Glenn Broadcasts With Tokyo Rose's Microphone to Tell Incredible Forgotten Story of American History

Last week, Glenn purchased the microphone of Iva Toguri --- aka Tokyo Rose --- used during her World War II radio broadcasts. And this morning on radio, Glenn decided to broadcast with the mic, which had not been used in nearly 70 years.

In the aftermath of the war, Toguri was labeled a traitor and went to prison. It was not until Glenn began working his on new book that he realized who she really was and the profound impact her career had on the soldiers stationed in the South Pacific during World War II.

“Tokyo Rose is a woman that is synonymous with the word ‘traitor.’ Tokyo Rose was an American citizen. She was probably the most listened‑to disc jockey in the history of the world,” Glenn explained. “Her name is Iva Toguri. She was born here in the United States. And then she went over to Japan. And then the war happened. And she wanted to come back to the United States but couldn't.”

Because Toguri spoke fluent English, she was forced to give broadcasts that were transmitted by Radio Tokyo to Allied soldiers stationed in the South Pacific during World War II.

“I think there were five different Tokyo Roses. She was Orphan Ann. And she refused. She said, ‘I'll play music, but I will not do the demoralizing messages.’ What Tokyo didn't know is that she was actually going to visit our soldiers who were kept in prison camps and when they found out, they thought she was there doing work [for the Japanese],” Glenn said. “They didn't trust her, the prisoners didn't trust her and Tokyo didn't really trust her either because she was an American citizen. So she was without a country and without friends.”

Over time, however, Toguri was able to convice the Allied soldiers that she was on their side. She brought them medicine and supplies that in many cases saved lives. “She risked her life to save ours,” Glenn said.

“In fact, this didn't come out until much, much later, Robert White, one of the aerial gunners, said he used to listen to Tokyo Rose. And he would listen to her and she would always start the Zero Hour, that was hers, and she would start and she would say, ‘Hi, boys, this is our old friend, Orphan Annie. I've got some swell records just from in the States. You better listen to them while you can because late tonight our flyers are coming over to bomb the 43rd group when you're all asleep. So listen while you're still alive,’” Glenn explained. “And the guys in Tokyo couldn't really understand. And they thought that she was demoralizing. What she was doing was she was telling, ‘Tonight we're going to go bomb the 43rd group.’ She saved lives!”

A Navy officer, who had come to burn the radio station to the ground, ultimately brought her microphone back to the U.S. When the war was over, investigators from the U.S. government spoke to many of the prisoners of war she had helped through her actions and non-demoralizing broadcasts. The government let her go initially, but once she tried to return to American everything changed. She was tried and put in prison.

“But when she was coming over back to America, her home where she was born, what happened? A radio broadcaster, Walter Winchell, found out about it and thought this was awful that she could even come here,” Glenn explained. “And so he started to gin up the American people and start to spread lies, and the government, because they needed to be popular and do the popular thing, they went over and they started to get people to perjure themselves and lie about her. She went to prison as a traitor to her country. It was a lie.”

Her microphone that Glenn now owns had not been used since the 1940s, but it remains in remarkably good shape.

“We believe this is the first time it's ever been plugged in because we had to actually open up the plate last night and put new wires in because they had just been cut and so we put new wires in the base of it, but this is all the original --- everything is original,” Glenn said.

Glenn felt it was important to not test the microphone ahead of time, for, if it worked, it would be an important moment that should be shared with as many people as possible. So Glenn turned off his state-of-the-art microphone to broadcast with the microphone of Tokyo Rose. Glenn admitted he had given a lot of thought to what he would say if the mic actually did work.

“I thought this morning, if it worked, what should be said. From the microphone used by the woman who identified herself as Orphan Ann, we called her Tokyo Rose,” he explained. “But her name was Iva Toguri. And she told the troops where the bombers were going to come so they could prepare. She hid all of her information. She disguised the words that she was using to hide them from Tokyo, not from the Americans. So here's what should be told.”

Glenn paused for effect, then began:

America, tell the truth. Tell the truth, even if it means in the end it hurts you. America, don't believe everything that your country and your government tells you. Because while many times, most times it's true; in many critical times it's an out‑and‑out lie. And it's not an American problem. It is a government problem. It is a human problem. People want power, and they will do anything to keep that power or enhance that power. It's incumbent upon you if you want to remain free, to do your own homework. And if you don't, you will lose your freedom. And because of that, innocent people will suffer. Truth and justice is the American way.

If this microphone could speak, it would tell you this: Your country told you lies. Iva Toguri was not a traitor. She was wrongly tried and wrongly imprisoned, and real justice for her is now beyond our grasp. But if this microphone could speak all that it had seen or heard, my guess is it would say, "Listen to the voices of the past. Listen to the voices of the past that now cry out. You are the last bastion of freedom in the world. You are smart enough. You as an individual are capable. But if you don't do it, no one else will.

Question the things that everyone says. Question the things that are even coming now out of this microphone, just as people questioned it 70 years ago. Find the truth because it depends on you. It's calling to you. Don't follow the crowd. Don't do the easy thing. Do the right thing. Because if you still ‑-‑ if you still want to believe that you should be called an American, you do the right thing because everything else is beneath you.

Glenn concluded, “That is incredible that that microphone can sound that good after all it has been through. History will always point us in the right direction."

The Tokyo Rose story is one of twelve Glenn selected to tell in his latest book, coming out in a few weeks, called Miracles and Massacres --- the true history of America, the true stories that have been lost on who we really are.

"If you want to save the country, and you want to save freedom, you have to start telling the truth about the miracles and the massacres that this country has seen and been involved in and caused,” Glenn said.

The West is dying—Will we let enemies write our ending?

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The blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, and soldiers built our civilization. Their sacrifice demands courage in the present to preserve it.

Lamentations asks, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”

That question has been weighing on me heavily. Not just as a broadcaster, but as a citizen, a father, a husband, a believer. It is a question that every person who cares about this nation, this culture, and this civilization must confront: Is all of this worth saving?

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

Western civilization — a project born in Judea, refined in Athens, tested in Rome, reawakened in Wittenberg, and baptized again on the shores of Plymouth Rock — is a gift. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t purchase it. We were handed it. And now, we must ask ourselves: Do we even want it?

Across Europe, streets are restless. Not merely with protests, but with ancient, festering hatred — the kind that once marched under swastikas and fueled ovens. Today, it marches under banners of peace while chanting calls for genocide. Violence and division crack societies open. Here in America, it’s left against right, flesh against spirit, neighbor against neighbor.

Truth struggles to find a home. Even the church is slumbering — or worse, collaborating.

Our society tells us that everything must be reset: tradition, marriage, gender, faith, even love. The only sin left is believing in absolute truth. Screens replace Scripture. Entertainment replaces education. Pleasure replaces purpose. Our children are confused, medicated, addicted, fatherless, suicidal. Universities mock virtue. Congress is indifferent. Media programs rather than informs. Schools recondition rather than educate.

Is this worth saving? If not, we should stop fighting and throw up our hands. But if it is, then we must act — and we must act now.

The West: An idea worth saving

What is the West? It’s not a location, race, flag, or a particular constitution. The West is an idea — an idea that man is made in the image of God, that liberty comes from responsibility, not government; that truth exists; that evil exists; and that courage is required every day. The West teaches that education, reason, and revelation walk hand in hand. Beauty matters. Kindness matters. Empathy matters. Sacrifice is holy. Justice is blind. Mercy is near.

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If this is worth saving, we must know why. Western civilization is worth dying for, worth living for, worth defending. It was built on the blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, pilgrims, moms, dads, and soldiers. They did not die for markets, pronouns, surveillance, or currency. They died for something higher, something bigger.

MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images | Getty Images

Yet hope remains. Resurrection is real — not only in the tomb outside Jerusalem, but in the bones of any individual or group that returns to truth, honor, and God. It is never too late to return to family, community, accountability, and responsibility.

Pick up your torch

We were chosen for this time. We were made for a moment like this. The events unfolding in Europe and South Korea, the unrest and moral collapse, will all come down to us. Somewhere inside, we know we were called to carry this fire.

We are not called to win. We are called to stand. To hold the torch. To ask ourselves, every day: Is it worth standing? Is it worth saving?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Pick up your torch. If you choose to carry it, buckle up. The work is only beginning.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Stop coasting: How self-education can save America’s future

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Coasting through life is no longer an option. Charlie Kirk’s pursuit of knowledge challenges all of us to learn, act, and grow every day.

Last year, my wife and I made a commitment: to stop coasting, to learn something new every day, and to grow — not just spiritually, but intellectually. Charlie Kirk’s tragic death crystallized that resolve. It forced a hard look in the mirror, revealing how much I had coasted in both my spiritual and educational life. Coasting implies going downhill. You can’t coast uphill.

Last night, my wife and I re-engaged. We enrolled in Hillsdale College’s free online courses, inspired by the fact that Charlie had done the same. He had quietly completed around 30 courses before I even knew, mastering the classics, civics, and the foundations of liberty. Watching his relentless pursuit of knowledge reminded me that growth never stops, no matter your age.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures.

This lesson is particularly urgent for two groups: young adults stepping into the world and those who may have settled into complacency. Learning is life. Stop learning, and you start dying. To young adults, especially, the college promise has become a trap. Twelve years of K-12 education now leave graduates unprepared for life. Only 35% of seniors are proficient in reading, and just 22% in math. They are asked to bet $100,000 or more for four years of college that will often leave them underemployed and deeply indebted.

Degrees in many “new” fields now carry negative returns. Parents who have already sacrificed for public education find themselves on the hook again, paying for a system that often fails to deliver.

This is one of the reasons why Charlie often described college as a “scam.” Debt accumulates, wages are not what students were promised, doors remain closed, and many are tempted to throw more time and money after a system that won’t yield results. Graduate school, in many cases, compounds the problem. The education system has become a factory of despair, teaching cynicism rather than knowledge and virtue.

Reclaiming educational agency

Yet the solution is not radical revolt against education — it is empowerment to reclaim agency over one’s education. Independent learning, self-guided study, and disciplined curiosity are the modern “Napster moment.” Just as Napster broke the old record industry by digitizing music, the internet has placed knowledge directly in the hands of the individual. Artists like Taylor Swift now thrive outside traditional gatekeepers. Likewise, students and lifelong learners can reclaim intellectual freedom outside of the ivory towers.

Each individual possesses the ability to think, create, and act. This is the power God grants to every human being. Knowledge, faith, and personal responsibility are inseparable. Learning is not a commodity to buy with tuition; it is a birthright to claim with effort.

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Charlie Kirk’s life reminds us that self-education is an act of defiance and empowerment. In his pursuit of knowledge, in his engagement with civics and philosophy, he exemplified the principle that liberty depends on informed, capable citizens. We honor him best by taking up that mantle — by learning relentlessly, thinking critically, and refusing to surrender our minds to a system that profits from ignorance.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures. Every day, seek to grow, create, and act. Charlie showed the way. It is now our responsibility to follow.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins TPUSA tour to honor Charlie Kirk

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If they thought the murder of Charlie Kirk would scare us into silence, they were wrong!

If anything, Turning Point will hit the road louder than ever. On Monday, September 22, less than two weeks after the assassination, Charlie's friends united under the Turning Point USA banner to carry his torch and honor his legacy by doing what he did best: bringing honest and truthful debate to Universities across the nation.

Naturally, Glenn has rallied to the cause and has accepted an invitation to join the TPUSA tour at the University of North Dakota on October 9th.

Want to join Glenn at the University of North Dakota to honor Charlie Kirk and keep his mission alive? Click HERE to sign up or find more information.

Glenn's daughter honors Charlie Kirk with emotional tribute song

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On September 17th, Glenn commemorated his late friend Charlie Kirk by hosting The Charlie Kirk Show Podcast, where he celebrated and remembered the life of a remarkable young man.

During the broadcast, Glenn shared an emotional new song performed by his daughter, Cheyenne, who was standing only feet away from Charlie when he was assassinated. The song, titled "We Are One," has been dedicated to Charlie Kirk as a tribute and was written and co-performed by David Osmond, son of Alan Osmond, founding member of The Osmonds.

Glenn first asked David Osmond to write "We Are One" in 2018, as he predicted that dark days were on the horizon, but he never imagined that it would be sung by his daughter in honor of Charlie Kirk. The Lord works in mysterious ways; could there have been a more fitting song to honor such a brave man?

"We Are One" is available for download or listening on Spotify HERE