[colorado tanker]

U.S. industry came up huge in WWII. We also supplied a lot of stuff to the Brits and Russians through "lend-lease." Once industry converted to war production Germany and Japan could only produce a small fraction of what we could.

I think Yamamoto had a pretty good idea of what we could do. He went to Harvard, served two posts in Washington and traveled extensively. He opposed war with the US and only put together his Pearl Harbor plan when Tojo and the Army forced the war on the Navy. Here is his famous (or infamous) quote:

Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it would not be enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians (who speak so lightly of a Japanese-American war) have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.

[Sirius Lee]

U.S. industry came up huge in WWII. We also supplied a lot of stuff to the Brits and Russians through "lend-lease." Once industry converted to war production Germany and Japan could only produce a small fraction of what we could.

Yes, quantity has a quality all its own. Something to think about as we enter the dawn of the Chinese Century.

[ozdragon]

I believe he also said that once landing on American soil they would face a man with a rifle behind every tree.

[wetgundog]

Yamamoto also said that if the Japanese invaded the US there would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.

[NorthMountain]

Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it would not be enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians (who speak so lightly of a Japanese-American war) have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.

That's not a threat ... it's a warning, to the power-hungry warmongers in Tokyo. Anybody with half a brain, and a grasp of reality, would have seen the utter idiocy of thinking that Japan could march on Washington and dictate terms.

Regrettably, too many men in positions of power in Tokyo had a poor grasp of reality.