imported>RomanGrandpa: /* Personal life */ since Adam Kovic doesn't have a wikipedia article, just removed, the section can be restored with better content

2025-10-30T17:20:06Z

Personal life: since Adam Kovic doesn't have a wikipedia article, just removed, the section can be restored with better content

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{{Short description|American activist and writer (born 1946)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ron Kovic
| image = Ron Kovic 2.JPG
| caption = Ron Kovic at an anti-war rally in [[Los Angeles, California]], on October 12, 2007.
| birth_name = Ronald Lawrence Kovic
| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|July 4, 1946}}
| birth_place = [[Ladysmith, Wisconsin]], U.S.
| occupation = {{flatlist|
* Activist
* author
* Marine }}
| module = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes
| allegiance = United States
| branch = United States Marine Corps
| branch_label = Branch
| serviceyears = 1964–1968
| rank = [[Sergeant#Marine Corps|Sergeant]]
| unit = {{plainlist|
* [[3rd Battalion, 7th Marines|3/7 Marines]]
* [[1st Reconnaissance Battalion|1st Recon Bn]]
* [[2nd Marine Aircraft Wing|2nd MAW]]}}
| battles = [[Vietnam War]]
| battles_label = Conflicts }}
}}

'''Ronald Lawrence Kovic''' (born July 4, 1946)<ref name=hero/> is an American [[Anti-war movement|anti-war]] activist, author, and [[United States Marine Corps]] sergeant who was wounded and paralyzed in the [[Vietnam War]]. His best selling 1976 memoir ''[[Born on the Fourth of July]]'' was made into the [[Born on the Fourth of July (film)|film of the same name]] which starred actor [[Tom Cruise]] as Kovic, and was co-written by Kovic and directed by [[Oliver Stone]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950DE6DA1F38F933A15751C1A96F948260|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=How an All-American Boy Went to War and Lost His Faith|author=Vincent Canby|author-link=Vincent Canby|date=December 20, 1989}}</ref>

Kovic received the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay]] on January 20, 1990, 22 years to the day that he was wounded in Vietnam, and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category.<ref name="gga">{{cite web|url=http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/category_year/646|title=Best Screenplay – Motion Picture|work=Golden Globe Awards|publisher=Hollywood Foreign Press Association|access-date=December 30, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20060929122657/http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/category_year/646|archive-date=September 29, 2006|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Early life==
Kovic was born in [[Ladysmith, Wisconsin]], the second of six children<ref name=hero>{{cite web|url=http://www.heroism.org/class/1970/kovic.html|title=Heroism Project - 1970s - Ron Kovic|access-date=September 1, 2016}}</ref> of Patricia Ann Lamb (January 6, 1923 – June 30, 2006) and Eli Thomas Kovic (August 3, 1920 – May 1, 1999).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhqcsFFSu3wC|title=Ron Kovic: Antiwar Activist|first=Nathaniel|last=Moss|date=January 1, 1994|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers|isbn=9780791020760|access-date=September 1, 2016|via=Google Books}}</ref> Eli met Patricia while serving in the Navy during the Second World War after both enlisted shortly after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Eli was of [[Croats|Croatian]] ancestry. Patricia was of Irish ancestry. She was a housewife.<ref name="Mogk2013">{{cite book|last=Mogk|first=Marja Evelyn|title=Different Bodies: Essays on Disability in Film and Television|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0dv4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA219|year=2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-6535-4|pages=219–221}}</ref> Kovic grew up in [[Massapequa, New York|Massapequa]], New York, and graduated in 1964 from [[Massapequa High School]] on [[Long Island]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawrence A |first=Tritle |title=From Melos to My Lai : war and survival |publisher=Routledge |year=2000 |isbn=0203251768 |edition=1st |location=London/New York |pages=50}}</ref>

==Military service in Vietnam==
Kovic volunteered to serve in the Vietnam War, and was sent to [[South Vietnam]] in December 1965 as a member of H&S Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. In June 1966, he was transferred to Bravo Company, Second Platoon, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19900211&id=Po5KAAAAIBAJ&pg=6790,2162732|title=The Telegraph - Google News Archive Search|access-date=September 1, 2016}}</ref> where he participated in 22 long range reconnaissance patrols in enemy territory and was awarded the [[Commendation Medal|Navy Commendation Medal]] with Combat V for valor. After a 13-month tour of duty, he returned home on January 15, 1967. He was subsequently assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at [[Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point|Cherry Point]], North Carolina. Several months later, he volunteered to return to Vietnam for a second tour of duty.<ref name=gay/>

On January 20, 1968, while leading a reconnaissance force of battalion scouts<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amtrac.org/1atbn/Chronicles/amgrunts.asp|title=AmGrunts|access-date=September 1, 2016}}</ref> from the 1st Amtrac Battalion just north of the Cửa Việt River in the vicinity of the village of [[Mỹ Lộc district|Mỹ Lộc]], in the [[Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone|Demilitarized Zone]], Kovic's squad came into contact with the NVA 803rd Regiment and elements of a [[Viet Cong]] battalion that was besieging the village; he was shot by NVA soldiers while leading his rifle squad across an open area, attempting to aid the [[South Vietnamese Popular Force]] unit in the village. Deserted by most of his unit,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/born-on-the-fourth-of-july-vets-account-disputed-by-comrades/|title='Born on the Fourth of July' vet's account disputed by comrades|last=Jardine|first=Jeff|date=July 3, 2012|work=The Seattle Times|access-date=September 1, 2016}}</ref> he was shot first in the right foot, which tore out the back of his heel, then again through the right shoulder, suffering a [[pneumothorax|collapsed lung]] and a [[spinal cord injury]] that left him paralyzed from the chest down.<ref name=gay/> The first Marine that tried to save him was shot through the heart and killed, before a second Marine carried Kovic to safety through heavy enemy fire. Kovic spent a week in an [[Intensive care medicine|intensive care]] ward in [[Da Nang]]. As a result of his service and injuries in the conflict, Kovic was awarded the [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star]] with [["V" device|Combat "V"]] for heroism in battle and the [[Purple Heart]].<ref name="Moss1994">{{cite book|last=Moss|first=Nathaniel|title=Ron Kovic: Antiwar Activist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhqcsFFSu3wC|year=1994|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers|isbn=978-0-7910-2076-0|page=55}}</ref>

==Post-Vietnam activism==
[[File:Ron Kovic and other disabled veterans end hunger strike, 1974.jpg|thumb|Kovic (left) leading other disabled veterans after ending their 17-day hunger strike, March 1974]]
Before the end of the war in Vietnam was declared on April 30, 1975, Kovic became one of the best-known peace activists among the Vietnam veterans, and was arrested 12 times for political protesting. He attended his first peace demonstration soon after the [[Kent State shootings]] in May 1970. That same spring, Kovic’s first speech against the war at [[Levittown Memorial High School]] in [[Levittown, New York|Levittown]], Long Island, New York was interrupted by a bomb threat and the auditorium was cleared.<ref name="Mogk2013"/>Undeterred, Kovic continued speaking to students from the school's football grandstands.

His first arrest was during an [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam War]] demonstration at an Orange County, California draft board in the spring of 1971. He refused to leave the office of the draft board, explaining to a representative that, by sending young men to Vietnam, they were inadvertently "condemning them to their death", or to be wounded and maimed like himself in a war that he had come to believe was "immoral and made no sense". He was told that, if he did not leave the draft board immediately, he would be arrested. Kovic refused to leave and was taken away by police.<ref name=gay>{{cite book|last=Gay|first=Kathlyn|title=American Dissidents: An Encyclopedia of Activists, Subversives, and Prisoners of Conscience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzQVpPvlVMcC&pg=PA362|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-764-2|pages=359–362}}</ref>

In 1974, Kovic led a group of disabled Vietnam War veterans in wheelchairs on a 17-day [[hunger strike]] inside the Los Angeles office of Senator [[Alan Cranston]]. The veterans protested the "poor treatment in America's veterans' hospitals and demanded better treatment for returning veterans, a full investigation of all [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Veterans Administration]] (VA) facilities, and a face-to-face meeting with the head of the VA, [[Donald E. Johnson]]. The strike continued to escalate until Johnson finally agreed to fly out from Washington, D.C., and meet with the veterans. The hunger strike ended soon after that. Several months later, Johnson resigned. In late August 1974, Kovic traveled to [[Belfast]], [[Northern Ireland]], where he spent a week in the Catholic stronghold of "[[Springfield Road|Turf Lodge]]", interviewing both political activists and residents. In the spring of 1975, Kovic, author [[Richard Boyle (journalist)|Richard Boyle]], and photo journalist Loretta Smith traveled to cover the [[Cambodian Civil War]] for [[Pacific News Service]].<ref name=gay/>

On the night of July 15, 1976, at the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Kovic spoke from the podium seconding the nomination of draft resister Fritz Efaw for Vice President of the United States.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Knight |first=Dee |date=April 15, 2010 |title=Calls for unconditional amnesty for military resisters |url=https://archive.org/details/mundo_obrero_52.14/page/8/mode/2up |access-date=November 2, 2024 |work=[[Workers World (newspaper)|Workers World]] |pages=8}}</ref>

In 1990, Kovic considered running for a seat in the House of Representatives against California Republican [[Bob Dornan]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/24641c9560b9ef41a68ad34a26874e1f|title=Congressman Challenges Sections of ''Born on Fourth of July'' Movie|website=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> Kovic ultimately decided not to run.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newmobility.com/2003/06/ron-kovic-reborn/|title=Ron Kovic Reborn|first=Tim|last=Gilmer|date=June 1, 2003}}</ref>

From 1990 to 1991, Kovic took part in several anti-war demonstrations against the first [[Gulf War]], which occurred not long after the release of his biographical film in 1989. In early May 1999, following the [[United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade|U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade]], Serbia, Kovic met with China's ambassador to the United States [[Li Zhaoxing]] at the [[Embassy of China, Washington, D.C.|Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C.]] to express his condolences and present the ambassador and his staff with two dozen red roses. He was an outspoken critic of the [[Iraq War]].<ref name=gay/>

===Since 2000===
In November 2003, Kovic joined protests in [[London]] against the visit of [[George W. Bush]]. He was the guest of honor at a reception held at [[City Hall, London (Southwark)|London's city hall]] by Mayor [[Ken Livingstone]]. The following day, he led a march of several hundred thousand demonstrators on [[Trafalgar Square]], where a huge rally was held to protest the visit of George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Kovic attended the [[2008 Democratic National Convention]] in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]]. On Sunday, August 24, 2008, the day before the convention began, Kovic spoke, then led thousands in a march against the war which ended with him saying, "In the city of Denver, we got welcomed home."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2008/08/27/march-ends-in-peace/|title=March ends in peace|date=August 27, 2008|work=Denver Post}}</ref>

In a new introduction to his book, ''[[Born on the Fourth of July]]'' (1976), written in March 2005, Kovic stated, "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. I had been beaten by the police and arrested twelve times for protesting the war and I had spent many nights in jail in my wheelchair. I had been called a [[Communism|Communist]] and a traitor, simply for trying to tell the truth about what had happened in that war, but I refused to be intimidated." In 1989, on the last day of filming ''Born on the Fourth of July'', Kovic presented actor [[Tom Cruise]], who portrayed him in the movie, the original Bronze Star he had received,<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/17/movies/the-private-war-of-tom-cruise.html|title=The Private War of Tom Cruise|first=Paul|last= Chutkow|work=The New York Times |date=December 17, 1989|access-date=December 20, 2017|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref> explaining to Cruise that he was giving him the medal as a gift "for his heroic performance".<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

Kovic lives in [[Redondo Beach, California]], where he writes, paints, plays the piano, and gardens. He had a close relationship with [[Connie Panzarino]], author of ''The Me in the Mirror''.<ref name="People Magazine">{{cite book|work=People|title=Ron Kovic: A Crippled Vet Born on the Fourth of July Is a New Breed of Yankee Doodle Dandy|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20067273,00.html}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[Bruce Springsteen]] wrote the song "Shut Out the Light" after reading Kovic's memoir and then meeting him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bookmark/bruce-springsteen-gives-born-fourth-907432 |title= Bruce Springsteen Gives 'Born on the Fourth of July' New Foreword (Audio)|last1= Lewis|first1= Andy|date= July 1, 2016|website= www.HollywoodReporter.com|publisher= The Hollywood Reporter|access-date= October 25, 2016|quote=Springsteen and Kovic have been friendly for more than 30 years and the B-side song on the "Born in the USA" single, "Shut Out the Light," was written by the Boss about Kovic.}}</ref>

Military Awards: Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Heart, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V, Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal.

==Films==
[[File:Ron Kovic (2105823755) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Kovic at the [[62nd Academy Awards]]]]
*1989 – ''[[Born on the Fourth of July (film)|Born on the Fourth of July]]'' - (co-screenwriter with Oliver Stone). Directed by Oliver Stone.<ref name="nytimes.com" /> Kovic also has a brief cameo appearance in the film as a wheelchair-using soldier in the opening parade scene who flinches as firecrackers explode, something [[Tom Cruise]]'s Kovic will also do later in the film.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* {{annotated link|Born on the Fourth of July|''Born on the Fourth of July''}}
* {{annotated link|G.I. coffeehouses}}
* {{annotated link|GI Underground Press}}
* [[List of Croatian Americans]]
* [[List of peace activists]]
* {{annotated link|Vietnam Veterans Against the War}}
* {{annotated link|Brian Willson}}, another Vietnam war veteran, peace activist and paraplegic who was born in America on the Fourth of July
* [[Pavel Filatyev]]
* [https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt2293935/ Ron Kovic - Warum verschwindest du nicht?], a 1977 filmed portrait by [https://jewishfilm.org/Catalogue/troller.htm Georg Stefan Troller] for German television

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ron Kovic}}
* {{IMDb name|0468407}}
* {{C-SPAN|1004354}}
* Gilmer, Tim. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070709034546/http://www.vvawai.org/general/RonKovic.html "Ron Kovic Reborn"], profile from the Independent Media Institute, June 20, 2003.
* [http://www.heroism.org/class/1970/kovic.html "Ron Kovic Vietnam Veteran"], Heroism Project profile.
* Kovic, Ron. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071025104810/http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601009_ron_kovic_breaking_silence_night/ "Breaking the Silence of the Night"], TruthDig.com, October 10, 2006.
* Ron Kovic - [https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt2293935/ Warum verschwindest du nicht?], a 1977 filmed portrait by [https://literaturfestival.com/en/authors/georg-stefan-troller/ Georg Stefan Troller] for German television

{{Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovic, Ron}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Activists from California]]
[[Category:American anti–Iraq War activists]]
[[Category:American anti–Vietnam War activists]]
[[Category:American autobiographers]]
[[Category:American people of Croatian descent]]
[[Category:American writers of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Best Screenplay Golden Globe winners]]
[[Category:Hofstra University alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Ladysmith, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:People from Massapequa, New York]]
[[Category:People from Redondo Beach, California]]
[[Category:People with paraplegia]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:United States Marines]]
[[Category:American wheelchair users]]
[[Category:Writers from Los Angeles County, California]]
[[Category:Writers from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Writers from Wisconsin]]

Ron Kovic - Revision history

imported>RomanGrandpa: /* Personal life */ since Adam Kovic doesn't have a wikipedia article, just removed, the section can be restored with better content