Ronald Lawrence Kovic (born July 4, 1946) is an American 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 film of the same name which starred Tom Cruise as Kovic and was co-written by Kovic and directed by Oliver Stone.
Kovic received the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay on January 20, 1990, 22 years to the day that he was wounded in Vietnam, in addition to Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and the Writers Guild of America Award.