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Jozef Lenárt

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Jozef Lenárt
Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia
In office
20 September 1963 – 8 April 1968
Prime MinisterAntonín Novotný
Ludvík Svoboda
Preceded byViliam Široký
Succeeded byOldřich Černík
Acting President of Czechoslovakia
In office
22 March 1968 – 30 March 1968
Preceded byAntonín Novotný
Succeeded byLudvík Svoboda
Personal details
Born(1923-04-03)3 April 1923
Liptovská Porúbka, Czechoslovakia
(now Slovakia)
Died11 February 2004(2004-02-11) (aged 80)
Prague, Czech Republic[1][2][3]

Jozef Lenárt (3 April 1923 – 11 February 2004) was a Slovak politician who was the prime minister of Czechoslovakia from 1963 to 1968.

Life and career

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Born in Liptovská Porúbka, Slovakia, he graduated from a chemistry high school and worked for the Baťa company. He became a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) and of the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS).

Lenart was a member of the federal parliament (whose name changed several times) from 1960 to 1990, and was Speaker of the Slovak National Council from 1962 to 1963. He was also a member from 1971 to (?)1990. He served as Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia between 1963 and 1968.

Although ethnically Slovak, he became a Czech citizen after the country split in 1993.

On the basis of insufficient evidence, on 23 September 2002 Lenárt was acquitted of treason charges (along with his co-defendant Miloš Jakeš), related to his handling (or lack thereof) of the Prague Spring events in 1968.[4] He was accused of attending a meeting at the Soviet embassy in Prague on the day after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion, planning to establish a new "workers and farmers'" government.

Jozef Lenárt was one of the most resilient figures in Czechoslovakia's communist hierarchy, occupying one post or another in the leadership for no less than a quarter of the century. That achievement was all the more remarkable because his career at the top straddled a succession of regimes and several abrupt changes in policy.

He died in Prague in 2004.

Major functions

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  • 1950–1953, 1957–1966, and 1970–(?)1990: Member of the KSS
  • 1956–1958: Leading Secretary of the Regional Committee of the KSS
  • 1958–1962: Secretary of the Central Committee of the KSS
  • 1958–(?)1990: Member of the Central Committee of the KSČ
  • 1962–1963: Chairman of the Slovak National Council
  • 1963–1968: Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia
  • 1968–1970: Secretary of the Central Committee of the KSČ
  • 1970–1987: First Secretary of the Central Committee of the KSS
  • 1970–(?)1990: Member of the Presidium of the KSČ
  • 1971–(?)1990: Chairman of the Central Committee of the National Front of the Slovak Socialist Republic, and Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee of the National Front of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Jozef Lenart, 80, a Czech Prime Minister". The New York Times. 13 February 2004.
  2. ^ "Obituary: Jozef Lenart". TheGuardian.com. 12 March 2004.
  3. ^ "Jozef Lenart, 80; Czech Prime Minister Cleared of Treason". Los Angeles Times. 13 February 2004.
  4. ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2002 - Czech Republic". Refworld. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia
1963–1968 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of Czechoslovakia
(acting)
1968 		Succeeded by
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