Ron Kovic

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Image:Ron Kovic and S. Brian Willson.jpg

Ron Kovic (born July 4, 1946) is an anti-war activist who was paralyzed in the Vietnam War. He is best known as the author of the memoir Born on the Fourth of July, which was made into a Academy Award winning movie directed by Oliver Stone, with Tom Cruise playing Kovic.

Kovic is a decorated U.S. Marine who served two tours of duty in the Vietnam War where he was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. In combat on January 20 1968 he was shot and suffered a spinal cord injury which left him paralyzed from the chest down. He became one of the best known peace activists among the veterans of the war.

Kovic was born in Ladysmith, Wisconsin and grew up in Massapequa, New York.

Ron Kovic and other anti-war activists were spat on by Republicans at the 1972 Republican National Convention. (Born on the Fourth of July p. 169)

Kovic was a speaker at the 1976 Democratic National Convention.

During the filming of his autobiography he reconciled with his parents.

Kovic announced his candidacy for a US congress seat in Orange County, California, but abruptly withdrew from the race after reporters for a local newspaper, the Orange County Register, were unable to verify events following his Vietnam service, as related in Born on the Forth of July.

In November 2003 he joined protests in London against the visit of George W. Bush.

He is an outspoken critic of the Iraq War. [1]

The last name Kovic is Slovenian.

"I am the living death, a Memorial Day on wheels. I am your Yankee Doodle Dandy, your John Wayne come home, your Fourth of July firecracker exploding in the grave." - Ron Kovic

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