They Called Her Tokyo Rose

Rex Gunn was the first to write the tragic story of Iva Toguri, wrongly convicted of treason against the American people for her supposed role as the legendary Tokyo Rose during WWII. Iva, California born and raised and intensely proud of it, was trapped in Japan by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. At Radio Tokyo she conspired with American and Allied POW broadcasters to sabotage Japanese propaganda, and sacrificed greatly to aid the POWs with food, medicine, and Allied news. Although investigated and released by the U.S. Army, the post-war American public and the Truman administration needed a scapegoat, and she was brought to San Francisco to stand trial for treason. Rex had served as war correspondent during the War in the Pacific and covered Iva Toguri’s 1949 trial as an AP radio editor. He was intimately connected with her story, and remained in contact with her until his death in 1999. This is the revised editon of Rex’s original 1977 manuscript.