Remembering Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher was the prime minister of Great Britain from 1979-1990. She is considered one of the most influential people of the 20th century, even though opinions of her can vary widely from person to person. She died at age 87 after having a stroke on April 8th. She was nicknamed “The Iron Lady” because of her reputation as a strong and rigid leader.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Margaret Thatcher was one of Great Britain’s most influential modern political figures.
Thatcher was born Margaret Roberts in 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, which is in the eastern part of England. Her father had a huge influence on her. He owned a grocery store and later became the city’s mayor. She graduated from Oxford University with a degree in chemistry. During her time at Oxford, she was heavily involved in political clubs. Shortly after getting married and starting a family in the early 1950s, Thatcher began running for political office as a member of the Conservative Party. Conservative Party members are sometimes nicknamed Tories.
Thatcher lost several election campaigns before becoming a Member of Parliament in 1959. When Edward Heath was elected prime minister in 1970, he asked Thatcher to become his Secretary of State for Education and Science. Five years later, Thatcher became the head spokesman of the Conservative Party.
Leading Great Britain
Thatcher was elected prime minister in 1979. She was the first woman to hold this highest elected position in Britain’s history. Because of her belief that a smaller government was a more effective government, she argued for severe cuts in government spending and fought against labor unions. Thatcher was also interested in raising Great Britain’s international standing in the 1980s. During her first term, a war broke out between Britain and Argentina over ownership of the Falkland Islands, a cluster of islands off the coast of southern South America. Even though it was located more than 8,000 miles away, Britain had governmental control. But Argentina believed the islands should be under its control. Britain won the war within two months. Thatcher was praised for the way she handled the situation, and her popularity grew for the first time since taking office.
In the 1980s, Thatcher had a very close working relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan. During the Cold War, these two Western leaders supported strong defense policies against the Soviet Union. Members of a terrorist group called the Irish Republican Army (IRA) attempted to assassinate Thatcher in 1984. She survived unharmed. In her third (and last) term in office, 1987-90, she was responsible for very controversial reforms in education, health care, and local government.
Resignation and Legacy
In 1990, Thatcher was forced to resign as prime minister when Parliamentary control shifted to an opposition political party. Thatcher remained a member of Parliament until her official resignation in 1992. She continued to stay in the public eye by giving public speeches and writing books. Politicians and lawmakers continue to evaluate and argue her significance in British and world history. Some believe the she made Britain’s economy stronger. Others believe that her policies were too harsh and did harm to the most vulnerable of society.