Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Iva Toguri D'Aquino
Iva Toguri D'Aquino (born July 4, 1916) is frequently identified with "Tokyo Rose". Born Ikuko Toguri in Los Angeles, California, she was raised and schooled within the United States and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Zoology. Through high school and college, she was popular and generally held in high esteem as a loyal American.
After school, she worked in her parents' shop until July, 1941. That July she decided to go to Japan in order to visit an ailing relative. Unfortunately for Toguri, she left the United States without a passport and had to apply to the US Vice Consul who forwarded her request to the mainland. This would result in her being trapped in Japan after the outbreak of hostilities the following December.
Following the outbreak of war, Toguri was pressured by the Japanese to renounce her American citizenship, which she refused. She did take a job as a typist at a Japanese news agency and eventually took a job as a typist for Radio Tokyo.
In November 1943, American POWs forced to broadcast propaganda selected her to run a radio show called The Zero Hour, which broadcast from 6pm - 7pm Tokyo time. Toguri's radio name was "Orphan Anne". She reportedly addressed in alternate as "Your favorite enemy, Anne" and "Orphan Annie". Her radio program was intermixed with music and her total on air speaking time was generally about 20 minutes. This radio program earned Toguri an unimpressive 150 yen or about $7 per month. Her selection was mainly due to her inexperience in broadcasting and soothing voice. The POWs felt she'd do little harm to morale.
Although there is no indication that Toguri ever used the name Tokyo Rose, she was arrested on September 5, 1945 in Yokohama and was tried for treason after attempting to re-enter the United States in 1948, supposedly due to a media uproar. By this time she had married Felipe D'Aquino, a Portuguese citizen of Japanese decent.
D'Aquino's trial began on July 5, 1949 and concluded with a guilty verdict on September 29, 1949. The trial was at the time the most expensive in history, at $500,000. As it turns out some of the witnesses would later admit to perjuring themselves. The evidence was rather sketchy and D'Aquino maintained her innocence. She was sentenced to ten years imprisonment with a $100,000 fine. She served 6 of the 10 and was released on January 28, 1956.
D'Aquino appealed her case to the public on the television program 60 Minutes, and was pardoned by outgoing President Gerald Ford on January 19, 1977.
D'Aquino reportedly resides in Chicago, Illinois.
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