After an emotionally taxing evening when she saw for the first time the names of her grandparents among those of Czechs who died in Nazi gas chambers, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spent an altogether cheerier day on Monday in the land of her birth.
President Vaclav Havel draped the red-and-white sash of the Order of the White Lion, the Czech Republic's highest honor, over her shoulders. Old friends, they exchanged words of praise.She exulted in "a moment of special emotion and joy for both of us" - she having returned to her roots as the senior member of her country's Cabinet, he having achieved an invitation to NATO membership for his country.
With the American ambassador here, Jenonne Walker, Albright walked down the steps from the hilltop Prague Castle, stopping in the warm midday sun to gaze at the city's spires and to admire two Baroque squares. Almost giddily, the secretary fingered her sash and the jeweled red star hanging from it, and asked Miss Walker: "Who would ever have thought I'd get something like this?"
On Monday afternoon, the secretary spoke admiringly of this country's fortitude during the long national nightmare after World War II.