After four years of work, the Czech Republic appears ready to enter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The entrance of the country will mark a significant triumph for the Czech leader, Vaclav Havel. After a background report on President Havel's life, he sits down for a conversation with Margaret Warner.

JIM LEHRER: We close tonight with a conversation with Vaclav Havel and to Margaret Warner.

MARGARET WARNER: In the spring of 1993, Vaclav Havel, president of the newly independent Czech republic, joined other world leaders for the dedication of the new Holocaust Museum in Washington.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: The Holocaust, to be sure, transformed the entire 20th century. Sweeping aside--

MARGARET WARNER: Against this reminder of Europe's bloody history, Havel and Polish President Lech Walesa had a second agenda. They wanted to persuade President Clinton to create a new security order in Europe. In private meetings, Havel and Walesa both pressed to have their formerly Communist countries admitted into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO. Clinton aides say those conversations were crucial in convincing the president to consider the idea.

Nine months later, President Clinton came to the Czech capital, Prague, with an offer. The East European countries could become partners--but not yet full members--of NATO. Mr. Clinton told a disappointed Havel that this "go slow" approach would help avoid a violent reaction from Russia. This week, as Havel arrived in the U.S. for a private visit, President Clinton announced that NATO and Russia had finally struck a deal to address Russia's concerns over NATO expansion. NATO is expected to invite several new members, including the Czech republic, this July.

Havel is a renowned playwright who's been fighting for a free and independent Czech land for decades. At the age of 30 he risked his career to oppose the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. In short order his plays were banned and his passport confiscated. And in the years that followed he was jailed repeatedly for his dissident beliefs. But he remained an activist, particularly in the cause of human rights. Those efforts came to fruition with the so-called Velvet Revolution of December, 1989. Czechs and Slovaks took to the streets to demand an end to Communist rule. The government capitulated. And on December 29, 1989, Vaclav Havel was elected President.

All has not been smooth in the seven years since then. In 1993, after Czechs and Slovaks quarreled bitterly, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Two new countries emerged--the Czech republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic, with Havel as President, began to embrace free market economics, compared to many other countries in Eastern Europe, it has flourished. But the country is having trouble completing its economic transformation. Wages are outpacing growth. State-owned banks still control much of the industry.

Havel has had his share of personal sorrows too. In January of last year, his wife of 32 years, Olga, died of cancer. In December, Havel--a lifelong smoker--underwent cancer surgery himself, and had half of one lung removed. But in January of this year, Havel married again--to a leading Czech actress, Dagmar Veskrnova. In New York last night Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, an old friend and fellow Czech, presented him with the East West Institute's European statesman award.