Relations between the Czech Republic and the United States were officially established in 1918, but has been cut throughout the history, exactly between 1948-1989 when the Czech Republic (at that time as Czechoslovakia) was under the soviet influence.
Since transitioning into a democracy in 1989, joining NATO in 1999, and the European Union in 2004, the Czech Republic has gradually become a close economic partner and formal military ally of the United States, drastically improving bilateral ties in the years since through increasingly extensive cooperation in areas ranging from counterterrorism to cultural exchanges.
According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 39% of Czechs approve of the job performance of the U.S. leadership, with 26% disapproving and 35% uncertain.
History
Post–World War I
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and the United States played a major role in the establishment of Czechoslovakia on October 28, 1918. President Wilson's 14 Points, including the right of ethnic groups to form their own states, were the basis for the union of the Czechs and Slovaks. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the father of the state and its first President, visited the United States during World War I and worked with U.S. officials in developing the basis of the new country. Masaryk used the U.S. Constitution as a model for the first Czechoslovak constitution.
Post–World War II and communist Czechoslovakia
After World War II, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile returned. Normal relations continued until 1948, when the communists seized power and relations froze rapidly. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 further complicated U.S.-Czechoslovak relations. The United States referred the matter to the United Nations Security Council as a violation of the United Nations Charter, but no action was taken against the Soviets.
Velvet Revolution
Since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, bilateral relations have improved immensely. Dissidents once sustained by U.S. encouragement and human rights policies reached high levels in the government. President Václav Havel, in his first official visit as head of Czechoslovakia, addressed the U.S. Congress and was interrupted 21 times by standing ovations. In 1990, on the first anniversary of the revolution, President George H. W. Bush, in front of an enthusiastic crowd on Prague's Wenceslas Square, pledged U.S. support in building a democratic Czechoslovakia. Toward this end, the U.S. Government has actively encouraged political and economic transformation.
The U.S. Government was originally opposed to the idea of Czechoslovakia forming two separate states, due to concerns that a split might aggravate existing regional political tensions. However, the U.S. recognized both the Czech Republic and Slovakia on January 1, 1993. Since then, U.S.–Czech relations have remained strong economically, politically, and culturally.
Current issues
Iraq War and Global War on Terror
In 2003, the Czech Government sent a small contingent of elite anti-chemical weapons warfare experts to Kuwait to support the then-impending U.S. led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Despite governmental support for the war, an overwhelming majority of Czechs opposed the U.S. led invasion of Iraq throughout the lead up to the war and immediately following the invasion. A public opinion poll conducted in March 2003 found that over 70 percent of the population opposed the war even with a UN mandate while 83 percent of Czechs were against the war in Iraq without a mandate. Furthermore, the same poll found that 82 percent of Czechs believe that the U.S. bases its foreign policy "according to its own power and economic interests." Czech opposition to the war did not amount to the level of massive visible street demonstrations such as those seen in other cities around the world. On February 15, 2003, 1,500 people attended a rally against the war in Wenceslas Square in Prague.
Missile defense system
A missile defense system was planned to be installed at Brdy part of the Czech Republic. It would have been an X band radar system that would work with a missile site in Redzikowo, Poland.