Born on the Fourth of July

"Born on the Fourth of July" (ISBN 1-888451-78-5) is the best selling autobiography of Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran who became an anti-war activist. Kovic was born on July 4, 1946, and his book's ironic title echoed a famous line from George M. Cohan's patriotic 1904 song, "The Yankee Doodle Boy" (also known as "Yankee Doodle Dandy"). The book was adapted into a 1989 Academy Award winning film of the same name co-written by Oliver Stone and Ron Kovic, starring Tom Cruise as Kovic.

Origin

"Born on the Fourth of July" was written in Santa Monica, California during the fall of 1974 in exactly one month, three weeks and two days. [http://pej.org/html/print.php?sid=2718 Born on the Fourth of July: The Long Journey Home] Ron Kovic - accessed on 8 August, 2005] It tells the story of Kovic's life growing up in Massapequa, New York, joining the Marines right out of high school, going to Vietnam for two tours of duty, getting shot, finding himself wheelchair bound, and eventually starting a new life as an anti-war activist.

:"I wrote all night long, seven days a week, single space, no paragraphs, front and back of the pages, pounding the keys so hard the tips of my fingers would hurt. I couldn't stop writing, and I remember feeling more alive than I had ever felt. Convinced that I was destined to die young, I struggled to leave something of meaning behind, to rise above the darkness and despair. I wanted people to understand. I wanted to share with them as nakedly and openly and intimately as possible what I had gone through, what I had endured. I wanted them to know what it really meant to be in a war — to be shot and wounded, to be fighting for my life on the intensive care ward — not the myth we had grown up believing. I wanted people to know about the hospitals and the enema room, about why I had become opposed to the war, why I had grown more and more committed to peace and nonviolence." — Ron Kovic, on writing his autobiography.

Differences with the film adaptation

* Ron Kovic is shown to have confessed his supposed role in the Marine Private's accidental death to the deceased man's sympathethic parents and widowed wife, who admits that she cannot find it in her heart to forgive him, but God might do so. In reality, this meeting never happened, but director Stone admits this was done to add to the inner conflict Kovic was going through and to give him some closure. ["Born on the Fourth of July audio commentary"]

* In the film, Kovic has three brothers and two sisters: Thomas, James, John, Suzanne and Patricia the same as in real life. His mother and father have since passed away. Three of his brothers, two sisters and Ron Kovic still remain.

* Kyra Sedgwick's character of Donna, Ron's on-screen high school sweetheart, never existed and did not inspire him to become an anti-war activist. The film portrays Kovic watching her protest after the Kent State Shootings and get beaten up by police. Although Kovic did not witness the protest in person, he nevertheless did watch the event on television, and the memoir states that he was enraged by the treatment of the protestors, much like his feelings towards the treatment of his fellow veterans. ["Born on the Fourth of July", pp. 178]

Cultural references

*Bruce Springsteen dedicated his 1978 performance of "Darkness on the Edge of Town" live at Winterland to Ron, saying that he read "Born on the Fourth of July", and "loved the book a whole lot."

*Folk musician Tom Paxton adapted the book into a song of the same title.

References

ee also

*Births on July 4th