Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino

AKA Tokyo Rose (USA, 1916 – 2006) was an American disc jockey and radio personality of Japanese descent who participated in English-language radio broadcasts transmitted by Radio Tokyo to Allied troops in the South Pacific during World War II on The Zero Hour radio show. Toguri called herself “Orphan Ann”, but she quickly became identified with the name “Tokyo Rose”, coined by Allied soldiers and which predated her broadcasts.

 

After the surrender of Japan, Toguri was detained for a year by the United States military before being released for lack of evidence. U.S. Department of Justice officials agreed that her broadcasts were “innocuous”, but when Toguri tried to return to the U.S. a popular uproar ensued, prompting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to renew its investigation of Toguri’s wartime activities.

 

Journalistic and governmental investigators years later pieced together the history of irregularities with the indictment, trial, and conviction, including confessions from key witnesses who had perjured themselves at the various stages of their testimonies. Toguri received a pardon in 1977 from then – U.S. President Gerald Ford.