[Tokyo Rose]

Tokyo Rose, the English-language radio propagandist broadcasting over Japanese airwaves through World War II, was never, despite common impression, a single individual. In fact, no broadcaster, nor any group thereof, operated under that name. Rather, “Tokyo Rose” was a nickname created by U.S. troops stationed in the Pacific Theatre, a catch-all term for the numerous propaganda channels Japan aired all over the Pacific.

In the common memory, the “real” Tokyo Rose is Japanese-American disc-jockey Iva Toguri D’Aquino. First held by the U.S. Military in September of 1945, detained as she attempted to return to the United States, Toguri D’Aquino would become the seventh person in U.S. history to be charged with treason, following a 1949 trial. 26 years later, investigative journalists uncovered serious flaws in the investigation, including the coercion and coaching of witnesses by the FBI and US occupation police. President Gerald Ford issued a full pardon to Toguri D’Aquino in 1977.