That's interesting. Not just because it discusses the alternative strategy of dealing with Hitler, but it shows the complete and total lack of concern about what Japan was doing on he other side of the world. Totally ignoring a real threat until it slaps you across the face is as American as apple pie, I guess. The difference between the reactions to 12/07/41 and 09/11/01 is astounding, and it does not bode well for this country.
Japan was not ignored at all in the pre-war planning. In fact, it was envisaged that Japan was to be the foe of the United States, while the Britiash Empre and France dealt with Germany and Italy. The German Blitzkrieg of Western Europe in 1940 upset some of those earlier war plans and brought other alternative war plans to the forefront.
The B-17 and B-24 bombers were conceived as hemispheric defenses against hostile naval fleets approaching the continental United States. The B-29, B-32, B-36, and other very long-range bombers were conceived as inter-continental bombers. The inter-continental bombers were intended to be used against Japan, Germany, or other threats if and when the bases required very long-range missions.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was so determined to stay out of the major wars, Hap Arnold was nearly fired in 1941 when he warned Roosevelt about the dangers of waiting too long to obtain the Congressional appropriations needed to build the aircraft and ar forces needed for a U.S. defense in the war.