January 19, 1977 Tokyo Rose

There’s an old cliché that, if you speak with someone convicted of a crime, they will always say they are innocent.  It’s an untrue statement on the face of it, but only two possible conclusions are possible.  Either all convicts are guilty as charged, or someone, at some time, has been wrongly convicted.

To agree with the former is to accept the premise that government is 100% correct, 100% of the time.

Iva Ikuko Toguri was born in Los Angeles on July 4, 1916, the daughter of Japanese immigrants.  She attended schools in Calexico and San Diego, returning to Los Angeles where she enrolled at UCLA, graduating in January, 1940 with a degree in zoology.

In July of the following year, Iva sailed to Japan without an American passport.  She variously described the purpose of the trip as the study of medicine, and going to see a sick aunt.

In…