"here is a scene in one of his movies (I believe it was McClintock) where he said, "I won't hit you. I won't hit you. The Hell I won't." and then turned around and delivered a hay-maker in the typical John Wayne style."
Go back and watch it again. He hit a man, not a woman. The Duke spanked his (estranged) wife in that film, but he never slugged a woman.
"Wayne wouldn't have hit a woman."
In general that's right, however Wayne was very patriotic and IMO he would have made an exception for Hanoi Jane.