more stories that could have been completely made-up; not accusing you, but whomever it is you’re reading from. Zionists are known to make up stories about rabbonim; manachem kasher is one example. Rabbi yoshe ber soloveitchik met rabbi kook in eretz yisroel, and told an interviewer that he was not impressed with him in learning, and that he was an interesting, mystical personality. For the crowd who accepts rabbi yoshe ber, this is pretty significant. And it’s in written record.
The only source you have mentioned in this last post is r. nosson kamenetzky (not exactly accepted as reliable, as it happens to be…people whose books are banned I don’t trust that much, but I digress) – when did he hear that from rav yaakov, and where did he write it? in making of a gadol? Perhaps rav yaakov said it in passing, before many things came to light.
A similar story is the lubavitcher rebbe. At first, it was only the satmar rov and chazon ish who saw through him. Then everyone else understood; some after his petirah, some before, but at this point the yeshivos all basically agree on him. Rav Pam, for instance, originally said not to get involved in what rav shach was saying in eretz yisroel, that it isn’t meant for us, but then changed his mind later on; same with rav avigdor miller, who used to praise him, but stopped when information became more available.
It’s not like today when we can google “controversial statements made by rabbi kook” and find it instantly.
In contrast, if you want more sources – rav elchonon writes that rabbi kook is a rasha in kovetz maamarim. A big sefardi beis din in yerushalaim said that he was “grabbed by the sitra achra” in their printed cherem. The steipler in kiryana de’igarsa says in a letter that one can send a kid without an alternative to merkaz harav “despite the fact that it was started by rabbi kook”. So do you really think that the list of gedolim who you claim were over the moon for rabbi kook really said that?
The first wave of awareness came with the circulation of “oros me’ofel”, where he says the line about secular, ochlei nevelos, mechalelei shabbos, kofrim baShem, that they are spiritually greater than the frum, who are complacent about the building of the land-god avodah zara.