H. Gordon Skilling

Harold Gordon Skilling (February 28, 1912 – March 2, 2001) was a Canadian political scientist, known for his expertise on the history of Czechoslovakia and support for the Charter 77 dissident movement.

Born in Toronto in 1912, Skilling received degrees from the University of Toronto, University of London, and University of Oxford. Working as a broadcaster for shortwave radio service Radiojournal, a forerunner of Radio Prague, Skilling was in Prague in September 1938 when the Munich Agreement was signed, and was still in the country the following March when the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia began. During this period he also worked on news broadcasts for NBC and CBS. Skilling left Prague in April 1939, to finish his doctoral research in Nazi-ruled Vienna. a prize awarded by the Royal Society of Canada for distinguished contribution to the literature of the social sciences. In 1992, Skilling received the Order of the White Lion, Czechoslovakia's highest honour, from President Václav Havel.

Selected works 1976 Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution - on the subject of the Prague Spring 1981 Charter 77 and Human Rights in Czechoslovakia - a sympathetic overview of the Charter 77 movement 2000 The Education of a Canadian: My Life as a Scholar and Activist - autobiography