The Tarnished Rose

This is the story of a young Japanese-American, Iva Toguri, who found herself stranded in Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Seeking employment in a belligerent country, she worked for Radio Tokyo. There she joined a conspiracy led by an Australian to obstruct and reduce the effectiveness of Japanese propaganda aimed at Allied soldiers in the Pacific. Following the war and against a backdrop of national revenge, she was convicted of treason and sent to prison for her role as the infamous Tokyo Rose, a person who never really existed. Many years later new information led to a presidential pardon for a miscarriage of justice brought about by wartime hysteria and racial animosity. Replete with lessons, it is a story worth knowing in our own age beset by America’s “war on terrorism.”