a market economy; she wrote many samizdat articles on economic matters under the pen name "Adam Kovář"—Czech for Adam Smith. She became a household name during the Velvet Revolution, when her longtime friend Václav Havel asked her to translate for him. Havel was looking for someone who could convey Civic Forum's message to English-speaking audiences. Havel believed that since Klímová spoke American English, she'd play very well with American audiences. Havel himself spoke very good English, but thought his accent would be too thick for English speakers to understand. She was actually the first person to coin the term "Velvet Revolution." Ambassador to the United States Just months after the collapse of the Communist government, newly sworn-in Foreign Minister Jiří Dienstbier, another longtime friend, asked Klímová to become the new government's ambassador to the United States, even though she had no diplomatic experience. During her tenure, she did much to win support for the democratizing regime. She resigned in August 1992, four months before her country's breakup. Death Klímová was diagnosed with leukemia not long after taking up her ambassadorial post. She finally died of the disease on 30 December 1993. She is buried at the Jewish cemetery in Telč. References 1931 births 1993 deaths Czechoslovak economists Czech women economists Czech translators Czech Jews People of the Velvet Revolution Czechoslovak democracy activists Czechoslovak women diplomats Ambassadors of Czechoslovakia to the United States Charles University alumni Academic staff of Charles University Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Deaths from leukemia Czech women ambassadors 20th-century translators People from Iași