Ron Kovic is an anti-war activist and author. He was wounded and paralyzed in the Vietnam War. His best selling 1976 memoir, Born on the Fourth of July, was made into a film of the same name by Oliver Stone.
With Ron Kovic’s permission, we share this letter he wrote to Howard Zinn on October 28, 1984.
Three Page Letter
Letter transcription
RON KOVIC
P.O. BOX 1167
ROSS, CA 94957
(415) 435-7985
October 28, 1994
Professor Howard Zinn
Author of
You Can’t Remain Neutral on a Moving Train
City Hall
San Francisco, California
A NOTE TO PROFESSOR HOWARD ZINN CONCERNING THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY
Dear Howard:
I am writing this note to once again tell you how important and inspirational you have been to me. You are a wonderful person. How can words even begin to express what you have meant to our country and to the millions of people who have been touched by your teachings and your work. Your students, your colleagues and friends, both here in the United States and around the world, will never forget you. You have truly made your life stand for something important. Your service to others has been nothing less than inspirational. You have given us hope and strength, provided us with the faith to go on, instilled in us a spirit and confidence which are essential to the eventual victory of all people who fight against injustice and strive to make this world a better place. You have been a torchbearer in the night and I just want you to know, if I don’t get time to say this to you today, I want to remind you of your importance to all of us as a human being and you will always have my support. I will stand by you no matter where this road leads us and I promise you that right now from the bottom of my heart, from the depths of my being, I am committed to this road that we are walking on together to this new country and new world which will become reality some day I am certain. I can see that new country coming. I can feel it sometimes late at night as I get out of my wheelchair into my bed and prepare my body for another night’s sleep. Even with all that I have lost in that war — I can hear the sounds, the rumble of that new day. I can hear those new voices of faith, cooperation, and community, of health and of happiness, of decency and freedom, of justice and kindness, of caring and concern, of love. And I can feel a new democracy coming, a new freedom of expression where people are no longer afraid to speak out. Speak from their hearts, from the very depths of their souls. Say what it really is to live in America. And to say it loudly and clearly! And to keep on saying it until the changes begin to occur. Until each and everyone of them is listened to and respected until they are empowered, given strength and confidence. That it is their country now. That they can stand proudly — every single one of us. And know that we have reclaimed what was rightfully ours to begin with. What is Our birthright. Our heart. Our souls’. Our country. Our land. Our cities. Our towns. Our people. I can see that new country coming. Sometimes, even at what seems the worst of times, I am in complete agreement with you. There is every reason to hope. Every reason to believe that things will get better. That the best is yet to come and that all of this evil and darkness and pain and all of this sorrow and loss, and feelings that things will never get better, are just a passing moment. a storm in the night that will quickly fade by morning and be replaced by a brilliant sunrise full of hope. I have every reason to believe, like yourself, that this can happen. As both you and I know there are just too many reasons for it not to, too many examples of courage, all throughout history of people overcoming the most impossible of odds, people rising from the ashes of their defeats, of their sufferings and humiliations to build a more beautiful and brighter day. People who refuse to accept their fate and through tremendous courage, determination and patience, endurance, and will, were able to outlast there oppressors, their tormentors, and emerge stronger. And more dignified, more certain, more confident than ever before. Filled with love and hope, and not hatred. Whether it was Nelson Mandela in South Africa, emerging from prison after almost as many years as I have spent in this wheelchair or Czechoslovakian playwright and poet Vaclav Havel, having overcome impossible odds, imprisonment, harassment, persecution, and isolation to become his country’s President, just to name a few. And there are many more as we know both men and women, Corazon Aquino of the Philippines comes to mind. A housewife with no previous political experience becomes the President of her country against all odds. Against overwhelming odds, she rises to the occasion, she :fights against impossible difficulties, with faith and hope she becomes her country’s leader and an inspiration to all. And so many others who have lost so much, who have suffered but yet persevered through the darkness of that seemingly unending night. Persevered when everything within them told them that they had had enough. Persevered despite the threats and I think back to what you said about the importance of every experience we have, everyone we meet, every action we participate in, every demonstration, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant. Two of us, three of us, a dozen, two dozen. Wasn’t it Thoreau who said one person with the truth is a majority? Wasn’t it Ghandi who said the same? And Dr. King who proved it in Montgomery and Selma. And so many others who began in what seemed obscurity only to triumph in the end. What a powerful thought — a meeting in a cafe — or a simple conversation with friends — something that we write— a poem, a letter — words that we may say on any given day — thoughts we may think — feelings we may have — every conversation can lead to greater things, can be a part of that whole which is always unfolding beyond what we can ever imagine sometimes. That momentum that we are all a part of — that movement of history that at a certain point becomes clear to all of us — that becomes a reality and emerges and has structure and substance and meaning. Taking Viet Nam as an example, the resistance against that war and how your initial protests, the demonstrations on the Boston Common, were small at first, with very little media coverage, but yet you had faith, you believed, you knew you were right. As did Staughton Lynd and Reverend William Sloane Coffin and so many others who were there from the very beginning. Just as they were there from the beginning of the Civil Right movement, Cheney and Goodman and people who knew at the very outset that something was wrong, unjust, unfair, and immoral. That a human being could not stand idly by. That life nor business could not go on as usual. I think it is at moments like these that the very fiber of our decency and humanity is tested. People who are willing to stand alone, who are there before the great crowds come, who are willing to risk censor and slander and condemnation for their beliefs. People who are willing to express their moral outrage despite the consequence. Long before the tide beings to turn are the real heroes of this society. They are the real celebrities, the ones that we should be reading about in newspapers and magazines and seeing constantly on television — the Dr. Kings, the Vaclav Havels, the Nelson Mandelas, the Corazon Aquinos, the Lech Walensas, the Daniel Ellsbergs the David Dillingers, the Dick Gregorys, the Fannie Lou Hammers (“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired”). The Caesar Chavez’, the Elizabeth McAlisters, the Malcolm X’, the Senator Wayne Morses, the Alice Walkers, the Father Daniel and Philip Berrigan, the Mitch Snyders, and yes, the Keith McHenrys. These are the ones that people should admire and respect if we are ever to become healthy again as a country, if we are to ever gain back our sanity, our sensibility, and our souls. And these people, these courageous people, who decided to step forward. I think of Rosa Parks, who decided to site in the front instead of the back. Who decided to speak rather than remain silent. Sit-in, protest, picket rather than allow an injustice to endure.
I suddenly realize I have written quite a bit to you today and I only wanted to write you a note. You see what your wonderful book has done? I wonder how many other people out there are inspired as much as I have been by you. You’ve got me talking about a whole new country. You’ve got me believing that it can actually become a reality. You’ve got me thinking about risking again, taking chances again. You’ve got me feeling confident. Most of all, you ‘ve got me believing in my own history. My right as a citizen of this country to feel proud and strong again, to make this country what I believe it should be. To rebuild rather than destroy. To assemble and pick up the pieces, rather than to leave behind. To bring everyone with us every idea, every thought, every utterance, you have taught us to believe in ourselves again. To never forget that the true power, the true force and strength of this country will always lie with its people. My mother, my father, myself, you Howard, your wife Roz, all of us, our hearts, our souls, our simple dignity, our right as a people to make this land that we love what it should be, to create a society that takes every citizen into account regardless of their race, their creed, their age, their gender, their disability and difference. To make this our home, our place of residence, for whatever time we may have on this splendid earth. To make this place called America and this earth called our World, decent again. A place that we can all be proud of. A place that we can breathe in and raise our children in and live our own lives in and feel safe feel happy and feel a sense of community again. Where everyday people come first above all else. People. Human beings. Where their lives become precious again. And our love and concern for each other becomes the most important thing on earth.
With love and affection, with a growing con nee d faith that these hopes and dreams may become a reality someday and that we all may be a part of that new beginning.
Most sincerely, with my faith and support in you,
Ron Kovic
