born Jan. 10, 1913, Bratislava, Slvk., Austria-Hungary
died Nov. 18, 1991, Bratislava, Czech.
Leader of Czechoslovakia (196989).
He helped direct the antifascist Slovak national uprising of 1944, and after the war he began a career as a government official and Communist Party functionary. He became a deputy premier of Czechoslovakia under Alexander Dub 010D; ek . When Dub 010D; ek was deposed by Soviet forces, Husak was installed as first secretary of the Communist Party (1969). He reversed Dub 010D; ek's reforms and purged the party of its liberal members. He became president in 1975. When communist rule collapsed in 1989, he resigned as president.