WEBVTT - Roses of War 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:05.760 You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:23.640 Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Americans were struggling, food, clothing, 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:28.000 and gasoline were rationed on the radio. Disc jockeys played 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:31.120 the Andrew sisters dance hit, Boogie Woggie Bugle Boy, and 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:35.640 Johnny Mercer's g I Jive. During World War Two, these 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:40.879 upbeat songs kept spirits up and Americans bonded over a 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:46.400 common enemy. Several actually nations jostled to either declare war 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:50.960 against the US or become allies. In an uncertain world, 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:55.880 citizens relied on newspapers and the radio for information. To 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:01.200 combat food shortages, neighbors planted victory gardens. They exchanged flowers 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:05.600 to grace dinner tables, and crops that fed families. Men 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.280 stepped up to volunteer for service, leaving women behind to 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.000 raise families and care for the homes and gardens. When 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.480 it looked like baseball would be canceled, Women's League formed 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:20.160 to keep Americans entertained with their favorite sport, but the 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:24.160 country needed more. There was a shortage of munitions and 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:28.360 war supplies, and a desperate need for workers to make them. 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.520 Women whose husbands were at war, had to feed themselves 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:35.039 and their children, and just like in baseball, when the 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:39.679 factories called for help, women answered it wasn't easy. Some 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.080 of their male colleagues resented them and made work difficult. 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.400 To encourage more women to apply, and to alleviate men's 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:51.240 concerns that women would forever take over their jobs, America 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:55.320 looked to marketing to reframe women at work. Seventeen year 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:59.120 old Geraldine hoff Hoyle didn't think about the photographer who 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.280 snapped her photo at the ann Arbor Metal factory. She 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.080 had worn a polka dot scarf and cover rolls to work, 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.800 and twenty year old Nami Parker paid little attention to 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:13.360 a photographer who took her picture too. Like oil, Parker 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.920 also sported polka dots in her wardrobe should use the 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.600 spotted bandanna to hold back her hair as she bent 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:25.640 over a piece of machinery. In Westinghouse, artist J. Howard 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:29.639 Miller created the first Rosie the Riveter poster. A polka 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.520 dot headscarf held her hair out of her face. The 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.480 sleeves on her blue shirt were rolled up and Rosie 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.239 flexed to bicep. The caption above her red, we can 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:43.160 do it. Norman Rockwell created a cover for the Saturday 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:47.960 Evening Post featuring Rosie. In Rockwell's depiction, readers got the 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.480 message that while men were off fighting the war on 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:54.360 the front lines, women were doing their part on factory lines. 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:58.840 Kentucky born Rose Mundrow and her two children moved to 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.760 Michigan after her husband died. Rose had always been a 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.440 tomboy of sorts and handy with tools. Though Rose wanted 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.960 to become a pilot, she was passed over. Instead, she 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.400 took a job building b twenty four bombers. Later, she 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.320 became the only female member of a local aeronautics club. 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:20.880 Rose's work building the aircraft caught actor Walter pigeons Ie. 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:25.239 When Hollywood shot film footage to support war bonds, Rose 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:30.640 portrayed Rosie the Riveter, and there was yet another Rose. Rosalind. 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.919 P Walter came from a wealthy family. When the war 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.800 broke out, Rosalind went to work at the Vaught Aircraft Company. 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:41.960 Her dedication specific duty captured the attention of a newspaper columnist. 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.480 In turn, the column inspired two musicians to write the 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.800 song Rosie the Riveter, honoring all the women who worked 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.960 long and hard during wartime, Rosie had come to represent 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.760 the efforts of every working woman across America. And though 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.880 she wore a suit instead of a bandana, another one 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.040 and was about to overcome tremendous obstacles to make a 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:09.320 difference in wartime. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.800 Like nearly three hundred thousand others. From the Canton region 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:24.880 in China, Margaret's parents immigrated to the United States hoping 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:29.559 to escape poverty. Her mother, Ah Jane, was just five 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.880 when she arrived. Her father, Chung Wong, also arrived when 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.960 he was young. Around that time, Presbyterian missionaries were at 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:42.440 work convincing Chinese communities to convert to Christianity. The church 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.520 believed that if the children grew up christian did be 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:48.320 more likely to marry within the church and raise future 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.600 generations of Presbyterians, who would in turn convert more immigrants. 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:57.360 Records show that Margaret's father attended a missionary in Los Angeles, 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.360 while little is known of his or her mother's childhoods. 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:05.080 A mission homes often housed and fed immigrant children and 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:08.960 then contracted them out as servants. They weren't allowed to 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:13.640 leave their assigned positions and received no pay. In eighteen 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.200 eighty six, Margaret's father was the only Chinese immigrant to 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:20.480 receive baptism. He and her mother met through the church 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:24.880 and married. They had eleven children together, though only seven 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:30.360 survived past childhood. Margaret Chung was born in eighteen eighty nine. 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.680 As the eldest, she helped care for her younger siblings. 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:38.000 Her father, desperate to keep his large family fed, started 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:42.440 his own business raising and selling produce. When that venture failed, 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.839 he tried selling traditional Chinese herbs or working in other 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:50.919 farmers fields to find jobs. They moved frequently. A Mexican 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.080 Americans were evicted to make room for other Americans heading 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:58.160 west a Chinese immigrants moved in to work as railroad laborers. 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:04.200 As population increased, racial tensions grew, sparking and anti Chinese 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:09.279 movement riots targeting Chinese Americans erupted in Los Angeles and 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:13.920 Santa Barbara. Like other immigrants, Chong Wong moved his family 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:18.440 into more Chinese populated communities for safety. In addition to 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.640 caring for her siblings, Margaret worked to help her family. 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.240 She also had an insatiable appetite for learning and studied hard, 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.160 hoping that one day she could become a doctor and 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.760 the medical missionary for the church. The church saw missionary 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.279 hospitals as a way to create converts while also tending 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.800 to them. Inspired by the community's charismatic local doctor who 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.000 wrote a bicycle to house calls, Margaret planned for her 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:48.880 future and scoped out colleges and scholarships. When the family 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.920 moved to Los Angeles in nineteen o two, Margaret took 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.599 care of her siblings and ailing parents while still attending school. 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.760 She earned a scholarship to the University of Southern California 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.799 from The l A Times by selling newspaper subscriptions. While 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:07.080 studying at usc Margaret also held a variety of jobs. 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:10.840 She worked at the school cafeteria, sold surgical instruments, and 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:15.240 entered debate contests that offered pride money. While women did 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.880 attend medical schools at the time, it wasn't the norm. 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:23.080 Several schools catering to only women closed their doors citing 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.840 the number of co ed medical colleges becoming available. While 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.640 Margaret attended classes at the university, she dressed in men's clothing, 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.600 complete with shirt, pants, jacket, and tie, and went by 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:38.840 the name Mike Tragedy struck when her mother passed away 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:43.160 from tuberculosis. Her father's health was also failing, and she 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.920 still had younger siblings who depended on her. Although she 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.200 still had two more years of school, Margaret refused to 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.880 give up her dream and managed to do it all. 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:57.120 In nineteen sixteen, she and her fellow students posed for 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:01.280 their graduation day photo. Margaret wore her hair slicked back 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:05.120 to look more like her male classmates, along with her clothing. 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.600 Anyone glancing at the photo wouldn't immediately know she was 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.400 the only woman in her class. With a hard earned 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:15.160 degree and a lifetime of preparation, Margaret applied to become 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:19.160 a medical missionary in China. At last, her dream of 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.920 working as a doctor for the Church seemed within her grasp. 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:36.640 Except for one detail. Her application was immediately rejected. The 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.480 rejection confused Margaret. All her life, the Church had led 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.760 her to believe she sought the highest honor by helping others. 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.719 Thinking that the rejection had been an oversight, she reapplied 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.720 several times. Finally, she learned that even in her home country, 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:56.920 the Church didn't want Chinese Americans, and especially women, to 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:02.080 work as medical missionaries. Though the rejections stung, Margaret kept 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:06.120 applying at hospitals around the country. She persisted even when 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:10.400 more rejections rolled in. Her schoolmate Agnes Shall, who had 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:16.160 won several prestigious awards, also received rejections. Meanwhile, male colleagues 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:20.040 quickly found employment in hospitals that specialized in women's care, 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.400 and despite her higher degree of medical training, Margaret took 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.360 a lower level internship as a surgical nurse at the 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.560 Santa Fe Railroad Hospital. While the patients were diverse, the 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:36.319 majority were Hispanic workers from Mexico. Though her coworkers often 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:40.880 treated them poorly, Margaret offered compassion. She continued to send 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:45.040 out applications. In nineteen sixteen, she received an offer from 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.360 doctor Bertha van Husen, a woman physician at the Mary 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:52.560 Thompson Women's and Children's Hospital in Chicago. Dr van Husen 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:55.880 was committed to helping other women doctors find work in 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.439 the field that they had been trained in. A van 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.760 Husen wasn't married and often referred to Margaret and the 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:07.400 others as her surgical daughters. Margaret settled right in her 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.720 personal dress code, continued use of the name Mike, and 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.960 popularity with some of the hospital staff raised a few 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:19.360 societal eyebrows, though in response, the hospital administration implemented a 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:23.240 new rule no two employees could sleep in the same bed. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:29.200 While Margaret's autobiography doesn't mention the sleeping arrangements, it appears 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.680 that the hospital frowned on her sexual preference for women. 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:36.800 But in the early nineteen hundreds, women weren't supposed to 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.920 have much of a sex drive, and certainly not before marriage, 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.080 so two women living together drew far less suspicion than 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:48.120 two men. In addition to working at the hospital, Margaret 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:52.800 secured an internship at the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute. While other 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:56.839 doctors there rejected pro bono cases, she eagerly took them 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.160 on for the experience and to learn different treatment and 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:04.600 surgery methods. Even with the opportunities in the work, Margaret 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:08.680 felt there had to be more. She disliked Chicago's weather 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:12.679 and missed California, so when the news arrived that her 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.920 father had died from a street car accident, she resigned 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.520 from her position and returned home. She returned to the 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:23.800 Santa Fe Railroad Hospital as a staff surgeon. She also 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:28.040 built a thriving private practice. Most of her patients were poor, 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.480 but she never turned them away, even if they couldn't pay. 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.000 She excelled a surgery, A word of Margaret's ability to 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:40.800 perform surgeries that left smaller scars, attracted circus performers, banned 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:46.360 Hollywood professionals, actresses, Anime Wong, Mary Pickford, and others became 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:51.640 clients and eventually friends. Soon Margaret began hosting dinner parties 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:55.479 for her patients, further growing her clientele base and influence. 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.040 In the early nineteen twenties, she accompanied two clients to 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.960 San Francisco and instantly fell in love with the city. 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.040 In nineteen two, she left her job and moved to Chinatown. 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.880 Her luck of a husband, manner of dress, and training 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:15.480 in Western medicine was met with distrust among the Chinese community, 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.920 and still her practice thrived. She was one of the 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:22.199 few to be discreet while attending to women seeking abortions 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.760 and early forms of birth control. Margaret began a close 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:30.960 relationship with the openly gay poet Elsa Gidlow. Elsa was 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.360 in an open relationship, giving her freedom to pursue Margaret. 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:39.040 The two enjoyed dinners and lunches, fueling rumors about Margaret's 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:42.640 sexual preferences, Elsa wrote in her journal, but the two 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.840 shared a passionate kiss. She brought Margaret flowers and wrote 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.080 her poetry, and Margaret took Elsa for car rides throughout 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.480 the city in her new convertible. The community began to 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.880 talk about them. Though Elsa and Margaret seemed to share 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.720 each other's affection, Margaret knew the career and practice she 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.400 had fought so hard for couldn't survive a scandal. After 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:09.040 ending the relationship with Elsa, Margaret fully dedicated herself to work. 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:23.960 When U. S. Navy Reserves Ensign Stephen G. Bancroft came 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.920 to her with an odd request in the early nineteen thirties, 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.840 Margaret couldn't have foreseen how the turn of events would 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.320 shape the rest of her life. A few Americans knew 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.400 that the Japanese had invaded Manchuria, northeastern region of China 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:43.640 in one and the strike was successful, encouraging the Japanese 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.680 to attack Shanghai. Bancroft wanted to go abroad to fight 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:51.000 the Japanese and asked if Margaret could make arrangements with 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:55.800 the Chinese military. American born Margaret didn't have the influence 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.680 their connections he needed, but curious and impressed with this 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.880 call us, she invited him and his housemates to dinner, 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:06.000 and Bancroft arrived with a handful of pilots, all in 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.960 their twenties, and Margaret and her guests hit it off 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.240 so well that she invited them back. For months. The 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.160 group went on camping and hunting trips and continued to 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:19.840 dine together. Before Bancroft and the pilots, Margaret's personal life 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:24.000 had suffered. The men provided her with much needed companionship, 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.520 and the group grew close. They spent so much time 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.240 together that during one particular dinner, a young pilot announced 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:34.040 that they had decided to adopt Margaret as their surrogate mother, 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.440 and then he kidded her, saying that they had no father. 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.040 Margaret quipped back that this made them all her fair 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:45.840 haired bastards. The group broke into laughter. The name stuck, 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:51.520 and Doctor Margaret Chung quickly became Mom Chung. By seven, 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:56.040 she had over five hundred sons and the media's wrapped attention. 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.360 In nine, her devotion to her son's inspired Holly Would 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:04.400 and the film King of Chinatown. The movie starred Margaret's 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:08.560 friend and client anime Wong. The comic book series Real 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.800 Heroes followed in it. Margaret's likeness shared pages with President 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:16.760 Franklin D. Roosevelt. Margaret became the center point for Chinese 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.680 American relations during the start of World War two. By 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.520 one she had covertly drafted a hundred pilots that made 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.880 up the famous Flying Tigers Squadron. The Flying Taggers flew 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:33.760 p forty Tomahawk fighters, all flying under Chinese colors. The 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.920 nose of each had been painted with rows of gleaming teeth. 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:42.119 Bounties were awarded to pilots for their aerial victories. All told, 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:46.960 Margaret adopted thousands of pilots, along with submariners and even admirals. 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.520 Celebrities followed, including a young Ronald Reagan and Robert Young, 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.840 and she referred to them as Kiwi's since the movie 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:59.080 stars were flightless and didn't serve as pilots. Her group 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:03.280 of Kiwi's grew three hundred and consisted of celebrities, politicians, 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.440 and various military personnel. And though her number of sons 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.760 had grown well into the thousands, she had considered each 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.440 true family. Letters and gifts from the men filled her 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:18.440 office for the U. S government. Margaret made for great 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:22.720 propaganda for her fair haired bastard sons. She had become 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:27.720 a compassionate surrogate mother. Margaret thrived in her personal life, 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.840 no longer felt empty. She was free to wear what 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.040 she wanted among her sons and engaged in more masculine 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:38.920 hobbies and interests. The public no longer scrutinized her. After 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:43.520 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in she sent thousands of 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.600 care packages to those sons sent to fight in the war. 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:51.680 Additions to her famous sons included John Wayne and Admirals 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:56.800 William Bull Halsey and Chester W. Nimitz. Her family grew 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:01.440 by including daughters like Amelia Earhart. In nineteen forty three, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.280 an elite group of submariners known as the Golden Dolphins 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:08.840 were added. She presented each of the members, who included 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.919 Henry Fonda, with a leather notebook. She wrote letters to 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.080 those sent to fight overseas and gifted her pilots with 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.840 a small jade Buddha on a neck chain. Her role 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:24.520 wasn't limited to recruitment letters and care packages. Margaret tended 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.919 to the injured, and she helped create and promote fundraising 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:32.040 events for humanitarian efforts, including the popular Rice Full parties. 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.760 Women's rights were still near and dear to her, and 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:40.080 Margaret lobbied for women's inclusion in the military. Her efforts 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.720 paid off, and in nineteen forty two, the military created 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.960 a reserve corps in the Navy called WAVES, or Women 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:52.000 Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. Her application to WAVES was 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:56.320 rejected due to her race and reported sexuality. All of 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.520 these pulls on her time affected her practice. When fair 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.399 haired Bastard children learned she could no longer pay for 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:07.000 her home, they pitched in to pay her mortgage. Her 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.359 adopted children often visited her when they returned home, and 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:14.280 Mom Chung prepared dinners for them, and when she retired 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:17.400 from practice, they pitched and again, buying her a home 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.800 out in Marin County. Mom Chung took to her new 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.960 home and old age with grace, for her home was 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:29.119 where of love blossomed, and though she became increasingly frail, 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:32.760 she was always delighted when her children, whom she loved 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:49.520 so deeply, came home for dinner. Margaret Chung lead a 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:52.919 full life. She retained the love of her heritage and 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:57.360 committed herself to Chinese American communities while remaining very patriotic. 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.520 She had been a caring daughter, insist, a hard working student, 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.600 an intern and nurse dedicated to helping those less fortunate, 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:09.240 a devoted physician, and a staunch supporter of women's rights. 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:13.840 Margaret changed social norms with her sexuality and broke glass 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:18.000 ceilings in her professional life. But nineteen fifties brought changes 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.719 to America. While most of her adopted sons and daughters 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:25.080 remained loyal, the public began to see those of Chinese 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.359 heritage as part of the Red Scare. She wrote an 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:32.040 autobiography that sold few copies, where it would have likely 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:35.920 been a best seller a decade before. In nineteen fifty eight, 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:39.159 after feeling unwell for some time, she went to the doctor. 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:44.119 The resulting tests revealed a varying cancer. It would be 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:46.880 decades before the medical world would develop a more effective 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:52.040 treatment against this highly aggressive and deadly disease. Margaret didn't 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:54.640 need the doctors to tell her that surgery was just 0:19:54.880 --> 0:20:00.280 borrowed time. She underwent the procedure anyway. After recouper eating, 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:04.240 Margaret went home to plan one last event. Her funeral. 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.520 Vice Admiral Charles Lockwood visited after her surgery and noted 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:12.640 that she was in good spirits. Her prognosis of five 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.000 months to live didn't bother her in the least. Margaret 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:20.800 Chung passed away on January five, ninety nine. Her sons 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.840 and daughters ensured that her funeral went precisely how she 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:28.480 had planned. Admiral Nimitz and his wife, Catherine, attended. The 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.560 Admiral's wife noted in her journal that hundreds of people 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:34.080 of all races and walks of life came to pay 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.800 their respects to Mom Chung and say their final goodbyes. 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:43.520 San Francisco's Mayor to admirals, including Nimmits, a couple of privates, 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:47.239 and an ensign were her paul bearers. They laid her 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:52.200 casket into her final resting place. Later, Admiral Lockwood wrote 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:56.960 one last tribute, God bless and rest her very beautiful soul. 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:02.359 There will never be another Mom Chung. There's more to 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.359 this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor break to 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:16.320 hear all about it. There's another Rose who became nearly 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:19.800 as famous as Rosie the Riveter, though for different reasons. 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:23.760 At least in the beginning. Iva Toguri was born on 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:28.560 Independence Day of nineteen sixteen. Her father, June, had immigrated 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:34.520 from Japan in eight Fumi. Her mother followed in. As 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:38.359 a child, Iva enjoyed her time as a girl scout. Later, 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:41.600 she turned her attention to education, receiving a degree in 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:46.560 zoology from the University of Southern California in ninety Iva's 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:50.320 life was full of family and friends and active social life, 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.840 but that changed when her aunt in Japan became ill 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:58.199 in ninety one and needed help recovering. Iva packed her 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:01.280 bags and boarded a ship from San Pedro with only 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:04.920 a certificate of identification as proof of her citizenship. When 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:08.280 her aunt recovered, Iva contacted the U. S. Vice Consul 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.119 in Japan for a passport to return home. The paperwork 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.600 was still in progress when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:18.920 Japanese government insisted that she renounced her U S citizenship. 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:24.320 Iva refused. As punishment, Iva was declared an enemy alien 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:28.680 without a war card, that is, a government issued card 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:31.640 that would have allowed her to receive food and other necessities. 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:35.439 Iva needed a job. The Domain News Agency offered her 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:39.200 position as a typist. Soon after, she learned that her 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:42.000 parents and other Japanese Americans had been taken to an 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:46.520 internment camp in Arizona. She also learned that Allied soldiers 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:49.200 had been taken to a Japanese prisoner of war camp 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:53.120 known for their horrific treatment. Iva took a second job 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:57.280 with the propagandist radio station Radio Tokyo. The station had 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:01.760 forced three prisoners, Australian Captain char Girl's cousins, American Captain 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:06.040 Wallace Ince, and Philippine Lieutenant Normando Reyes, to go on 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:09.600 air and demoralize American troops who might listen to their show, 0:23:09.880 --> 0:23:13.679 called The Zero Hour. Iv A befriended the men and 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.320 smuggled them food. Unaware of the friendship, the station assigned 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:20.000 her to work on the show with the men. Going 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:23.679 by the pseudonym Orphan Anne or Orphan Annie, Iva played 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:27.680 music and assisted in a few comedy sketches. After shows 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:31.800 that received criticism for their poor English grammar, responsibility for 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:36.000 writing the scripts fell the cousins, Ins and Reyes. The 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:38.920 language barrier worked in the men's favor, and they took 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:43.119 to using double entendres and sarcasm in their scripts. Iva 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:46.840 also joined in telling any Allied forces listening that she 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:50.919 was their best enemy. In short, she told listeners that 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:54.280 she was on their side. Japanese officials never caught on. 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:57.560 Iva's voice became well known during the show's a year 0:23:57.600 --> 0:24:01.000 and a half run, though her identity remained into mystery. 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:05.359 Troops began calling her and other unknown Japanese women propagandists 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:12.439 Tokyo rose In Iva married one Philippe Takino, who she 0:24:12.520 --> 0:24:16.320 met through the station, and with the war over, Iva 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:19.879 looked forward to returning home. Though she had little money, 0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:23.439 time was not on her side. She needed to get 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:26.080 home to her parents, and the US was looking for 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:31.040 radio propagandists, so when two reporters offered up two thousand 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:35.800 dollars for an interview with the mysterious Tokio, rose Iva answered. 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:40.200 She never received a penny, though, and US officials and 0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:44.520 Yokohama quickly arrested her. They kept Iva in custody for 0:24:44.560 --> 0:24:48.120 a year while General Douglas MacArthur's staff and the FBI 0:24:48.240 --> 0:24:52.359 investigated her. Neither found any evidence that suggested she had 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:57.080 committed treason. Iva, now pregnant, was free to return home. 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:00.840 News for clearance and her interview detail allowing her attempts 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:04.600 to help the POWs and Allied forces had spread across 0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:09.360 the country, but radio personality and gossip columnist Walter Winchell 0:25:09.800 --> 0:25:13.960 launched a campaign against her. His rhetorics sold plenty of 0:25:14.000 --> 0:25:17.199 newspapers and gained him the support of the American Legion. 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:21.280 Even those in General Douglas's army of counter intelligence couldn't 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:25.200 convince them of her innocence, Winchell and the Legion pushed 0:25:25.240 --> 0:25:29.760 to try Iva on US soil. On September twenty five, 0:25:31.440 --> 0:25:36.080 Iva was arrested on eight counts of treason. The prosecution 0:25:36.160 --> 0:25:39.719 found Japanese Americans who claimed Iva had bad mouth to 0:25:39.720 --> 0:25:44.040 the United States during her broadcasts. The testimony didn't match 0:25:44.119 --> 0:25:47.760 the broadcasts, but that didn't matter to the court. Neither 0:25:47.800 --> 0:25:50.440 did the rumor that the witnesses had been coached. Her 0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:53.439 citizenship was revoked and the court sentenced her at a 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:56.640 time in the Federal Reformatory for Women in West Virginia. 0:25:57.119 --> 0:26:02.000 After six years and two months, she was granted role. Afterward, 0:26:02.240 --> 0:26:05.800 I've relocated to Chicago and worked for her father, though 0:26:05.960 --> 0:26:10.399 she could never restore her reputation, at least not until 0:26:10.520 --> 0:26:14.720 nineteen sixty nine, when Sixty Minutes investigated her story of 0:26:14.760 --> 0:26:18.879 prompting the change she saw President gerald Ford pardoned her 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:24.639 in and in two thousand and six, just months before 0:26:24.640 --> 0:26:28.199 her death, the World War Two Veterans Committee presented the 0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:31.919 ninety year old Iva with the Edward J. Hurleyhy Citizenship 0:26:31.960 --> 0:26:43.840 Award for her courage, spirit and unyielding patriotism. American Shadows 0:26:43.960 --> 0:26:47.560 is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written by 0:26:47.560 --> 0:26:51.720 Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed, and produced by Miranda 0:26:51.800 --> 0:26:56.680 Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mackey, Alex Williams, 0:26:56.720 --> 0:27:00.159 and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show at 0:27:00.160 --> 0:27:02.919 grim and mil dot com. From more podcasts from I 0:27:03.000 --> 0:27:06.879 Heeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 0:27:06.920 --> 0:27:13.320 wherever you get your podcasts. H