Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first woman prime minister, held the office for more than 11 years, including all of the 1980s. During that time, she left a major mark on U.S. politics, mainly through her close relationship with President Ronald Reagan.
Here’s a look back at four moments that stand out:
• Bound by opposition to communism, Thatcher and Reagan shared a close bond throughout the 1980s. Together, they provided a united Western counterbalance against the Soviet Union and modernized Europe’s anti-Soviet nuclear shield. Thatcher once referred to Reagan as the “second most important man” in her life.
• The Reagan-Thatcher relationship wasn’t always so rosy. Reagan didn’t immediately support Britain in its conflict with Argentina in the Falkland Islands in 1982, urging the European ally to pursue talks. And Thatcher’s government denounced the Reagan-sanctioned invasion of Grenada in 1983.
• Thatcher addressed Congress in 1985, winning rousing applause for a speech in which she vouched for the Reagan administration’s foreign policies. “In an address that stirred applause in the packed House chamber — especially among Republicans — Mrs. Thatcher also stressed that she firmly supported President Reagan’s space-based missile-defense research plan,” The New York Times reported at the time.
• Toward the end of her tenure as prime minister, Thatcher helped spur on President George H.W. Bush to intervene militarily in the Persian Gulf after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.