Born on the 4th of July

Based on the true storyof

Ron Kovic

The Vietnam War

1945-1973

How did we get involved?

• America’s biggest fear…Communism will spread!

•Domino Theory

Vietnam??

KoreaChinaUSSR Cuba

U.S. EARLY Involvement

1968

1965

1975

Truman/EisenhowerSent $$

JFK sends advisors

LBJ sends troops

Nixon withdraws troops

As you watch:

PART ONE:

Answer the following.

1.) At first, how did American’s feel about our nation’s involvement in Vietnam?

2.) Why did Ron Kovic volunteer for Vietnam?

3.) Describe what combat in Vietnam was like.

Fighting the Vietcong

Cu Chi Tunnel (Saigon)

130 Miles!

Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's

right.

I report to you that our

country is challenged at

home and abroad: that it is our will that is being tried and not our

strength; our sense of

purpose and not our ability to achieve a

better America.

I'm tired. I'm tired of feeling rejected by the

American people. I'm

tired of waking up in the

middle of the night worrying about the war.

As you watch:

PART TWO:

Answer the following.

1.) Describe how Vietnam Veterans were treated when they came home?

2.) Why?

Use specific scenes from the film to support your answer

As you watch:

PART THREE:

Answer the following.

1.) How does Ron Kovic’s views on Vietnam change? Why are they changing?

As you watch:

PART Four:

Answer the following.

1.) What is the anti-war movement’s message? Why do they protest the war and the US government?

My Lai Massacre (1968, but covered up until 1969)

Anti-War Protest outsideDemocratic National Convention

1968

Kent State Shootings

How did it end?

After 17 years of involvement and 10 years of combat, America signs peace treaty with N.V. (1973)

When we leave: North Vietnam invaded and took over South Vietnam

Vietnam Today?

It has reunited North & South

and is communist.

What happened Ron Kovic:

• This film is based on his best selling book. He helped write the dialogue for the film.

• Won the Golden Globe for “Best Screen Play” Jan 20, 1990 = 20 years after he was paralyzed.

• He never married.

• Still part of the anti-war movement today.

"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 Communist and a traitor, simply for trying to tell the truth about what had happened in that war, but I refused to be intimidated."

As you watch:

1.) At first, how did American’s feel about our nation’s involvement in Vietnam?

2.) Why did Ron Kovic volunteer for Vietnam?

3.) Describe what combat in Vietnam was like.

4.) How were Vietnam Veterans treated when they came home? Why were they treated this way?

5.) How does Ron Kovic’s views on Vietnam change? Why do they change?

6.) What was the Anti-War movements message?