cover image Hunt for Tokyo Rose

Hunt for Tokyo Rose

Russell Warren Howe. Madison Books, $19.95 (354pp) ISBN 978-0-8191-7456-7

``Tokyo Rose'' was the name given by GIs to the woman whose radio broadcasts for the Japanese attempted to demoralize American troops in Pacific during World War II . But, as we're told here, there was not just one ``Tokyo Rose''; more than two dozen women did the broadcasting, the majority of them Japanese-Americans located, for one reason or another, in Japan. Among them was Iva Toguri, who, trapped in Japan by the war, remained loyal to the U.S. and was the only Tokyo Rose who refused to renounce her American citizenship. Ironically, as Howe ( Mata Hari ) relates in this dramatic, affecting account, that citizenship meant that Toguri was the only Rose who could be charged with treason. While preliminary investigations led to no charges, rabble-rousing by Walter Winchell and others in the press resulted in a trial. Toguri was found guilty and spent eight years in prison, but years later was pardoned by President Ford. Photos not seen by PW. (Jan.)