born Jan. 10, 1913, Bratislava, Slvk., Austria-Hungary
died Nov. 18, 1991, Bratislava, Czech.
Leader of Czechoslovakia (1969–89).
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 Dubček . When Dubček was deposed by Soviet forces, Husak was installed as first secretary of the Communist Party (1969). He reversed Dubček'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.