The Movie "Born on the Fourth of July" Tells Much About The Vietnam War and the Cold War

Vivian Gonzalez Mr. Martinez-Ramos A.P. United States History May 3, 2000 McCarthyism was one of the saddest events of American history. It destroyed people’s lives and shattered many families. It threw innocent people into a whirlwind of mass confusion and fictional portrayals of their lives. McCarthyism spawned for the country’s new found terror of Communism known as the red scare. McCarthyism was an extreme version of the red scare, a scare whose ends did not justify the means. The Red Scare happened twice in the history of this great country. When the communist took over Russia in 1919, the American people were unnerved. They were afraid of a communist take over in the states. When the First World War ended in 1918, there was still

The McCarthyism era was one of the darkest moments. The U.S. felt they needed to take the next action which was not agreeing to prove the threat, disagreeing with it, but the Vienna transcript and also the Rosenberg file had so much evidence. The communism fear was that the United States would manifested political anxiety. Many examples were the red scare and also the cold war, these effects were the communism being afraid of the cold war and the red scare in which McCarthyism tried to stop it. All these things led up to how communism posed a major threat towards them.

The second part of the Red Scare was heated by the climate in the nation and the control of an US Senator. The senator feared that the spread of communism would led to the “creation of committees” that people would suspect as “communist leanings.” Many people got accused of being un-loyal to the U.S. by spying for the communist countries or attempting to. This anti-communist movement eventually became called the

February 9th, 1950 is the day that the belief of McCarthyism came to be known. “McCarthy delivers a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia and displays a list of 205 Communist in the State Department”( The Era of McCarthyism). Using his power as the senate and the rising threat of Communism, McCarthy uses this to help win his upcoming election and start one of the worst things ever, known as, a witch hunt. Although, having a small interest in anti-communist, using the threat helped McCarthy stay in the limelight as the patriotic American. However, it does not end there, since the time of his speech he has and framed people who could have been innocent as communist

McCarthyism and The Red Scare affected the society so badly it caused the American people to have fear, Paranoia, and caused global attention.

American Society was very willing to go along with the Red Hunt of the 1950’s that was led by the HUAC and Joe McCarthy. What started the Red Scare was Truman’s Federal Employee Program, which meant that any employee could be fired if "reasonable doubt" of loyalty was found. However, the Americans main concern was communism, because it was rapidly spreading throughout the world and they knew it would eventually get into the U.S. Therefore, the HUAC made headlines by investigating famous Hollywood personalities for having Communist ties. Some of those investigated went before the committee, but most of them claimed that they were patriotism and many others besides communist. Moreover, an individual who also changed Americans perspective was

“Born on the Fourth of July” opens with some young children playing war in the woods with one of them being Ron. This flows into a Fourth of July parade featuring crippled veterans which Ron looks up to and is excited to serve in the marines when he is older. It then proceeds with the excitement of Ron telling his parents that he is signing up for the marines after recruitment. Veteran father is not thrilled by his decision, but his mother is supportive. Ron sees this as an opportunity to fight like his dad and grandfather. Farther into the movie Kovic is in his second tour in Vietnam in a chaotic retreat, Kovic kills one of his men in a friendly fire incident. This is part of the exposure to a traumatic event involving death,

In the 1940s, the Cold War Era emerged in which the world had to choose between democracy and communism. Winston Churchill’s famous speech about the “Iron Curtain” divided Eastern and Western Europe and encouraged the resistance and containment of communism. Americans’ fear, doubt, and conflict with communism intensified when McCarthy accused them of being communists without evidence. This threat, whether real or imagined, profoundly impacted Americans which prompted the hunt for communists.

The director and writer of both films is Oliver Stone (though he co-wrote the screenplay to Born on the Fourth of July in collaboration with Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic), an individual whose life has been profoundly affected by the Vietnam War. Not dissimilar to the character of Chris Taylor, Stone dropped out of Yale University and voluntarily enrolled for service. Stone’s Vietnam films benefit from his personal experience and memories of the event, providing a dimension of gravitas, an authenticity that is visceral and affecting. These distinctive facets of his work contribute to the creation of cultural memory, as his films effectively mediate personal and collective memory into the complex forum

McCarthyism practiced the attempting of to minimize threat of communism by accusing and detaining suspects/ citizens deemed to be a security threat or disloyal to the United States,Which created fear and hysteria in the American citizens. Stated by Adam Richards

1950’s America also highlights the danger of abusing fear. Congressmen of the era had exceptional control over public opinion and many used it to gain media attention and strengthen their chances for reelection. One example of a particularly notorious and ambitions politician was Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin who decided that he would use fear to raise himself from obscurity into the public’s eye. McCarthy created a state of panic when he falsely accused thousands of governmental officials of being communist sympathizers and spies. The resulting pandemonium damaged the reputation and lives of hundreds of Americans and most importantly spurred a period of governmental disillusionment. Machiavelli would see McCarthy as a violator of the rules of fear and would predict that he would be hated by the people. As time has proven “McCarthyism” has become synonymous with witch hunting and is widely regarded as exploitive, McCarthy himself left congress a disgrace.

Some of the story line and the idea behind the film were based on Oliver Stone’s experiences in the Vietnam War. Oliver Stone was from the U.S and therefore the point of view for the whole movie was biased towards the U.S point of view. This doesn’t help when studying the happenings of the war. The movie is from the U.S point of view so it doesn’t show the Viet Cong’s

The biggest and most important parts of the movie are the fighting scenes. Throughout the movie, many different skirmishes unfold between the U.S. and Vietnamese soldiers. For example, toward the beginning of the movie, some Vietnamese soldiers come to where Taylor’s unit is stationed. After a few claymores are detonated and the vietnamese return fire, many U.S. soldiers are horribly wounded or killed. In an interview with a veteran supports that these were regular circumstances. "A lot of times in this type of war ... we were going out there and waiting for the enemy to come to us or for the enemy to shoot on us,” (Greene). Another example of fighting in the movie is the main ambush scene at the end. The U.S. soldiers find themselves surrounded

“Born on the Fourth of July” differs from “Platoon” in that the movie goes more in depth of the struggles many veterans had to overcome after the Vietnam War. Being an autobiography, the movie depicts Kovic’s life before the war. On his last night before leaving to the Marines, Kovic confronts a high school sweetheart at prom and has one last dance before departing. During his tour of Vietnam Kovic accidentally shoots and kills a fellow Marine. Feeling Responsible for the death he confesses to his commanding officer who simply tells him to “Forget it.” Shortly thereafter Kovic is paralyzed from the chest down after he is shot by the enemy. Kovic’s struggle begins when he arrives back in the United States. The military rehabilitation center he is staying at has deplorable conditions, apathetic staff, and absentee doctors. These elements bring focus to the general negative attitude that Americans had towards veterans at the time. “The U.S. Kovic left behind is unrecognizable, yet as he struggles uselessly to regain control of his body he remains steadfast in his ideas.” (Salewicz 130) Kovic struggles not only to deal with being paralyzed, but also to assimilate back into society. Throughout his struggles he meets fellow veterans along the way who are also having difficulties adjusting. The spotlight on adjusting to society is a common theme among veterans and is still apparent with veterans today. Kovic’s hardships

When people go to the theaters to watch a movie, they usually remember the plot, the action, and most importantly, the actors. But how is all of the action made possible? It takes a group of designers, producers, directors, cameramen, and many others to make a movie a success. It is common for people to forget those who are off camera than those who are. A similar occasion occurred during the Vietnam War. When people reminisce and recall the Vietnam War, they tend to just remember the young American men dressed in their military uniforms in the country of Vietnam, defending the pride and honor of the United States of America. They tend to forget about the ones who worked behind the scenes and made contributions to this collective effort. These