1965: Czechoslovakia is a whole country, as it has been for most of the time since its creation in 1918.

Today: The country has been split in two for many years. The rise of Slovak nationalism after the Velvet Revolution led to the creation of two new countries: Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

1965: Czechoslovakia is a communist country, controlled by the Soviet Union as part of the Warsaw Pact.

Today: The Czech Republic and Slovakia are free, independent nations. Havel is the president of the Czech Republic, as he has been since 1993. Previously, he was president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992. Havel was the first noncommunist president since the 1940s.

1965: Under the Soviet economic model, everyone has a job, but the standard of living is low in Czechoslovakia.

Today: Unemployment is higher, but the standard of living is also higher, in the new free market economy of...