Enemy ships could swoop in and shell New York; enemy planes could drop bombs on war plants in Detroit; enemy troops could attack Alaska.
The man who said these things could be done was Franklin Roosevelt, at a press conference. Asked a newsman: Aren't the Navy & Air Force strong enough to deal with anything like that? Said the President: Certainly not.
Secretary of War Stimson added a significant footnote. Said he: "The only way I know to prevent these attacks is to mass our forces in offensive action and carry the war to the enemy." And that, he said, is exactly...