Reagan said he understood.

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4 THATCHER On Monday, May 31, 1982, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sat behind the mahogany desk in her cream and gold office at 10 Downing Street when an aide entered the room. Ronald Reagan was on the telephone. As the two leaders spoke, British troops were mired in a messy war 8,000 miles from London on the Falklands, an archipelago in the South Atlantic off the coast of Patagonia. Two months earlier, on April 2, 1982, the Argentine military had invaded the Falklands, a British colony to which both countries having claimed sovereignty, but Britain s counterattack had faltered. Critics at home were calling for withdrawal, and leftists in Latin America were rallying against what they saw as colonialism. Reagan was concerned that the war would complicate U.S. efforts to support some of the region s rightist regimes. He asked Thatcher to call a ceasefire and resolve the dispute diplomatically. Thatcher and Reagan were devoted friends and allies, and she would not disregard his counsel lightly. But that afternoon, Reagan was no match for Thatcher s determination. Her voice tight, she asked the American president how he might react to an invasion of Alaska. Surely, she insisted, he would not permit it and would not be dissuaded from using as much military might as required to repel the invaders and retake what was a part of his country. Reagan conceded the point reluctantly, telling Thatcher he didn t think the analogy was appropriate. It is close enough, she answered. Thatcher reminded Reagan that the British had lost ships and lives in the conflict. They would stay, she added firmly, until the Argentines withdrew. Reagan said he understood. Thatcher s position on the Falklands had been unwavering from the start. When the unpopular junta of General Leopoldo Galtieri decided to seize the Falklands in an attempt to restore national pride and divert the Argentine people s attention from an ongoing economic crisis, Thatcher s military advisers counseled restraint. Why go to war to defend isolated islands with a population of fewer than 3,000 half a world away? But Thatcher was profoundly troubled by this attack on British sov- 2

5 ereignty and British subjects. She sent troops, aircraft, and warships - including the hastily refitted Queen Elizabeth II along with the queen s second son, Prince Andrew - to face the greatest navy in South America and Argentina s formidable air force. Thatcher s outnumbered troops ended up fighting handto-hand; they had little air support and the Argentine planes battered them with bombs and Exocet missiles. Five British warships had been sunk, and victory was uncertain. Reagan tried to clarify his proposal, saying he agreed that the first step in a ceasefire would be for Galtieri s troops to abandon the islands. But once again, Thatcher shrugged off his argument. Reagan became apologetic, telling Thatcher that he thought they were really in agreement, though perhaps he presumed too much by his intrusion. You ve not intruded at all, Thatcher said, cutting him off. I m glad you telephoned. Click. Ronald Reagan had just come up against one of history s foremost irresistible forces: Margaret Thatcher s determination to do what she felt was in Britain s best interests. A towering figure, Thatcher held the office longer than any British prime minister in the last 150 years, changing the course of politics and government in her country for at least a generation. A Britain formerly in decline rejoined the ranks of world powers, boasting a vibrant economy, a restored military credibility, a reinvigorated diplomatic authority, and a renewed sense of national pride and purpose. Yet, Britain paid a steep price for Thatcher s monetarist austerity, meant to stifle inflation, and the Tory-backed reforms she imposed in an effort to curb runaway socialism and labor-union abuses. When the Iron Lady died in April 2013, after years of silence and a steady descent into dementia, the tributes to her accomplishments were mixed with angry recrimination and outright rejoicing for her death. RUST IN PEACE, someone scrawled on a wall in Northern Ireland where Thatcher had allowed ten jailed hunger strikers to die rather than give in to their demands. Ding, dong, the witch is dead, sang crowds in the former coal towns where miners idled by her policies were still without work. The right-wing Daily Telegraph s adoring ob- 3

6 THATCHER ituary drew so much online abuse, as an editor called it, that the paper closed down the incoming comments. Thatcher s state funeral in Saint Paul s Cathedral in London was a measure of her stature, drawing dignitaries from around the world. As her funeral cortege rolled through the streets of London, her casket on a gun caisson, crowds cheered and chanted, Maggie, Maggie, and Maggie. Queen Elizabeth, who had awarded Thatcher the country s highest civilian honors, the Order of Merit and the Order of the Garter, attended the ceremony, a tribute not shown a prime minister since the death of Winston Churchill in As for the Falklands War, Argentina surrendered two weeks after Reagan s phone call. Within days of Galtieri s defeat, he was removed from office. The following year, democracy returned to Argentina. The military victory was just what the dispirited Brits needed. Though the country s decline had been halted, much was lost in Britain s years of decay. The proud days when the sun never set on the British empire and the country took for granted its status as a world leader were long gone. Thatcher s government initially faced a deep and prolonged economic crisis. Fully a quarter of Britain s manufacturing plants were dark. Unemployment was at levels unseen since the Great Depression. Riots convulsed the major cities. Thatcher s government confronted the prospect of a parliamentary vote of no confidence. But despite rising unrest and rioting - her approval rating fell as low as 23 percent, a record since polling began - the Iron Lady had no intention of changing course. The victory in the Falklands and the renewal of national spirit it engendered proved to be Thatcher s lifeline. When the Argentines surrendered on June 14, 1982, crowds gathered in London to hail Thatcher and sing Rule Britannia. Her popularity at home skyrocketed, leading her Conservative government to win a resounding victory in the 1983 elections. 4