Word: ek
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...Without a Passport. Finally, the familiar visage of Czechoslovakia's white-haired President Ludvík Svoboda flashed onto the screen. In an emotion-laden voice, the old general told his countrymen what most of them had been grimly expecting to hear for months. Alexander Dubček, who last year led his country into its shortlived "Springtime of Freedom," had been removed from office under pressure from the Russians...
After imploring the people to remain calm, Svoboda introduced the Central Committee's choice to take over Dubček's post as Party First Secretary: Gustav Husák, 56. In a short speech, Husák promised that Czechoslovakia would not return to the Stalinist repression of the 1950s, but he also stressed that he would allow no recurrence of the recent anti-Soviet riots that brought the Russians once more to the verge of crushing the country by force. "Some people imagine that freedom has no limits, no restrictions," he said. "But in every orderly...
Careful Balance. As part of a major overhaul of Czechoslovakia's governing apparatus, the 190-man Central Committee also abolished Dubček's old 21-man Presidium. It was replaced by a new eleven-man Presidium, whose membership reflected the careful balance of the new political arrangement. Only two outspoken liberals remained, Svoboda and Dubček, who was given the largely honorary position of President of the new federal National Assembly. The hero of the liberals, former National Assembly President Josef Smrkovský, was dropped from the ruling group after his own admission of errors, which...
...aided the changes, Soviet Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev sent his warm congratulations to Husák. So did most of the other East Bloc leaders. Predictable protests came from the West, the loudest of them voiced by the West European Communists, who had seen in Dubček's liberal form of Communism an opportunity to enhance their own appeal to voters in their own countries...
...demanded a pledge from the Czechoslovak government that there would be no recurrence of anti-Soviet outbursts. Otherwise the Soviets would use their own, all-too-familiar methods for imposing order. President Ludvik Svoboda, the gray-haired old soldier, rejected the ultimatum as an "unacceptable threat." But Dubček, the unhappy compromiser, sensed the gravity of the crisis and gave the Soviets his pledge. Said one Czechoslovak who attended the meeting: "It was a cold, tough session, with the Russians making it clear that they would not tolerate any squirming out of their demands...