Sunday, October 01, 2006

Digital Broadcasters | Radio Japan | "Tokyo Rose" Dies at Age 90

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has learned of the death of "Tokyo Rose", better known as "Iva Toguri D'Aquino" on September 26 at the age of 90.

This was the Japanese-American lady most identified as "Tokyo Rose", a nickname given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any one of approximately a dozen English-speaking women broadcasters on Radio Japan who read out propaganda on air.

Labeled as the "Tokyo Rose" by the press after the war, she was detained for a year by the U.S. military before they decided she had not committed a crime worth prosecuting.

Upon return to the U.S., the Federal Bureau of Investigation charged her with eight counts of treason. Her 1949 trial resulted in a conviction on one count, making her the seventh American to be convicted of treason.

In 1974, investigative journalists found that key witnesses had lied during testimony and other serious problems with the conduct of the trial. She was later exonerated by U.S. President Gerald Ford.

Iva, is the only US citizen convicted of treason to have been pardoned.

What a coincidence, Iva Toguri D'Aquino was born on July 4, 1916 American Independence Day that year.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News sends condolences to the family.

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