- List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia
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President of Czechoslovakia Former political post 
Flag of Czechoslovakia Predecessor Successor 
Václav Havel
Michal KováčFirst officeholder Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Last officeholder Václav Havel Political office started 14 November 1918 Political office ended 20 July 1992 Current pretender None The President of Czechoslovakia was the head of state of Czechoslovakia, from the creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 until the end of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic in 1992.
In periods when the post of the President of Czechoslovakia was vacant, some presidential duties were carried out by the Prime Minister: Jan Syrový (5 October 1938 – 30 November 1938), Klement Gottwald (7 June 1948 – 14 June 1948), Antonín Zápotocký (14 March 1953 – 21 March 1953), Viliam Široký (13 November 1957 – 19 November 1957), Josef Lenart (22 March 1968 – 30 March 1968), Marián Čalfa (10 December 1989 – 29 December 1989) and Jan Stráský (20 July 1992 – 31 December 1992). However, the Czechoslovak Constitutions do not define anything like a post of acting president, often misleadingly mentioned on English Wikipedia pages.
The second section lists the General Secretaries of the totalitarian Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) in 1948-1989, then possessing full control over the country and hence de facto representing the executive power.
List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia
National Democratic Party Czech Social Democratic Party Republican Party of Agricultural and Smallholder People Czech National Social Party Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Civic Democratic Party Non-partisan
# Portrait Name Assumed office Left office Political Party (1918-1938) 1 
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk 14 November 1918 14 December 1935 Non-partisan 2 
Edvard Beneš 18 December 1935 5 October 1938 Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (1938-1939) 3 
Emil Hácha 30 November 1938 15 March 1939 Non-partisan (1939-1945)
Emil Hácha remained State President of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, a de jure autonomous region incorporated into Nazi Germany.
Edvard Beneš proclaimed himself President within the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, recognized as the only legitimate Czechoslovak Government during the Second World War.
Jozef Tiso became President of the quasi-independent, pro-Nazi and clero-fascist Slovak Republic.(1945-1948) 4 Edvard Beneš 4 April 1945 7 June 1948 Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (1948-1989)
Official names: 1948-1960 Czechoslovak Republic, 1960-1990 Czechoslovak Socialist Republic5 
Klement Gottwald 14 June 1948 14 March 1953 Communist Party of Czechoslovakia 6 
Antonín Zápotocký 21 March 1953 13 November 1957 Communist Party of Czechoslovakia 7 
Antonín Novotný 19 November 1957 22 March 1968 Communist Party of Czechoslovakia 8 
Ludvík Svoboda 30 March 1968 28 May 1975 Communist Party of Czechoslovakia 9 
Gustáv Husák 29 May 1975 10 December 1989 Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1989-1992) 10 
Václav Havel 29 December 1989 20 July 1992 Civic Forum / Non-partisan List of General Secretaries of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) 1948-1989
# Portrait Name Took office Left office 1 Klement Gottwald April 1945 14 March 1953 2 Antonín Novotný 14 March 1953 5 January 1968 3 
Alexander Dubček 5 January 1968 17 April 1969 4 Gustáv Husák 17 April 1969 17 December 1987 5 
Milouš Jakeš 17 December 1987 24 November 1989 6 
Karel Urbánek 24 November 1989 20 December 1989 See also
- List of rulers of Bohemia
- List of Presidents of the Czech Republic
- List of Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic
- List of rulers of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia
Categories:- Lists of presidents
- Politics of Czechoslovakia
- Presidents of Czechoslovakia
- Leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
- Czech Republic-related lists
- Slovakia-related lists
- List of rulers of Bohemia
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