Havel at Columbia



This Day in The Velvet Revolution, 1989

December 15, 1989: Concerns of national divide over Presidential election

Havel announces that he would be willing to take on the role of President if elected. Alexander Dubček, the leader of the "Prague Spring" reforms in 1968, is now seen as Havel's major rival for the post. The rivalry could divide support in the Federal Assembly along national lines between the Czech, Havel, and the Slovak, Dubč.