thumb|235px|Antonin Novotny during a [[United Nations meeting in New York City, September 1960]]
Antonín Josef Novotný (; 10 December 1904 – 28 January 1975) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the President of Czechoslovakia from 1957 to 1968, and as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1968. An ardent hardliner, Novotný was forced to yield the reins of power to Alexander Dubček during the short-lived reform movement of 1968.
Biography
Early years
Antonín Novotný was born in Letňany, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now part of Prague, Czech Republic). The Novotný family was working class in social origin, and he worked from an early age as a blacksmith. Novotný was a charter member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) at its founding in 1921,
Events of 1968
While Novotný was forced to adopt some reforms due to popular pressure in the 1960s, these efforts were half-hearted at best. Growing public dissatisfaction caused Novotný to lose his grip on power. He was forced to resign as party leader in January 1968 and was replaced by a reformer, Alexander Dubček. In March 1968, he was ousted as president and in May he resigned from the Central Committee of the CPC.
Later years
In 1971, during the period of normalization, he was reelected to the Central Committee. However, his political influence was minimal and he was too ill to be a strong force in the Gustáv Husák administration. He died on 28 January 1975 in Prague.
Honours and awards
Czechoslovak honours
- 60px Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 (1947)
- 60px Order of Klement Gottwald, two times (10 December 1954; 7 May 1955)
Foreign honours
- 60px Order of the Queen of Sheba (1959)
- 60px Order of the Yugoslav Great Star (26 September 1964)
- 60px Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile (1966)