LIFE Magazine Article: Six Ways to Invade the U.S.

Mind you this is from May, 1942. The problem at least with the, Atlantic operation is the Germans couldn't even take Great Britain. The Japanese war goals did not include an invasion of the US. If we stayed east of Hawaii, that's all Tokyo wanted.

But, that's not how the Earl Warrens (then governor of California and a force behind the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent) and the Charles Lindberghs (the American Firsters who feared the almighty Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht) saw matters. Nor would such thinking sell Look magazines.

 

I would add the old axiom:

Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics. ​

There was good reasons why the American Firsters looked to the Atlantic moat to protect the US. Their problem was who would we trade with once Hitler took over Europe.

 

Hence, my second paragraph. In '42, the uninformed were paranoid. And Look wanted to sell magazines, so they pulled a Hearst.

 

Just double checked, the article is from a month before the Battle of Midway. Even though it was published about the same time as the Battle of the Coral Sea, it was probably written in the late March early April time frame. That's due to the publishing tech at the time. Both the battles stopped the seemingly relentless Japanese advance.