“It was considered such a serious issue, that General Marshall was willing to relieve Patton of command and return him to the U.S.”
It was considered such a serious political issue prompted by the media, that General Marshall was willing to relieve Patton of command and return him to the U.S.
Fixed it for you.
That says more about our media than our people. Patton didn’t deck the guy, either. He slapped him. Oh golly! Such hideous abuse!
“One of the nurses who witnessed the 10 August incident apparently told her boyfriend, a captain in the Seventh Army public affairs detachment. Through him a group of four journalists covering the Sicily operation heard of the incident, among them Demaree Bess of the Saturday Evening Post, Merrill Mueller of NBC News, Al Newman of Newsweek, and John Charles Daly of CBS News. The four journalists interviewed Etter and other witnesses, but decided to bring the matter to Eisenhower instead of filing the story with their editors. Bess, Mueller, and Quentin Reynolds of Collier’s Magazine flew from Sicily to Algiers, and on 19 August Bess gave a summary on the slapping incidents to Eisenhower’s chief of staff, Major General Walter Bedell Smith.[24]
The reporters asked Eisenhower directly about the incident, and Eisenhower requested that the story be suppressed because the war effort could not afford to lose Patton. Bess and other journalists initially complied.[26] However, the news reporters then demanded Eisenhower fire Patton in exchange for them not reporting the story, a demand which Eisenhower refused.[24]... Investigators Eisenhower sent to Patton’s command found the general remained overwhelmingly popular with his troops.[45]...
...Kuhl’s father, Herman F. Kuhl, wrote to his own congressman, stating that he forgave Patton for the incident and requesting that he not be disciplined.[46] Retired generals also weighed in on the matter. Former Army Chief of Staff Charles P. Summerall wrote to Patton that he was “indignant about the publicity given a trifling incident”, adding that “whatever [Patton] did” he was sure it was “justified by the provocation. Such cowards used to be shot, now they are only encouraged.”[47] Major General Kenyon A. Joyce, another combat commander and one of Patton’s friends, attacked Pearson as a “sensation mongerer,” stating that “niceties” should be left for “softer times of peace.”[48] In one notable dissention, Patton’s friend, former mentor and General of the Armies John J. Pershing publicly condemned his actions, an act that left Patton “deeply hurt” and caused him to never speak to Pershing again.[43]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Patton_slapping_incidents
For emphasis: “However, the news reporters then demanded Eisenhower fire Patton in exchange for them not reporting the story, a demand which Eisenhower refused.”