The Traitor Trials of Tokyo Rose
Iva Toguri aka Orphan Ann versus WWII Japanese Hysteria
Oct 13, 2009
While entrenched in enemy territory, GI’s not only had access to the Armed Forces radio but also tuned into broadcasts from their enemies. As in many war time propaganda campaigns, broadcasts from the Broadcasting Corporation of Japan purportedly included morale depleting messages using female announcers to promote a political agenda.
Tokyo Rose by any Other Name
The most famous of these broadcasters represented a combination of several women nicknamed “Tokyo Rose” by the American GIs. When the war ended, the United States government narrowed down the list of potential enemy collaborators. From this list they determined that American born and raised, Iva Ikuko Toguri D’Aquino or Orphan Ann of the Zero Hour, was “the one and only” Tokyo Rose.
The result was a conviction of treason based on a single count by grand jury in 1949 as America’s first female traitor for speaking the lines “Orphans of the Pacific, you are really orphans now. How will you get home now that your ships are sunk?” Groups from the Japanese American Citizens League to the members of the press worked to receive her eventual pardon from President Ford in 1977.
Their articles as well as Attorney General Edward Levi’s letters and resolutions provide arguments for her pardon as well as insight to their interests in the matter.
Orphaned Ann America’s First Female Traitor
“Iva Toguri (D’Aquino): Victim of a Legend” produced by the National Committee for Iva Toguri of the Japanese American Citizen’s League, provides an outline of the political and social circumstances surrounding this “blot on the integrity of American jurisprudence” focused upon the political climate McCarthyism created. The JACL’s resolution of July 27th of 1974 stated, “it is now apparent that much of the evidence and the conduct of her trial were highly questionable and prejudicial” noting the “public hysteria” of the period.
This document references the gross misuse of government power supported by a public prejudice against non-allied ethnic and political groups as set into place by Senator McCarthy during the post-war era. They cite “hysteria” as the basis for these actions because persons completely innocent of any crime were accused and punished for the most egregious of crimes, treason.
In January, 1977, U.S. Attorney General Edward Levi wrote the “Application for Pardon of Iva Ikuko Toguri D’Aquino.” Attesting to her fundamental patriotism, Levi argued that Toguri had “no intention of committing treason” while working for the Broadcasting Corporation of Japan. He maintains the purpose for her conviction was “to serve as an example and that her conviction rested heavily upon the conditions prevailing at the time.”
Levi ended his plea for her pardon writing of her outstanding conduct along with the citizen and government commendations on her behalf. President Ford’s last act of office was to grant her pardon.
Treasonous Acts Justified by McCarthyism
Central to her case is the fact that General Douglas MacArthur, acting for the U.S. Army, along with the U.S. Justice Department initially cleared Toguri of any wrongdoing. This lead to her subsequent release while still in Japan during the post-war occupation period.
The FBI’s online history section contains a document that clarifies their roles in both Toguri’s initial release and subsequent conviction. Their case history includes a statement disassociating themselves from the journalists who worked with J. Edgar Hoover, then head of the FBI; “as a result of her interview with two reporters, Toguri came to be seen by the public – though not by Army and FBI investigators – as the mythical protagonist ‘Tokyo Rose.’”
Although this document maintains that Toguri “made propaganda statements” as part of the “a Japanese psychological warfare campaign designed to lower the morale of U.S. Armed Forces.” The “demand” that Toguri be “arrested and tried” as a traitor is attributed to “American veterans groups and noted broadcaster Walter Winchell.”
Also documented is an outline of their role enlisting Harry Brundige to “search for witnesses” who “problematically” persuaded “a former contact of his to perjure himself in the matter.” The collection of resolution, pardon application, public information and government history documents all tell, sometimes reluctantly, the story of unjustified justice, its subsequent exposure and ultimate redemption.
In 2006, the same year Iva Ikuko Toguri D’Aquino died, she was given the Edward J. Herlihy Citizenship Award for her courage by the World War II Veterans Committee.
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