1968 Election of Alexander Dubcek as head of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia

50 years ago, on January 5, 1968, Alexander Dubcek was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Dubcek's rise to power marked the beginning of the "Prague Spring" - a program of reforms aimed at building "socialism with a human face." The Prague Spring was suppressed after the Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968. In 1969, Dubcek was removed from the post of first secretary, and soon expelled from the Communist Party.