The Czechoslovak nation waited for President Beneš to say something regarding the current "coup" drama circulated in the communist newspapers. Finally, his voice rang out across radio sets, reporting media outlets eager to print his story, and at the in-person crowd that has gathered to hear him.

I address my countrymen with a heavy heart, for the allegations made in some of our national newspapers are serious in their implications for our democracy. In the next couple of minutes, I would like to address these accusations in personal terms and as a representative of the democratically election Czechoslovakian government.

First and foremost, I did not try to coup our nation as some have implied. I did not try to coup the government that I personally invited to be formed with parliamentary assent. I did not try to ruin the republic which I spent decades attempting to build up. For the nation, I can give two reasons to be sure I did not.

For one, this accusation goes against everything I believe in, and everything Czechoslovaks know first-hand I believe in. The elder Masaryk and I have campaigned for a united Czechoslovakia since our service in its inception in 1918, there is not a shred of doubt that we stand for the partnership of Czechs and Slovaks as one country. However, the goals outlined in the supposed manifestos of the coup are to purge the Slovakians from government and destroy the 1920 Constitution which I helped create. Every party in the national assembly holds this same position. This accusation would also go against my belief in democracy, which I trust you all know is there. Even if you no longer believe in this, I would point out that the KSC supposedly found a kill-list among the "evidence." Among those names was Jan Masaryk. While any decent human being, myself included, would never even contemplate killing or imprisoning any of these people out of political motive, even my most fervent detractors cannot come up with a single reason, political or non-political, as to why I would ever kill Jan, the son of my closest colleague, a respected confidant in my cabinet, and who some would say was even the closest thing I had to a foster son.

Even if you still believe me a monster, I would like to appeal to the brain for a moment. After last year's elections, due to the parliamentary balances and my constitutional powers as president, I had the ability to shape any government I wanted. Out of respect for national unity and the will of the people, I gave the KSC proportional representation in this new government, even as they openly refused to back it. I had an opportunity to dictate how our government looked exactly as the democratically elected president. Quite simply, there is no conceivable reason why I would opt out of using these legal powers in favor of performing a coup on my own government.

So, who did it? The Communists say it was the Czechoslovak Legionnaires, supported by me and my allies in government. I must say, if they did do it, we would have no reason and no ability to cover it up. The police is not in our pocket, if anything it would be leaning communist due to years of supervision under Minister Nosek of the KSC, but even this police force couldn't find a single suspect, Legionnaire or otherwise, despite supposedly taking the organization completely by surprise in its raid. With such flimsy evidence, the legitimacy of these accusations comes into question.

At this point, you may be thinking that this turns into a matter of hearsay between political sides. Was it the Legionnaires acting alone? How legitimate is this evidence? This might have been the case at one point, objectively speaking, but this illusion has been shattered by recent actions of the KSC, in which I am profoundly disappointed. Accusing me of participating in this coup, they have attempted to provoke an economic war against our own country through a general strike, shutting the country down. Instead of holding any sort of investigation into the Legionnaires or the evidence, they have blamed me personally, holding the country hostage to persuade me to step down, and for new elections to be ran. Even by their own complete evidence, I had nothing to do with this supposed "coup", and neither did any member in our government. The KSC had seemingly demanded their political goals, but nothing to do with the Legionnaires or anything supposedly related to the coup itself. You have heard the news first through KSC newspapers, the information gathered by KSC-appointed police: the discongruity between their reported facts and their demands to our government makes it clear that the KSC is out for blood politically-speaking and the story only exists on paper for this motivation, or else they would have actually cared about the coup itself.

One must ask themselves: what side has aimed to constantly politicize this news from Hour One without any sort of investigation or actions of genuine concern? What side has a motivation to change the democratically elected government and put themselves in power? How hard would it be to create evidence out of thin air like an arts-and-crafts project without a single human witness or suspect found to corroborate it?

It is a question that every Czechoslovak has to answer for him or herself. I personally hope that the KSC will ultimately make the right choice. I've met many ordinary voters for the KSC and several ministers, and understood their positions and their moral compasses. I am holding out hope that this falsified evidence was the work of a couple disaffected policemen or foreign provocateurs, and those on the left side of the aisle reacting to it in this manner are misguided but acting out of genuine concern for Czechoslovakian democracy.

However, regardless, every Czechoslovak must stand up for the truth and for the future of our democracy, it is their moral duty. Peacefully assert yourselves and on the streets against the protests threatening the moral fiber of our nation. Continue to go to your occupations in the face of pressure to shut down Czechoslovakia from the inside. Defend yourselves from the party-controlled armed militia forces patrolling the streets for imaginary "threats to workers". If you have been lied to and deceived by the opposition and are participating in related activities, there is always the chance to do the right thing for your country and go home, where you will not just be a righteous citizen, but a hero.

After Beneš' speech, Jan Masaryk, apparent target to the "coup" and "much loved celebrity", exceeding Beneš' own popularity in broad terms probably, supported his friend's conviction and appealed to each diverse segment of the population over the radio well into the evening, taking a break before picking up the fight in the morning waking hours.

"Pravda vítězí, ale dá to fušku"