Oliver Gunovsky, Vice President The American Czech and Slovak Association (ACSA), originally American Czechoslovak Society (ACS), was a Washington, D.C.–based national organization with a mission to facilitate contacts and cooperation between people, institutions and organizations in the United States and the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and assist in the transition to democracy and market economy in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution, which ended Communist rule in the country.

Next month, on November 17, 1989, the Czechoslovak communist government-sanctioned ceremony took place in Prague to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1939 shutdown of Czech universities by the Nazi government, in which 1200 people were arrested, and 9 students murdered.

This ceremony devolved into a peaceful anti-government protest in the streets of downtown Prague, and eventually culminated in the Velvet Revolution, which brought (without violence) a transition of power from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to a democratic federal republic.

Chaired by Ann Elizabeth Robinson, PhD,[8] committee members facilitated development of databases of companies in both countries seeking cooperation and trade opportunities, investment, joint-ventures and transfer of know-how.

On the healthcare side, besides assisting in scientific exchanges in health care and research, the committee, in cooperation with the Polish American Congress and the Olga Havel Foundation,[10] delivered to the Czech Republic and Slovakia in total 50 kidney dialysis machines.

Chaired by the ACS Vice-President, Robert W. Doubek,[11] the committee utilized his expertise in representing various non-profit projects before, being one of the founding "trio" of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, along with Jan Scruggs and John P. Wheeler III.

Chaired by George P. Levendis,[12] the committee served as a source of information and advice for Czech and Slovak organizations and professionals dealing with various aspects of often fundamental legal reforms taking place in both republics.

Under its Editor-in-Chief, Cari Votava[14] and then Julie Mazur,[15] the monthly newsletter became a valuable source of information on bilateral U.S-Czechoslovak agenda to those in the private or public sector, individuals and institutions interested in the development and expansion of cooperation.