17 Facts About Velvalee Dickinson

Velvalee Dickinson was an American professional doll-collector-turned-spy for Imperial Japan during World War II.

Velvalee Dickinson was caught by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but concerns over reasonable doubt led to conviction on lesser charges.

Velvalee Dickinson graduated from the Berkeley, California girls' school, Snell Seminary, in 1913.

Velvalee Dickinson earned her Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University in 1917 or 1918, but did not receive her diploma until January 1937 because of unreturned school library books.

Velvalee Dickinson frequently visited that consulate; she socialized with Imperial Japanese Navy sailors and government officials, there and at her home.

In NYC, Velvalee Dickinson's spending outstripped the income from her shop.

Velvalee Dickinson traveled to California annually, joined the Japan Society, often visited the Nippon Club, and befriended the NYC Japanese Consul General and Ichiro Yokoyama.

Velvalee Dickinson gave it to her postmaster, who forwarded it to the FBI.

The FBI was further able to match the letters to the typewriters used, and learned that by 1943, Velvalee Dickinson was flush with United States one-hundred-dollar bills.

Velvalee Dickinson anxiously returned to New York City several weeks later, still surveilled by federal agents.

Velvalee Dickinson initially claimed that the money was from insurance, savings, and her doll store, but later told the FBI that she found it in her husband's bed when he was dying.

Velvalee Dickinson alleged that her husband did not disclose the money's source, though she conceded it could have been the NYC Japanese Consul.

Three weeks after her arrest, Velvalee Dickinson was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for violation of censorship statutes.

Velvalee Dickinson was the first American woman to face possible capital punishment for espionage.

Velvalee Dickinson, then being called "The War's Number 1 Woman Spy", was scheduled for trial on June 6,1944, but it was postponed due to domestic fervor over the Normandy landings.

Velvalee Dickinson became friends with Eunice Kennedy in 1950 while imprisoned in West Virginia.

The FBI could only prove Velvalee Dickinson's espionage took place after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but documents released in the 1960s show that the agency suspected she was already providing intelligence that was gathered via the wives of Naval officers.