Search our Catalog  Vaclav Havel  Vaclav Havel, the longtime
dissident who later became the leader of the Czech Republic
passed away December 18 at the age of 75. Havel was better known
as a poet and playwright when he led his nation through the
bloodless Velvet Revolution in 1989 that toppled the decades
long Soviet regime in Czechoslovakia. Havel later went on to
serve as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992. After
the federation peacefully split into two states he served as
president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003. The other
state became Slovakia. Among those expected to be at his Friday
funeral are Bill Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, and the presidents of Germany, Poland, Austria,
Slovakia, Lithuania and Estonia.