequent conviction remain controversial, for the odds were largely stacked against her. Imprisoned for ten years, Iva was released in the late 1950s and only received a presidential pardon in the 70s. She died, aged 90, in Chicago, in 2006.

Iva did not commit treason against the United States. A victim of circumstances, she nevertheless remained loyal to her country, whilst living in the heartland of the enemy. Her brief broadcasts brought a taste of home to embattled Americans and Allied soldiers, battling a ferocious enemy across the broad Pacific. Orphaned by the war, she returned home in chains and was convicted of crimes for which the evidence was overwhelmingly in opposition. But the anti-Japanese sentiment, which pervaded the U.S. throughout the war, ensured that the perception of Iva was that of an enemy combatant who’d used the radio to taunt the Americans. In reality, her voice, and the music that followed, uplifted the men from the squalor in which they found themselves. Her incarceration was nothing short of a miscarriage of justice.

Tokyo Rose (High School Activity) - Effective propaganda deals in lies and makes of them truths, believed far and wide. World War II was awash with propaganda, especially over the radio, where certain noteworthy personalities emerged. Lord Haw-Haw, Tokyo Rose, and Axis Sally being, perhaps, the most remembered. Axis propaganda targeted allied soldiers in Europe and the Pacific, seeking to lower their morale by broadcasting casualty reports and other incendiary remarks, whilst playing American swing music or jazz. Popular amongst Americans, these radio broadcasts from the enemy didn’t have the desired effect of worsening American resolve to wage war. For this activity, then, explore the machine of propaganda by analyzing successful propaganda campaigns against epic failures. Why does certain propaganda succeed, when others fail miserably? For background on WWII propaganda, see here:

• Book 1
• Book 2
• Book 3

• Website 1
• Website 2