Goodbye Orphan Annie

September 27, 2006 8:37 PM

R.I.P Tokyo Rose Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who served seven years in federal prison for treason after taking part in Japanese propagande broadcasts during WWII, died yesterday at the age of 90. She had been originally cleared by the Justice Dept of any wrongdoing, howevera media frenzy led by the likes of Walter Winchell reopened her case, and she was convicted on very shoddy evidence and perjured testimony. Years later, it was relieved that she had actually been a part of a plot with US POWs to hinder the propaganda effort. (previously)
posted by kayjay (20 comments total)

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posted by nola at 8:48 PM on September 27, 2006

That US POWs link doesn't seem to go to where you think it might.
posted by klangklangston at 8:59 PM on September 27, 2006

Nevermind. Found it.
posted by klangklangston at 9:01 PM on September 27, 2006

Years later, it was relieved that she had actually been a part of a plot with US POWs to hinder the propaganda effort.

I think you mean "revealed" :o)
posted by clevershark at 9:11 PM on September 27, 2006

When driving home, I often wonder how many MetaFilter people are also listening to All Things Considered and will soon post about the more interesting stories, like Tokyo Rose.
posted by xmutex at 9:20 PM on September 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

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posted by ZachsMind at 9:39 PM on September 27, 2006

Had she returned to the US before the war broke out, she'd probably have been incarcerated.

Gods, we treated Japanese Americans badly. That is one of the reasons I'm scared for my Arab American neighbours now.
posted by QIbHom at 9:57 PM on September 27, 2006

For years she ran an import store here in Chicago, at the rather busy hipster-ish corner of Belmont and Clark streets.* I learned about her, not from a local news outlet, but from The Economist.

*Toguro imports, right across from the Punkin' Donuts.
posted by Tuffy at 10:16 PM on September 27, 2006

I hate these fucking frothy types who get into 'frenzies'. Wars over folks, relax.
posted by delmoi at 11:07 PM on September 27, 2006

When driving home, I often wonder how many MetaFilter people are also listening to All Things Considered and will soon post about the more interesting stories, like Tokyo Rose.

I resist the urge at least once a week.
posted by sourwookie at 12:10 AM on September 28, 2006

So has Keith Olberman apologized to her yet?
posted by mediareport at 5:08 AM on September 28, 2006

In how many threads are you going to ask that question mediareport?

This is the comment you speak of: "the nation’s marketplace of ideas is being poisoned by a propaganda company so blatant that Tokyo Rose would’ve quit."

Are you saying she wouldn't have quit?
posted by ?! at 6:07 AM on September 28, 2006

Just the two, ?!. Just the two.
posted by mediareport at 6:33 AM on September 28, 2006

It seems like "Tokyo Rose" was a nickname applied not just to one woman, but to several Japanese women who did propaganda broadcasts. Ms. Toguri D'Aquino was just the unfortunate woman who happened to get scapegoated. The innocence of Ms. Toguri D'Aquino does not negate the fact that there were other "Tokyo Roses" who did propaganda broadcasts. In other words, this is a pretty weak and hair-splitting basis for criticizing Olbermann's comparison of Bush propaganda spin to Tokyo Rose.
posted by jonp72 at 7:14 AM on September 28, 2006

Actor George Takei has taken on the task of clearing the name of a woman many believe to be a traitor -- Iva Toguri, better known as 'Tokyo Rose.'
posted by kirkaracha at 8:32 AM on September 28, 2006

Here's a blog post that explains why Iva Toguri d'Aquino was not "Tokyo Rose." The post states, "Quite a few women did English-language broadcasts for Radio Tokyo during the war, and "Tokyo Rose" was a made-up name that soldiers used for all of these female voices."
posted by jonp72 at 9:23 AM on September 28, 2006

I think the point is not that Tokyo Rose was unfairly accused of doing propaganda, it's that Iva D'Aquino was unfairly accused of being Tokyo Rose (a name apparently invented by G.I.s). Her character was Orphan Ann.

In fact, it would appear that D'Aquino was deliberately fingered by someone who knew that she was the most sympathetic of all the announcers (it seems too coincidental). This person may have had backstabbing or profit motives, or could even have thought that D'Aquino would face no serious consequences if her broadcast record were checked.
posted by dhartung at 9:29 AM on September 28, 2006

In fact, it would appear that D'Aquino was deliberately fingered by someone who knew that she was the most sympathetic of all the announcers (it seems too coincidental).

At first, I was attracted by this theory myself, but Eric Muller's writing on the case seems to contradict that. D'Aquino didn't need to be "fingered" by any mysterious informants, because she was already known to the Justice Department and U.S. military police in Japan. The drive to get her prosecuted as "Tokyo Rose" appears to be the result of pressure from nativist groups who were outraged by reports that "Tokyo Rose" had been given a U.S. passport with the blessing of the Justice Department:

d'Aquino applied for a U.S. passport in the fall of 1947 so that she could return home. The Justice Department at first voiced no objection to her obtaining a passport; her case had been investigated and closed more than a year earlier. However, word somehow leaked to the press that "Tokyo Rose" had applied for a passport, triggering a firestorm among veterans' groups and West Coast nativist organizations, and they demanded a treason prosecution. Bowing to this strong public pressure, the Justice Department opened a new investigation.
posted by jonp72 at 11:10 AM on September 28, 2006

jonp72, I'm talking about the first time she was identified, not the uproar later. Here's what seems to be the context: D'Aquino had taken the job to work for the Australian Charles Cousens. They had similar pro-American attitudes and concocted ways to slip mixed messages into their shows and used comedy as a way to avoid direct propaganda. But Cousens had a heart attack (at 41!) and was replaced by Kenkichi Oki, a U.S. national who had relinquished -- unlike D'Aquino -- his citizenship. Under pressure to change the show, D'Aquino began coming to work erratically, frustrating her bosses and the other announcers who had to fill in for her. (Oki married one of them.) When the US reporters went hunting for Tokyo Rose, one of their contacts met with Oki, who gave up D'Aquino's name. He may have been trying to protect his own wife, he may have been fed up with D'Aquino after working with her. Iva then sealed her fate by accepting a $2000 interview fee, which must have been an enormous sum of money in postwar Japan -- one she never received, because the uproar over her interview led her to hold a press conference, forfeiting the "exclusive". Yet she still had no idea how her story was being written up in the U.S.

Ultimately Oki and another less pro-American former U.S. national would both testify against D'Aquino.

The real issue (around the prosecution) seems to have been the passport -- because ironically, D'Aquino was the only one of the Japanese broadcasters to want to return to the U.S. But this only came about because she was fingered in the first place, detained, investigated, released, and then allowed to return. That's the "known to authorities" bit you're talking about, but that took place months later.

I think there's reasonable grounds to consider an axe to grind. Some naivete on D'Aquino's part, and some clumsiness and probably deliberate political pandering on the government's part. I also can't find any evidence that any other broadcasters were similarly investigated, but that may simply be omitted information.

My main source, btw. The stuff about Oki can be found elsewhere too.
posted by dhartung at 3:48 PM on September 28, 2006

My main source, btw. The stuff about Oki can be found elsewhere too.

I stand corrected. This Oki sounds like a real snake.
posted by jonp72 at 1:24 PM on September 29, 2006