During World War II, numerous Americans found themselves stranded in foreign countries, including Iva D’Aquino (formerly Iva Toguri). Caught in Japan during the conflict, she became involved in radio broadcasting. Despite the dangers, she worked diligently to counter enemy propaganda; however, upon her return home, she faced charges of treason.
Iva D’Aquino’s voyage to Japan
Iva Toguri was born on July 4, 1916, in Los Angeles, California, to Japanese immigrant parents. Her father emphasized the value of integrating into American society, which led him to discourage her involvement with Japanese customs. As a result, Iva grew up without learning to speak Japanese or participating in cultural traditions, and her diet combined both Asian and Western influences.
In 1941, at her parents’ request, Iva traveled to Japan to care for her ailing aunt, who was dealing with high blood pressure and diabetes. As tensions between the United States and Japan rose, securing travel documents became increasingly difficult, adding to the suspicions surrounding Japanese-Americans.
Arriving in Japan with only a Certificate of Identification and no passport, Iva encountered numerous obstacles. The language barrier further isolated her, leaving her feeling disconnected from the locals, whom she viewed as “discourteous.” Her limited Japanese proficiency also hindered her ability to stay informed about the worsening relations between Japan and the United States through local newspapers.
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
In November 1941, Iva decided to head back to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, due to a bureaucratic hiccup, she missed the boat scheduled to depart for California on December 2, 1941. Just days later, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, prompting the US to declared war.
Following the attack, the Japanese government approached Iva, requesting she renounce her American citizenship. When she refused, she was denied a war ration card, branded as an “enemy alien,” and placed under strict surveillance. Despite her desire to be interned with other “enemy aliens,” her internment was denied because of her gender and Japanese heritage.
With no way to return home, Iva stayed at her aunt’s house until local residents, suspecting her of being an American spy, drove her out. She was then compelled to relocate to a boardinghouse in Tokyo.
Iva D’Aquino’s beginnings in Japanese radio
Iva obtained a part-time transcribing job with the country’s national news agency, Dōmei Tsūshinsha. It was there she learned of her family’s relocation to an internment camp in Arizona, a fate many Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast faced. She also met her future husband, Portuguese-Japanese pacifist Felipe D’Aquino, while at the station. An act of generosity on his part would lead her to obtain another job, this time at Radio Tokyo.
While with Radio Tokyo (formally known as Nippon Hoso Kyokai), Iva worked as an English-language typist. It was during this time that she began smuggling food to inmates at a local prisoner of war (POW) camp, with her meeting Australian Capt. Charles Cousens and US Army Capt. Wallace Ince.
Cousens and Ince, along with Philippine Lt. Normando “Norman” Reyes, were approached by Japanese government officials to host a propaganda radio show. Titled The Zero Hour, it aimed to lower the morale of troops stationed in the Pacific by reporting on disasters back in the United States.
Initially written by the Japanese, complaints over poor English grammar and syntax eventually allowed the three to gain full control over the content. Due to the language barrier, they were able to fill their broadcasts with sarcasm and double entendres aimed toward the Japanese, without retribution.
Iva D’Aquino becomes “Orphan Ann”
The group quickly approached Iva, inviting her to join them. She accepted, with the condition that she wouldn’t promote anti-American views during broadcasts. Soon, she took to the airwaves as “Orphan Ann,” a name inspired by the Little Orphan Annie comics and a term Australian soldiers used to describe those isolated from their allies: “Orphans of the Pacific.”
During The Zero Hour’s eighteen-month run, Iva performed comedic sketches, introduced music, but refrained from presenting news segments. She warmly called her listeners “honorable boneheads” and refused to travel down the typical propagandist path.
As time went on, her on-air presence shrank to only a few minutes per broadcast, yet her voice still resonated across the Pacific. Despite the secrecy surrounding her and other female broadcasters, soldiers collectively referred to them as “Tokyo Rose.” This nickname gained notoriety and ultimately brought serious legal issues for Iva.
Accusations of treason
At the end of the Second World War, reporters with Cosmopolitan Magazine and the International News Service put out a $2,000 reward for an interview with the “Tokyo Rose.”
Despite not considering herself “Tokyo Rose,” Iva accepted the offer because she needed money to fund her journey back to the United States. However, upon her arrival in Yokohama on September 5, 1945, she was taken into custody by the US Army, accused of treason for aiding the enemy with her radio broadcasts.
Iva was released a year later after the Army and other counterintelligence agencies found no evidence of treason during her time on Japanese radio. However, post-war America was rife with anti-Japanese sentiment, setting the stage for a difficult return home.
Arrested a second time
Arrested again on September 25, 1948, Iva faced eight charges of treason. Her trial centered on two key pieces of evidence: testimonies from Japanese witnesses who claimed she spoke negatively about the US on-air, and a supposed phrase – “Orphans of the Pacific, you are really orphans now. How will you get home now that your ships are sunk?” – she’s said to have uttered in October 1944.
Although this quote did not appear in the show’s transcripts, it became the deciding factor in her case. Iva was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $10,000. Her US citizenship was also revoked. She served six years and two months at the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, West Virginia, before being granted parole.
Presidential pardon
Iva moved to Chicago to work for her father’s business upon her release, but she couldn’t escape the trouble of being known as the “Tokyo Rose.” The federal government issued a deportation order against her, and she was consistently denied a presidential pardon for her conviction.
Things turned around in 1976 after two witnesses from the trial claimed they’d been threatened into testifying against Iva. This led the jury foreman to admit the presiding judge had pressured the jury to come back with a guilty verdict.
Journalists and government agencies investigated Iva’s conviction and found numerous other issues, which led advocacy groups to petition again for a presidential pardon. On the last full day of his presidency in 1977, Gerald Ford granted Iva a presidential pardon, nullifying her conviction. The pardon also restored her US citizenship.
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After being pardoned, Iva continued to live in Chicago. She unfortunately had to divorce her husband in 1980, after he was denied entry into the US. She lived a relatively private life and died of natural causes in September 2006.