President of Czechoslovakia

President of Czechoslovakia
Standard of the President (1918–1960)
Style	His Excellency
Residence	Prague Castle Bratislava Castle (1969–92)
Appointer	Federal Assembly
Formation	14 November 1918
First holder	Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
Final holder	Václav Havel
Abolished	20 July 1992
Succession	Václav Havel Michal Kováč

The President of Czechoslovakia was the head of state of Czechoslovakia, from the creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 until the dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic in 1992.

In periods when the presidency was vacant, most presidential duties were assumed by the Prime Minister. However, the Czechoslovak Constitutions never defined anything like a post of acting president.

The second section lists the General Secretaries of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) in 1945–1989. After the 1948 coup d'état, the General Secretary was the country's de facto chief executive. However, three general secretaries (Klement Gottwald, Antonín Novotný and Gustáv Husák) also served as president at some point in their tenures.

The last living former President of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel, died in 2011.

As of 2017^[update], there are two living former General Secretaries of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia: Miloš Jakeš and Karel Urbánek.

Presidents of Czechoslovakia (1918–1992)[]

•   Czechoslovak National Social Party (ČSNS)
  
•   Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
  
•   Civic Forum (OF)
  
•   Independent

No.	Portrait	Name	Lifespan	Ethnicity	Elected	Took office	Left office	Political affiliation(s)
First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938)
1		Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk	1850–1937	Czech	1918 1920 1927 1934	14 November 1918	14 December 1935	Independent
2		Edvard Beneš	1884–1948	Czech	1935	18 December 1935	5 October 1938	ČSNS
Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–1939)
3		Emil Hácha	1872–1945	Czech	1938	30 November 1938	15 March 1939	Independent
Occupation (1939–1945) Emil Hácha became State President of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, a de jure autonomous region incorporated into Nazi Germany.[1][2] Edvard Beneš proclaimed himself President within the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, recognized as the only legitimate Czechoslovak Government during World War II. Jozef Tiso became President of the quasi-independent, pro-Nazi and clero-fascist Slovak Republic. Avgustyn Voloshyn became President of the Carpatho-Ukraine few days before occupation by the Kingdom of Hungary.
Third Czechoslovak Republic (1945–1948)
4		Edvard Beneš	1884–1948	Czech	1946	4 April 1945	7 June 1948	ČSNS
Communist Era (1948–1989) Official names: Czechoslovak Republic (1948–1960), Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960–1989)
5		Klement Gottwald	1896–1953	Czech	1948	14 June 1948	14 March 1953	KSČ
6		Antonín Zápotocký	1884–1957	Czech	1953	21 March 1953	13 November 1957	KSČ
7		Antonín Novotný	1904–1975	Czech	1957 1964	19 November 1957	22 March 1968	KSČ
8		Ludvík Svoboda	1895–1979	Czech	1968 1973	30 March 1968	28 May 1975	KSČ
9		Gustáv Husák	1913–1991	Slovak	1975 1980 1985	29 May 1975	10 December 1989	KSČ
Post–Communist Era (1989–1992) Official names: Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1989–1990), Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (1990–1992)
10		Václav Havel	1936–2011	Czech	1989 1990 1992 (failed)	29 December 1989	20 July 1992	OF

General Secretaries of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1948–1989)[]

Except for the final office-holder, they each held a strong executive power in the country de facto.

Title: Chairman (1948–1953) and First Secretary (1953–1971).

No.	Portrait	Name	Lifespan	Ethnicity	Took office	Left office
1		Klement Gottwald	1896–1953	Czech	February 1948	14 March 1953
2		Antonín Novotný	1904–1975	Czech	14 March 1953	5 January 1968
3		Alexander Dubček	1921–1992	Slovak	5 January 1968	17 April 1969
4		Gustáv Husák	1913–1991	Slovak	17 April 1969	17 December 1987
5		Miloš Jakeš	born 1922	Czech	17 December 1987	24 November 1989
6		Karel Urbánek	born 1941	Czech	24 November 1989	20 December 1989

Timeline[]

Presidential Standards[]

• 

  1918–1939, 1945–1960

• 

  1960–1990

• 

  1990–1992

References[]

See also[]

Czechoslovakia
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Czechoslovakia
Constitution 1918 1920 1948 1960 1968
Executive Legislative Presidents Prime Ministers Federal Assembly Czech National Council Slovak National Council
Elections Parliamentary 1920 1925 1929 1935 1946 1948 1954 1960 1964 1971 1976 1981 1986 1990 1992 Political parties
Administrative divisions
States First Czechoslovak Republic Second Czechoslovak Republic Third Czechoslovak Republic Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Czech Socialist Republic Slovak Socialist Republic
Dissolution Hyphen War
Other countries Atlas
v t e

• List of Prime Ministers of Czechoslovakia
• List of Bohemian monarchs
  • President of the Czech Republic
    • List of Presidents of the Czech Republic
  • Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
    • List of Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic
  • List of rulers of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
  • President of Slovakia
  • Prime Minister of Slovakia