Funding for the Chinese republican movement was of paramount importance. The Japanese government had no interest in aiding a force that might unify a broken country that it wished to dominate. The Chinese émigrés decided to seek help from the Western democracies, and Lea, with his natural flair and ability to impress, was the perfect fundraiser. Alongside the exiled Chinese prime minister and Prince Ch’i-ch’ao, Lea appeared in front of fascinated Western audiences wearing his lavish Oriental uniform. His reputation grew in North America and Europe.

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In 1904 Lea returned to China to take command of the 2nd Army Division. Once again his military effort failed and the Manchu regime remained in power. Crestfallen and in poor health, he returned to Santa Monica, Calif., but his interest in the Chinese republican movement was far from quelled. He played a key part in creating and training the Chinese Imperial Reform Army, an organization used to infiltrate and plant fifth columnists within the imperial military forces. Lea was also busy formulating his theories on the weakness of his own country’s Pacific interests and its western seaboard. He was positive that Japan was now a very real threat, as demonstrated during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

For more than seven months Lea explored all the important ports, passes and possible landing sites along the West Coast. In compiling his project, he drew up tables listing the name of every Japanese ship capable of transporting troops. He also commissioned a number of detailed maps exploring possible moves that the Japanese might well consider making. To emphasize the blindness of U.S. foreign policy, he gave his manuscript a sarcastic title, The Valor of Ignorance. He sent a copy to America’s foremost expert on the Far East, General Chaffee. Chaffee was astounded. I have not been able to sleep since I read it, he told Lea, adding, I see no way…no way to defend ourselves according to what you say is their plan…unless we begin to arm now.

The Valor of Ignorance was published in 1909, and met with howls of derision from pacifists and isolationists. Critics panned the work, but Lea’s ambition had never been to become the next Karl von Clausewitz. His book failed in its goal of warning his fellow Americans of the lurking danger, however, for it had no impact on its domestic audience. There were some breakthroughs in military circles, though — when he became superintendent at West Point, Douglas MacArthur tried to make The Valor of Ignorance compulsory reading, but it ended up being put on an optional list. Although optional reading lists are usually the first pieces of paper the student discards, MacArthur at least saw to it that the book was there to be read when the time came.

Ironically, the book, subtitled The Inevitable Japanese-American War, did well in Japan, where more than 84,000 copies were sold. The jacket blurb exclaimed, Excellent reading matter for all Oriental men with red blood in their veins. Advertising aside, the Japanese government and the tacticians recognized its value, and The Valor of Ignorance became compulsory reading for all Japanese cadets.

Unknown to Lea, the legendary British and Indian Army field marshal, Lord Frederick Roberts, had also read the book. Even though Roberts was one of the United Kingdom’s most respected military minds, his warnings of a titanic clash between Britain and Germany were falling on deaf ears at home. Recognizing a mind that worked along similar lines to his own, Roberts commissioned Lea to write a consultative work on the threats facing Britain. Lea was happy to oblige, viewing the task in hand as an excellent chance to further his reputation and his cause — which it did. The Germans themselves were as keen, if not keener, to seek out Lea’s opinions. The American was an invited guest at German military maneuvers, resplendent in his Chinese general’s uniform. Having familiarized himself with the Teutonic outlook, Lea returned to London and started writing again. In his second work, The Day of the Saxon, he concerned himself with analyzing the geopolitical rather than the tactical aspects of German expansionism. The findings he presented to Roberts confirmed the old warhorse’s worst fears.

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