Posted on 11/05/2022 11:04:30 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
American sailors, marines, and soldiers during WWII in the Pacific Theater listened to Tokyo Rose all they wanted WITHOUT interference from the government. In fact, Tokyo Rose broadcasts were frequently piped in over the shipboard radios. Meanwhile in the European theater American and allied military personnel were allowed to listen to both Axis Sally and Lord Haw-Haw WITHOUT interference from government censors.
Contrast that to the situation in 2022 when, despite not even being at war with Russia, Social Media (at the urging of the government) is actively censoring not only RT and Sputnik but a whole host of other sources that the government has labeled as "misinformation." Yes, the American government had enough respect for the INTELLIGENCE of its own people to allow them to listen to Axis broadcasters during WWII yet ABSURDLY in 2022 the government thinks the public is too idiotic to be allowed to listen to or watch broadcasts of which the censors do not approve.
PING!
That said, FDR actively censored and threatened with censorship any US media outlets that did not toe the line. Lord Haw-Haw and Tokyo Rose were ineffective. State-side criticism of the government, however, could not be tolerated.
Also, not exactly censorship but the U.S. locked up thousands of Japanese Americans. Most of them lost their homes, businesses, farms, etc.
Tokyo Rose was correct in many of her reports, telling ships where they were going and such. The music was considered pretty good.
Axis radio was an odd mix of prisoner interviews, predictions of troop movements and diatribes about Roosevelt and his Jews.
There was war time censorship as to what appeared in American newspapers as to what could help the enemy, however there was NO censorship to prevent anyone from listening to Axis broadcasts.
A little known story is how the government identified those Japanese Americans—good old fashioned data mining:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/confirmed-the-us-census-b/
I always laugh when someone says “it couldn’t happen here”.
It did happen here.
My old man served in the Occupying Forces of Japan. He and a couple of other guys - small crew - were stationed to maintain the Funabashi transmitter station where they transmitted her stuff from. Rose recorded in Tokyo, Funabashi was in the absolute boondocks on the coast (the photos from the time look like they could have been taken in the the 17th century). The US took advantage of the range and kept is going to be used for their own purposes until power transitioned back the new Japanese government. So the transmitters used by Tokyo Rose became an important part of early cold war military coordination in the Pacific.
Sidenote: my old man learned about very high power RF there and was a natural fit to become a radar engineer when he came home, which he did.
…and German, and Italians.
That being said. These things happen during war. Hindsight is always… well you know the rest.
US Presidents infringing on the right to free speech got started certainly in WWI with Progressive Leftist President Woodrow Wilson. PA has posted about that, probably several times.
Though it wouldn’t surprise me if Lincoln did it as well.
Very true, but mostly it was done by tight control over news from the fronts, and a constant barrage of propaganda. Actual censorship wasn't much needed. He never tried to shut down the Chicago Tribune, for example. Lincoln did far worse during the War of Northern Aggression.
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The internment of Japanese from the West Coast was prompted by two things - firstly there were a few who spied on ship movements, but more importantly there was a violent reaction among the general population, and it was deemed best to remove the Japanese to prevent mobs from attacking them. The narrative that is now current is largely a fabrication of lawyers seeking post-war compensation from Congress.
Probably the government education/indoctrination system has something to do with that...
IAC, as someone who was aged 8-12 during WWII and aware of the TR broadcasts, I was only interested in listening to Captain Midnight, The Shadow, and Jack Armstrong...
When I was an elementary schooler in West Germany, I would listen to the Communist propaganda broadcasts on my SW radio. For giggles. The Albanian stuff was the funniest. Serious “Yellow capitolist lackey running dog” stuff. I did this with the full knowledge of my parents, and sometimes they’d listen in and laugh with me. I fail to see the danger of allowing people to hear the lies spewed by the other side.
“there was a violent reaction among the general population, and it was deemed best to remove the Japanese to prevent mobs from attacking them.”
That is an accurate statement—but think of the implications...
Imagine “there was a violent reaction among the general population to the unvaxxed, and it was deemed best to remove the unvaxxed to prevent mobs from attacking them...”
very cool story thx 👍
He had the boot to Hollywood's neck as well.
Any film that questioned the US role in the war was verboten.
"Honest Abe" shut down 300 newspapers.
let’s not forget Hanoi Hannah...
Iva Toguri called herself Orphan Ann, and her program was called the Zero Hour. I have a recording of one of those programs from 1944 in which she plays popular songs from 1939 and 1940--newer music being unavailable due to the war. The program is probably available on Youtube or some other online site.
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