This episode originally aired on History Daily.

In World War II, the Japanese military operated a propaganda station called Radio Tokyo. Along with jazz music, the station featured several English-speaking female announcers, who became collectively known as Tokyo Rose. But who was Tokyo Rose? And was she really the treacherous villain that the US government made her out to be? This story comes from the History Daily podcast.

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Original music by Wesley Slover

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View Transcript ▶︎

You're listening to Twenty Thousand Hertz

[music in: Wesley Slover - Nightfall Neighborhood]

With misleading information all over the internet, celebrity deepfakes, and scams coming at us from every direction, it can often feel like we're living in the age of misinformation.

But in reality, it's always been this way. People have been misleading each other since the dawn of time, using whatever technology they had available.

Julius Cesar had wildly exaggerated tales of his victory recited in the streets of Rome. Napoleon used fake newspapers to convince an Austrian army to come out from their stronghold. And in World War One, both sides used airplanes to drop leaflets of propaganda into enemy territory, the goal being to damage the morale of the opposing army.

Here's an excerpt from a German leaflet, which was directed at American soldiers.

Other Narration: "What business is this war in Europe to you anyhow? You don't want to annex anything, do you? ...If you stay with the outfit, ten chances to one, all you will get out of it will be a tombstone in France."

[music out]

By the time World War Two came along, the militaries of the world were using radio broadcasts to do the same thing. The British had a radio station called Gustav Siegfried Eins that sent negative messages to German soldiers.

Other voices: [clip: Gustav Siegfried Eins] Achtung achtung, hier ist Gustav Siegfried Eins, GS1.

The Nazi forces had their own radio station that did the opposite. Their most famous broadcaster was known as Axis Sally. Her messages were often aimed at American women who were waiting for their loved ones to come home from the war.

Other voices: [clip: German Radio[ Good evening women of America... As time goes on, I think of you more and more… waiting for the one you love... waiting and weeping in the secrecy of your own room. Thinking of the husband, the son or the brother who is being sacrificed by Franklin D. Roosevelt perishing on the fringes of Europe.

The Japanese army had their own propaganda station called Radio Tokyo. But strangely enough, the most infamous voice behind Radio Tokyo didn't want to spread propaganda at all. And the fact that she ended up working for the Japanese military really came down to bad luck.

This story comes from the podcast History Daily. Here's host Lindsay Graham.

[sea scene in]

Lindsay: It's August 14th, 1944, and a US Navy vessel cuts through the choppy waters of the South Pacific. On deck a young sailor fiddles with a shortwave radio. He and a small group of his fellow seamen are looking for something to alleviate the monotony of another day aboard ship. As he turns the knob in search of a signal, the sailor tells his friends that he hopes they get to hear his favorite show, The Zero Hour. It's a Japanese propaganda broadcast meant to demoralize American and other Allied soldiers. But this sailor loves The Zero Hour because of the good music, and the personality of the playful announcer, an English speaking Japanese woman who goes by the handle Orphan Ann. The young sailor hears the crackle of band music and a song nearing its end.

He grins, instructing those around him to listen up. It's his show.

Orphan Ann: Hello you fighting orphans of the Pacific. How's tricks? This is after her weekend, Annie back on the air strictly under union hours. Reception okay? Well, It better be because this is all request night, and I've got a pretty nice program for my favorite little family, the wandering boneheads of the Pacific Islands.

Lindsay: The sailor and his friends laugh at Orphan Ann's description of them as “wandering boneheads.” They like her teasing voice and American accent. To their ears, she doesn't sound like a malicious foreign enemy. She sounds like girls they grew up with back home. The Zero Hour is not the only Japanese propaganda show coming out of Japan, and Orphan Ann is not the only host. There are as many as twenty female English-speaking hosts like her. American servicemen begin referring to them collectively with one now infamous nickname, Tokyo Rose.

When the program ends, the young sailor flips off the radio, smiling, [music in] thankful for a moment of levity. But back in the United States, the media's attitude towards these anti-American propaganda shows and their English speaking hosts is far less tolerant. Tokyo Rose becomes a mythical character that appears in cartoons, movies, songs, and American propaganda films as a symbol of Japanese villainy.

Here's a clip from a 1945 Warner Brothers cartoon that was released by the US Navy. It features an exaggerated racial caricature of Tokyo Rose. The character is dressed in traditional Japanese robes, but talks like a wacky jazz artist.

[music out]

Other voices: [clip: Tokyo Woes] Hey! How are all you jive artists out there on the jungle network! Well I got a mess of hot platters for you alligators today [jazz names fade under]...

The US Government got so worried about Tokyo Rose that they made a movie warning troops not to listen to her. Here's a clip from the movie, where a group of American soldiers listen to the hypnotizing voice of Tokyo Rose.

[clip: Tokyo Rose]

Other voices: I'm filled with sadness for you because of the thousands of Japanese soldiers, safe in caves and pill boxes, your bombs and shells can't touch reluctantly waiting to slaughter you.

[music in]

Lindsay: In the end one host will pay the price for the supposed sins of Tokyo Rose, Orphan Ann. Her real name is Iva Toguri. She is a 28 year old American citizen of Japanese descent. After the war, she will be charged with treason and thrown in prison. But the question of her guilt or innocence will not be officially answered until decades later on January 19th, 1977.

It's December 8th, 1941, near Tokyo. [sfx: radio sounds] Through a tinny radio at her aunt's home Iva Toguri listens to the voice of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States.

Franklin D. Rosevelt: *[clip: Pearl Harbor speech] Yesterday, December the 7th 1941, a date which will live in infamy. The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the empire of Japan...

Iva tries her best to translate his words to her non-English speaking relatives, even though her mastery of the Japanese language is far from perfect, but as she conveys what FDR is saying, she confirms their worst fears, America has declared war on Japan.

Franklin D. Rosevelt: [clip: Pearl Harbor cont.] ...With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

Lindsay: Iva's aunt trembles as she imagines a revenge bombing strike against Japan in the coming days, and Iva places her arms around the older lady to comfort her.

Iva is an American, but she's been in Japan for a few months visiting her aunt who has fallen ill. But now, with war on the horizon, she's anxious to get back to Los Angeles and be with her parents. She's concerned about how they might be treated as Japanese immigrants, now that hostilities have erupted between Japan and the United States.

As soon as she can, Iva visits the American consulate in [sfx: consulate sfx] Tokyo and tries to book an immediate passage back to California, but the official behind the desk explains that this will not be possible. Iva traveled to Japan without a passport, instead using a certificate of identification issued by the US State Department. But now that global events have shifted so violently, [sfx: shuffling documents etc] the official is suspicious of her documentation and skeptical that she's actually an American citizen.

Iva pleads, declaring that she is a full citizen born in America. She majored in zoology at UCLA. But it's no use. The official refuses to acknowledge her citizenship. She won't be allowed to return home. But the Japanese suspect she is an American, and soon [sfx: footsteps, knock on door sfx] Iva's visited by some intimidating officers of the Kenpeitai, the Japanese secret military police. These officers pressure her to renounce her American citizenship.

Lindsay: If she does not, they warn, she will be declared an enemy alien and denied a war ration card. Without this, she will have to buy food on the black market at extortionate prices, but Iva refuses. She knows that renouncing her citizenship means she will never be able to return to the land she loves.

In America, Iva is considered a nisei, a second generation Japanese immigrant. Culturally, she feels she belongs more in California than in Japan. Iva misses American food, American movies, and her American friends. Most of all, she misses her parents, but Iva is desperately short on money and she needs a job. One of the few advantages she has in Japan is that she speaks fluent English, and soon she finds work at a news agency, translating intercepted broadcasts from US radio stations. [sfx: pencil on paper]

[music out]

Then in November, 1943, Iva gets a second job at Radio Tokyo, a broadcasting corporation that produces, among other things, propaganda. Initially Iva is hired to be a typist, but one afternoon her superiors unexpectedly ask her to audition to be the announcer on a brand new show called The Zero Hour.

[music in]

Lindsay: Iva learns that this show will be primarily aimed at American troops stationed in the Pacific, and is designed to sap their morale and unsettle their loved ones back home. Much to her surprise, the team of English speaking writers and producers come from a nearby Allied POW camp. Many of them were tortured into agreeing to work on the shows.

Iva is chosen to be the announcer by an Australian army major named Charles Cousens, who will write and produce the show. Before the war, Major Cousens was a professional broadcaster. He picks Iva because of her perfect English, her charming American accent, and playful speaking style. But Iva tells Cousens that she doesn't want to participate in anti-American propaganda.

She's nervous about saying something treasonous against the country she intends to return to after the war. Privately, Major Cousens assures Iva that he has no intention of committing treason either, for his sake as well as hers. Cousens tells her that they will simply perform an entertaining show that Americans will enjoy.

They will play popular records and in between she will make provocative, but harmless comments. The Japanese propaganda officials will not understand that they are being undermined. Cousens explains that they will call the troops silly names, like boneheads, and tell their Japanese handlers that this is an outrageous insult in America.

[music out]

Liking Cousens’ plan, Iva agrees to be the voice of The Zero Hour. Cousens names her Orphan Ann, short for announcer. Soon she is in the studio with a microphone inches away from her lips.

Orphan Ann: Greetings everybody. This is your number one enemy, your favorite playmate, Orphan Ann of Radio Tokyo, the little sunbeam who's throat you'd like to cut. We're ready again for a vicious assault on your morale. Seventy-five minutes of music and news for our friends, I mean our enemies in the South Pacific.

But Iva wasn't the only voice that American troops heard while fighting in the Pacific. There was also Manila Rose, who broadcast to troops stationed in the South China Sea.

No recordings of Manila Rose exist, although her story was turned into a movie starring John Wayne as an officer. In the movie, Manila Rose turns out to be the girlfriend of one of Wayne's soldiers.

(clip: Back to Baatan) I know it's tough when the woman you love goes over to the enemy, but you can't let her tear your heart...

...It's none of your business!

That’s right. But risking the lives of these men is my business!

[music in - Wesley Slover - Deconstruction Act 03]

Lindsay: Over the next two years, Iva will speak on 340 broadcasts, rarely saying anything antagonistic, and often just introducing songs. And yet once the war's over, she will find herself in the sites of the media and federal law enforcement.

That's coming up, after the break.

[music out]

[music in Wesley Slover - Deconstruction Act 03]

Iva Toguri was an American citizen who was trapped in Japan during World War Two. Since Iva was a native English speaker with a perfect American accent, the Japanese Military coerced her into broadcasting propaganda aimed at American troops. After the war was over, Iva hoped she could finally get back to America, and lead a normal life. But that wasn't going to be easy.

[music out into History Daily music]

Lindsay: It's late August, 1945 in downtown Tokyo. The city is now under American control and it's been all but demolished by bombing raids during the final weeks of World War Two. Two American reporters, Clark Lee and Harry Brundidge, walk through the dusty rubbled streets on the hunt for a story. These two reporters, employees of Hearst publications, are working together to find the one and only Tokyo Rose.

It's an impossible task because the one and only Tokyo Rose doesn't exist. She was invented by American soldiers and sailors as a catch-all name for female radio hosts like Iva, but on the home front, Tokyo Rose morphed into a single treacherous character used in American propaganda. These reporters have heard rumors that the soldiers who listened to Tokyo Rose became so distraught, they committed suicide. And though the rumors are unfounded, the reporters believe Tokyo Rose is real and are determined to find her.

The two reporters pay one of their contacts in Japan a healthy sum to find Tokyo Rose. And eventually they're pointed in the direction of Iva Toguri.

Soon they approach Iva with an offer. If she agrees to sit down for an interview, they will pay her $2,000, the equivalent of a year's wages in Tokyo. Iva tells them she needs time to think it over. She goes to ask her husband's opinion. Iva recently married Felipe D'aquino, a Portuguese citizen and pacifist living in Japan.

When she tells Felipe that the reporters have approached her, he advises against the interview, warning, "The Americans might try to paint you in a negative light." But Iva is desperate to get back home to her parents, who she hasn't even been able to contact since the outbreak of the war. Her husband encourages her to give up on America, and become a Portuguese citizen instead, which her marriage to Felipe entitles her to do.

But Iva is determined to see her parents again, and to do so she'll need money. She agrees to the interview.

[music out]

[sfx: bar sounds, glasses clinking] On September 1st at the Imperial Hotel in downtown Tokyo, Iva talked with the reporters for three hours. As Iva tells the story of her time at Radio Tokyo, she doesn't realize she's putting herself in harm's way.

In her mind she was forced to take the job at radio Tokyo to survive. And while there she did her best to undermine Japan's propaganda efforts. Her goal was simply to make money and entertain the US troops, but the reporters have a different perspective.

During the interview, they ask Iva to sign a seventeen page confession that includes, among other things, confirmation that Iva is the one and only Tokyo Rose. Without scrutinizing it too much, Iva signs the document. [sfx: pen on paper signing something] Two days after the interview, one of the reporters writes a column that appears in US newspapers.

*[clip: newspaper article, sfx: typewriter] There was a knock on the door of our suite in the Imperial on that hot, humid morning of September 1st, 1945. In came a woman in slacks, a blouse, and pigtails tied with a red ribbon. "Are you really 'Tokyo Rose'?" I asked. "The one and only," she smiled.

[music in]

Lindsay: The article launches an Army and FBI investigation into whether or not Iva committed treason, a crime that carries the death penalty. By late November, Iva is arrested in Japan and driven straight to an American base in Yokohama for questioning before being taken to a prison for Japanese war criminals.

During her incarceration, Iva learns that in 1942 her parents were forced into an internment camp by the US government. While detained there, her mother passed away. The news breaks Iva's heart. The hope that she would one day be reunited with her parents had been her North Star throughout the war. That hope is now dashed.

During the course of the investigation, American officials find that Iva's broadcasts were innocuous, and she's cleared of wrongdoing and released. Her husband, Felipe, meets her at the prison gates carrying a bouquet of flowers. The couple is keen to put this unpleasant episode behind them and move on.

Lindsay: But Iva's troubles are only just beginning. Soon, she will get pregnant and apply for a passport so she can reenter the United States and raise her child there. But when this news reaches American shores, it provokes a new wave of hatred. Walter Winchell, an influential American radio broadcaster, begins an on-air campaign to encourage officials to deny her application, and try her for treason.

Walter Winchell clip: (click sounds) And that ladies and gentlemen winds up another Jergen’s Journal until next Sunday night at the very same time from San Francisco. Until then, and with lotions of love, I remain your New York correspondent, Walter WInchell. Goodnight.

Lindsay: Exploiting anti-Japanese sentiment among his listeners, Winchell drums up such intense support that the FBI's prompted to renew its investigation. And soon Iva will be arrested in Japan again, and this time she'll be extradited to America to stand trial.

[music out]

Iva was deported in late 1948, under a full military escort. It wasn’t how she’d imagined, but she was back in the United States.

[pre-trial courtroom scene in]

Lindsay: It's July 5th, 1949 at the federal district court in San Francisco. Harry Brundidge sits anxiously in the dock of the courtroom waiting for Iva Toguri's treason trial to begin. Brundidge was one of the reporters who extracted Iva's original confession. It was easy to do. Iva was an ebullient young woman who happily told them about her career as a wartime broadcaster.

[pre-trial courtroom scene fade out, music in]

She looks much different now, a broken figure, who's seen hardship. Brundidge knows back in Japan, Iva's baby died shortly after birth. Soon afterwards, she was transported in a Navy troop ship to America, where her husband is not allowed to visit her. But these are the wages of treason, Brundidge thinks. He's here to see Iva face justice, and Harry Brundidge has made sure she will. He's enticed a witness to purger himself. During the trial, the defense calls Iva's former producer, Major Charles Cousens, who was recently acquitted himself on similar charges in his native Australia. He testifies that in over 300 broadcasts, Iva never said anything treasonous.

The defense challenges the prosecution to produce one instance of Iva saying anything illegal. But a number of witnesses are called against her, including two of Iva's American coworkers at Radio Tokyo, who testify that she did knowingly broadcast treason against America.

In an interview with CBS years later, one of the investigators from Iva's case said this:

Other voices: (clip: CBS interview) You can't deny the fact that technically she spoke from a script. It was designed to be played over Radio Tokyo to suit their purposes. It's entirely possible that it had no effect on American personnel, but that's not the test for treason. The question is whether you're giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Lindsay: After a week's deliberation, the jury finds Iva guilty on one of eight charges. She is sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $10,000, the equivalent of over 100,000 today.

[music transition]

Iva serves six years in prison before being released on good behavior. Separated from Felipe, she moves to Chicago to work in a shop owned by her father to pay off her heavy fine, but she never stops fighting to clear her name. She applies for a pardon to President Eisenhower in 1954, and then again, to President Johnson in 1968. Both applications are ignored.

At one point, the US Department of Immigration even tried to deport her, despite her being an American citizen. Here's Iva talking about the situation before her deportation hearing.

Interviewer: (clip: Tokyo Rose interview) Do you consider yourself a citizen or an alien?

Iva Toguri: Well I think I am a United States citizen, I mean I was born here. I don't know what else I could be.

Lindsay: But over time, several of the prosecution's witnesses come forward to recant their testimony. They claim they were enticed to commit perjury by various government and media officials, including the reporter Harry Brundidge. In 1977, the CBS program 60 Minutes airs a story on Iva's life that catches the attention of officials in Washington.

Walter Cronkite: (clip: CBS 60 minutes) She may be the most famous woman broadcaster ever. No, we're not talking about Barbara Walters, we're talking about Tokyo Rose.

The segment included an interview with Iva, who was in her early sixties at that point.

Walter Cronkite: Who did you want to win the war?

Iva Toguri: There's no question about that. I wanted the United States to win, I mean there was no question about it. I mean, what would I know about Japan? The only country I knew was the United States. I had only been in Japan a few months.

Lindsay: On January 19th, 1977, during his final day in office, US President Gerald Ford issued Iva a full and unconditional pardon. She was 61 years old. For decades, she endured unwarranted hatred and oppression, all because of her association with a name that became synonymous with treason.

She was demonized by the media and prosecuted by her government. And yet, despite these injustices, all Iva wanted was to spend the rest of her days as an American citizen. Her father once said that Iva was like a tiger, who never changed her stripes. She stayed American through and through.

Lindsay: In the end, Iva found justice and cleared her name in America and all across the world thanks to the pardon she fought for and received on January 19th, 1977.

She was also recognised for her bravery and perseverance. In 2005, the American Veterans Center gave Iva one of their highest honors.

In the citation, they said that Iva had shown courage, patriotism and loyalty. Iva called it the most memorable day of her life.

[music in]

That story came from the podcast History Daily. On that show, host Lindsay Graham takes you back in time to explore a momentous event that happened ‘on this day’ in history. What you just heard was a slightly extended version of their show. Over on their feed, the show is delightfully bite-sized. To hear more, subscribe to History Daily right here in your podcast player.

Twenty Thousand Hertz is hosted by me, Dallas Taylor, and produced out of the sound design studios of Defacto Sound.

This episode was written by James Benmore, and co-produced by Noiser and Airship.

Andrew: With additional material written and produced by Andrew Anderson

Casey: and Casey Emmerling

Joel: and sound designed by Joel Boyter.

It was hosted, edited and executive produced by Lindsay Graham. Audio editing by Mollie Baack, with music and sound design by Lindsay Graham.

Thanks for listening.

[music out]