Bill Clinton remembers friend Vaclav Havel on his 90th birthday
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Former US President Bill Clinton recorded a video message for Czech Radio in which he remembered his friend, former Czech President Vaclav Havel. Havel would have turned 90 on 5 October 2026, and Clinton called him one of the most inspiring leaders he had ever worked with.
A jazz club and a saxophone
“I will always be grateful for the chance to support Czechia and its flourishing democracy, and later its leading role in NATO’s expansion,” Clinton said in the video, which he posted on X.
The former US president, who led the White House from 1993 to 2001, recalled a day more than 32 years ago when Havel took him to a jazz club in Prague. “I went back there 30 years later, and I still think about him constantly — about how kind he was, and about everything we went through together. He was a special man at a special time, and I’m glad I can contribute to celebrating his birthday. Happy birthday, my friend,” Clinton added, before playing Happy Birthday to You on the saxophone in his honor.
According to Clinton, Havel believed that truth is better than fear, that freedom is worth fighting for, and that Europe’s future belongs to everyone. “He devoted his life to these beliefs and helped change the course of history,” the former US president wrote.
Kasparov and ambassadors pay tribute to Havel
On Monday, Havel was also remembered by Russian chess grandmaster and prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, Garry Kasparov. “Vaclav Havel was my hero, as he was for so many others born behind the Iron Curtain,” he wrote on X, praising Havel’s “courage and unwavering moral compass.”
He was also remembered by the British ambassador to Czechia, Matthew Field, and Ukraine’s ambassador, Vasyl Zvarych, who took up his post in Prague in 2024. “His words still ring true today: ‘Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred.’ That’s a moral compass for everyone!” Zvarych wrote.
Havel was also honored by the Museum of John Paul II and Cardinal Wyszynski, as well as the US Embassy in Prague, which said: “Today Vaclav Havel would have turned 90. We remember his extraordinary legacy.”
Vaclav Havel died in December 2011.
Source: novinky.cz
