Introduction

Born on the Fourth of July is a candid memoir by Ron Kovic published in 1976, the year after the United States pulled out of Vietnam and ended the war. It details Kovic's journey from a stereotypical all-American boy during the 1950s to an eager soldier in Vietnam in the mid-1960s. It also explores his paralysis from the chest down as a result of combat in Vietnam, his later disillusionment with American policy towards Vietnam and the war, and his involvement in the anti-war movement.

Kovic's memoir begins with his birth on the most patriotic of dates, July 4, 1946, and his childhood in the years after World War II, inspired by stories of heroism and bravery from the war. The novel ends with the reclamation of personal power through Kovic's...