•HCON 99 IH 
expatriate communities in the United States signed the 
Pittsburgh Agreement, based on the Cleveland Agreement 
signed on October 22, 1915, calling for an independent 
state of Czechoslovakia in their European homeland; 
Whereas the Czechoslovak Legions formed during World War 
I in Russia, France, and Italy and supportive of the ef-
fort to create an independent state of Czechs and Slovaks 
were recognized as Allied forces by the United States and 
supported by the Government of the United States in 
their evacuation from Siberia in July 2018; 
Whereas, on September 3, 1918, the United States Govern-
ment recognized the Czecho-Slovak National Council as 
the official Government of Czechoslovakia; 
Whereas the Declaration of Independence of the Czechoslovak 
Nation by its Provisional Government was drafted by 
Toma´sˇ G. Masaryk, the Prime Minister of the Czecho-
slovak Provisional Government who later became the first 
President of Czechoslovakia, while residing in the United 
States, signed by the leaders of the Czechoslovak Provi-
sional Government Toma´sˇ
G. Masaryk, Milan R. 
Sˇtefa´nik, and Edvard Benesˇ, and submitted to the De-
partment of State on October 18, 1918; 
Whereas the peoples of the present day Czech Republic and 
the present day Slovak Republic proclaimed their inde-
pendence in the common state of the Republic of Czecho-
slovakia on October 28 and October 30, 1918; 
Whereas, on November 12, 1918, diplomatic relations be-
tween the United States and Czechoslovakia were for-
mally established; 
Whereas the Munich Agreement signed on September 30, 
1938, permitted Nazi Germany’s annexation of portions 
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•HCON 99 IH 
of Czechoslovakia, however failed to prevent World War 
II and therefore fully discredited the policy of appease-
ment of tyrants and dictators; 
Whereas between 1938 and 1945, Nazi Germany annexed 
part of Bohemia, set up a fascist ‘‘protectorate’’ in the 
rest of Bohemia and in Moravia, and installed a puppet 
fascist government in Slovakia; 
Whereas during World War II, the Slovak and Czech resist-
ance movements against Nazi occupation and fascism, 
with the support of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, 
launched the Slovak National Uprising in August 1944 
and the Prague uprising in May 1945, and in their deter-
mination to stand united against hatred and oppression 
these movements contributed to the defeat of Nazism and 
fascism; 
Whereas the Communists seized power from the democrat-
ically elected government of Czechoslovakia in February 
1948; 
Whereas troops from Warsaw Pact countries invaded Czecho-
slovakia in August 1968, ousted the reformist leadership 
of Alexander Dubcˇek, and restored a hard-line communist 
regime; 
Whereas in November 1989 the peoples of Czechoslovakia in 
a nonviolent Velvet Revolution overthrew 40 years of to-
talitarian communist rule in order to rebuild a demo-
cratic society, and since then have established vibrant, 
pluralistic, democratic political systems based upon free-
dom of speech, a free press, free and fair open elections, 
the rule of law, and other democratic principles and prac-
tices, values embodied for many in the personality of the 
first post-communist president Va´clav Havel; 
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Whereas the Slovak National Council passed the Constitution 
of the Slovak Republic on September 1, 1992, and the 
Czech National Council passed the Constitution of the 
Czech Republic on December 16, 1992; 
Whereas the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic came 
into existence on January 1, 1993, after a peaceful dis-
solution of Czechoslovakia; 
Whereas the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic joined the 
North Atlantic Treaty Organization on March 12, 1999, 
and March 29, 2004, respectively, becoming responsible 
and reliable allies to the United States and other NATO 
members; 
Whereas committed to the idea of peaceful and prosperous 
Europe the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic be-
came members of the European Union on May 1, 2004; 
Whereas the people of the United States, the Czech Republic, 
and the Slovak Republic have maintained a special rela-
tionship based on shared democratic values, common in-
terests, and the strong bonds of friendship, mutual re-
spect, and close cooperation; and 
Whereas the people of the United States have an affinity with 
the people of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic 
and regard them as trusted and important partners and 
allies: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) recognizes the 100th anniversary of procla-
mation of independence of Czechoslovakia, as well as 
the 25th anniversary of the independence of the 
Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic; 
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(2) commemorates with the Czech Republic and 
the Slovak Republic these anniversaries, under-
scoring the significance and value of independence 
and sovereignty based on democratic principles, val-
ues and practices, most of all freedom and dignity 
of individual citizens; 
(3) commends the peoples of the Czech Repub-
lic and the Slovak Republic for their remarkable 
achievements over the past 25 years in building free, 
democratic, and prosperous societies; 
(4) recognizes the importance of the alliance be-
tween the United States and the Czech Republic and 
Slovak Republic in common defense, enduring com-
mitment to the free and unified Europe, and ex-
panding and deepening economic prosperity of our 
nations under the rule of law; 
(5) appreciates the contribution of the Czech 
Republic and the Slovak Republic as members of the 
North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Euro-
pean Union to the promotion and defense of com-
mon values of freedom, democracy, and liberty 
around the world and for their support in the fight 
against violent extremism; 
(6) reaffirms the bonds of friendship and close 
cooperation that have existed between the United 
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States and the Czech Republic and the Slovak Re-
public; and 
(7) extends the warmest congratulations and 
best wishes to the people of the Czech Republic and 
the people of the Slovak Republic for a peaceful, 
prosperous, and successful future. 
Æ 
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