It sounds plausible for the era and political situation at the time.
They (the military) could have spun it: that she had been captured by the Japs, her navigator had died of injuries sustained in the plane crash, and Amelia was a POW in China during the war. Earhart could have returned to the country as a hero, and no one (who really needed to know) would be all the wiser.
Plus even if she did help the Japanese, there were extenuating circumstances. Her life was at stake, she was in shock, she's a women, etc. I think people would probably have forgiven her.`