Foresight

During their 1931 meeting, [Henry L.] Stimson made a bold prediction: that within ten years, Germany and Japan would join hands in an alliance and ignite a second world war. He thought that this time Germany would run all over France and the rest of Europe, Japan would run over much of China, and then Germany would attack Russia. He foresaw a ten-year war in which the United States would bear the brunt of the fight, unless a coalition of nations - namely Great Britain, Russia, and the United States - could be formed, in which case the war could be ended in five.

- From The Rise of the G.I. Army 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor by Paul Dickson