In early September of 1948, founder of the nation Edvard Beneš passed away. This was not a shock to those in power, who had been well aware of the President's medical decline since the end of the War. Subsequently, it was not a shock to the leadership of the country when the announcement came from the President's office.

Per the constitution, until a new Presidential election the powers of the Presidency were vested in the Prime Minister. Klement Gottwald went to work.

His first works were to memorialize the fallen President and prepare a grand funeral ceremony in Prague Castle, with himself as the master of ceremonies, delivering a eulogy of the President as a visionary and a father of the people. President Beneš laid in state in the Spanish Hall, and thousands upon thousands of mourners paid their respects.

Once his speeches were done, however, Gottwald removed his suit jacket and got to work. Nosek, his loyal Minister of the Interior, had spent the weeks since the election preparing for this moment. The StB had compromising materials on numerous Deputies of several parties, and began placing phone calls. Threats were made to ČSSD Deputies sitting on the fence, promises of government positions or whatever else was within the power of the President were made to others. StB, who had been monitoring these people for years and had infiltrated many of their offices, knew precisely where to apply pressure, and how. The formidable machinery of the KSČ sputtered to action and began grinding through opposition with the sole goal of electing Klement Gottwald as President of the Republic.

The day came and acting as Prime Minister, Gottwald convened an emergency joint session of the National Assembly with the express goal of electing a successor to Edvard Beneš. Numerous names went forward, his own included. Petr Zenkl was put up by the ČSNS, and Jan Masaryk by members of the ČSL and DS. KSČ, of course, united behind Gottwald with the KSS and he vaulted to an early lead. What scared Zenkl and Masaryk, however, were sudden and unanticipated defections of more than half of the ČSSD Deputies to Gottwald-- he now was perilously close to achieving the 226 votes he needed to become President.

Masaryk, a patriot first, withdrew his name from consideration and urged the ČSL and DS to support Zenkl. On the second round, however, Zenkl fell short. The withdrawal of Masaryk threw several Deputies that had come to believe the narrative of ČSNS collaboration with the British to Gottwald, which put him over the required number of votes.

Klement Gottwald was, then, elected President of the Republic and took office later that day.

Elected to replace him as Prime Minister was Zdeněk Nejedlý, a longtime member of the KSČ and an ideologue at one point considered by the Central Committee as a replacement for Klement Gottwald, if he were to have lost the faith of the international communist community. Nejedlý was known amongst the KSČ as Rudý dědek, or the Red Old Man, for his rigid adherence to Stalinism and demanding ideological conformity within the party. He was immediately unpopular with some of the ČSSD ministers of government, but the shaky coalition held together.