The only confirmed voice behind Tokyo Rose has died.

Iva Toguri d'Aquino has died at the age of ninety. Iva broadcast Japanese propaganda during World War Two. The people who made the broadcasts were known as "Tokyo Rose " to American service personal. Iva was prosecuted for treason after the war and was later pardoned by President Ford.




I doubt that any American or other allied World War Two veterans will be saddened by Iva death. Iva and her fellow broadcasters pioneered the use of a differnt medium to spread propaganda. The medium used was radio which shared the media scope with newspapers at the time.

IMO Today you can see what Iva and her Japanese masters pioneered in the form of Fox News and Al Jazeera TV networks. Note Im not saying that Iva and her fellow broadcasters were the sole pioneers of broacasting propaganda via differnt methods of commication and media.

Its worth noting that no other criminal charges were laid against any other US citzens.

[edit on 27-9-2006 by xpert11]

[edit on 27-9-2006 by xpert11]

That is a very interesting story. It has the plot, and the twists, and the world changeing events that you would exspect to see in a James Bond or similar movie.

Speaking of that some one probably could make a movie about this lady.

Nice find, thanks for positng it.

In 2004, actor George Takei announced he was working on a film titled Tokyo Rose, American Patriot, about Toguri's activities during the war.

Link

RedGolem there arent many details yet but it appears as if a movie is in the works. I think that it will be very interesting to see how Iva is portrayed by Hollywood. Often Hollywood will ignore or add fictional elements to a charchter to make a story more appealing to audiences.



[edit on 27-9-2006 by xpert11]

Originally posted by xpert11
RedGolem there arent many details yet but it appears as if a movie is in the works. I think that it will be very interesting to see how Iva is portrayed by Hollywood. Often Hollywood will ignore or add fictional elements to a charchter to make a story more appealing to audiences.

Xpert,
I think I would take your statment one step farther and say they always add things to make the story more apealing. I obviously dont know the story behind this lady aside from what I just read but I hope whoever is makeing the movie does enough research and gets the facts right.

Once upon a time, in an undisclosed location, I had an opportunity to share tea with a person closely connected to the woman known as Tokyo Rose.

Moscow Molly carried on the technique of using a woman with a sultry voice to broadcast propaganda and undermine the morale of U.S. & allied forces. The last time I personally heard Moscow Molly was in 1958 when I was stationed in Turkey. I don't know how long she continued to spew forth her particular brand of poison. She wished me a happy birthday once and said I should be ashamed to be doing what I was doing.

How she knew who I was, where I was and what I was doing says a lot about the effectiveness of Soviet intelligence back in those days.

[edit on 27-9-2006 by Astronomer70]

Astronomer70. I'd love to hear that story someday. My father has told me about listening to both TokyoRose, and the ones that RadioMoscow put on. He said that they used virtually the same sort of things. Names of units, locations, even individuals in those units. Must have been downright freaky to hear your name come over the radio like that.

Yes, but she wasn't Tokyo Rose. She did another, totally separate and utterly boring, radio broadcast. Her trial in 1945 was a a travesty, and she was treated very badly - hence the pardon from Ford.
She was very proud to be a US citizen and she never complained about the way that she had been treated.

Here's the link to the obituary in today's Times:
www.timesonline.co.uk...

Sad...