Laurel Outlook

TOKYO ROSE:
Sitting Pretty

Whatever had been her effect in bringing death to American GI's in the South Pacific, there was to be no death penalty for Mrs. Iva D'Aquino--known to the world as Tokyo Rose.

SHE was on trial in San Francisco on a charge of treason because the government of the United States contends she broadcasted for the Japanese in the "hope to demoralize and discourage allied military men and to impair the ability of the United States to wage war against its enemies."

In a manner of speaking, Tokyo Rose was sitting pretty. The government prosecutors said they would not ask for the death penalty, so all the woman faced was imprisonment and fine or possibly both.

A newspaper story of her arraignment said she wore a "tailored gray mixed plaid suit with gilded buttons. Her freshly-shampooed hair was topped with a gold beret. She sat demurely at her attorney's elbow as if she were his secretary."

ALL throughout the war there were mixed claims about her influence on GI morale. Many servicemen declared they "got a kick out of her broadcasts--chiefly for laughs," while others blamed her for widespread demoralization among the Allied personnel.

In view of the Judy Coplon conviction on a charge of treason in connection with the Russian government, things might go hard with Tokyo Rose in the length-of-term department; but with the specter of death removed as punishment for a crime for which death might well have been expected, the blow couldn't be too severe.