SOURCE: "Harmon Memorial Lecture, 16 March 1972," in The Many Faces of George S. Patton, Jr., by Martin Blumenson and Ernest J. King, United States Air Force Academy, 1972, pp. 1-26.

In the following essay, an address given to the United States Air Force Academy on March 16, 1972, Blumenson summarizes the life and complex character of Patton.

General and Mrs. Clark, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

I am doubly privileged this evening. It is a great privilege for me to be asked to give this 14th Annual Harmon Lecture, which honors the memory of a distinguished Air Force officer. It is a great privilege also to talk with you about General George S. Patton, Jr., a distinguished Army officer. I hope that my association with the Naval War College will draw the Navy and the Marine Corps into our session here and make it a complete family affair.

I regard it as...