I think you're misreading it. The article doesn't tie him to Russia, it states that some Americans at the time tried to (as they did with a great many people).

I think you're misreading it. The article doesn't tie him to Russia, it states that some Americans at the time tried to (as they did with a great many people). The article says that his behaviour and the ways he chose to be portrayed changed, to be self-promotional, yes, but so that he became well-known and well looked upon so people would listen to his message, his war of words against Hitler; he was doing all he could to convince the American public to both support the war effort, and to view fascism as the enemy, not the German people. It also doesn't seem to say he was trying to promote myth-making, but that he recognised the some story tropes held particular interest for German culture, and so were inevitably going to be written, so responsible authors should preemptively use those tropes to promote people and culture, not fascism. This article taught me basically all I know of Mann, so I really am interpreting the article and not my prior knowledge; I got quite a positive view of him from it.