A TOKYO ROSE . . . BY NO OTHER NAME
Producers have tried and failed for nearly 40 years to get permission of one of our major “traitors” to put her life story on film. Until now.
Iva Toguri--better known in World War II as radio propagandist Tokyo Rose--has agreed to assist producer Fredrick Close and his Texas National Films in developing a movie of her life.
Although Toguri keeps a low profile managing her father’s Japanese-import bookstore in Chicago, friends convinced her that there is legitimate interest in her story and an important need to correct history. According to Dr. Clifford I. Uyeda, a Toguri spokesman, the film’s purpose is to change her status from traitor to patriot. Uyeda led a successful effort to obtain Toguri’s presidential pardon in 1977.
Toguri, 69, was convicted of treason in 1949 and served six years of a 10-year jail sentence.
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