An uncle of mine was a motorcycle messenger of Patton. He did not think Patton’s greatness was a media creation.
Of course, Patton had rivals in the military at the time. Don’t mistake jealousy in past time with the judgement of history.
And the media then was just as ridiculous as now.
Remember the scene when Patton said he was going to Malta, and the smarmy reporter then asked, “Will you be slapping any soldiers there, sir?” You could tell Patton would have thought nothing of pulling out his Ivory-Handled revolver and shooting that son-of-a-bitch, instead of just quietly walking away.