Born on the Fourth of July

Key Battles of American History

History

4.7 • 861 Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Sean and James discuss the 1989 film Born on the Fourth of July, directed by Oliver Stone and based on the autobiography of Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic. Tom Cruise stars as Kovic, a patriotic young man who enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps, only to be paralyzed in combat and deeply disillusioned by the war and its aftermath. The film follows Kovic’s journey from idealistic soldier to anti-war activist, chronicling his physical and emotional struggles, his alienation upon returning home, and his eventual transformation into a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States.
0:04.2	This medal is for the men who went down that day.
0:08.0	It's for the families of those who didn't make it.
0:10.8	Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.
0:19.0	On Medal of Honor, stories of courage, you'll hear about
0:22.4	these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor
0:28.2	wherever you get your podcast. War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding
0:41.0	right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its
0:46.6	size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential
0:51.9	for understanding American history. Welcome to Key Battles of
0:55.6	American History, a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most
1:00.3	important battles of America's wars. Here is your host, James Early.
1:16.6	Hello and welcome back to key films of the Vietnam War.
1:18.1	I'm your host James Early.
1:24.5	As always, and as always, we have my friend and my co-host, Sean McIrae.
1:29.3	This is our last movie that we're going to do in the Vietnam War series,
1:37.6	and it is another one of the many films that came out between 86 and 89, and the name of the film, perhaps you've heard of it, perhaps you've seen it. I imagine you've seen it. It's kind of a
1:42.2	classic, and it is called Born on the 4th of
1:45.4	July. So, as always, let me give you some of the basic information about the film, and then
1:50.9	Sean may add a little bit of information if he so chooses. So the length of the film is two
1:57.0	hours and 25 minutes and rotten tomatoes. 84% of the critics gave it a positive review, whereas our rating and the fans, it was 76%.
2:07.5	IMDB, the average score is 7.2.
	...

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