Recently, I finally watched "The Iron Lady," the movie adaptation of Margaret Thatcher's life. I thought the movie was ok. Unlike other fellow students of history, I do not watch movies about historic events to see how well or not they portray an actual event/era/person. Rather, I watch them for entertainment - because that is what they are - and if it is a subject I am not familiar with, and I enjoy the movie and want to learn more about it, then I usually do research about it. I think "history" movies are a great opportunity to get people interested and excited about a subject, and get them started to read and learn more about it. This is exactly what "The Iron Lady" did to me: even though I grew up during her government, I am not very familiar with her other than that she was a staunch anti-communist - very much like Ronald Reagan. Obviously, ones political opinion and principles have a lot to do with how one fews these conservative Cold War warriors. However, one cannot underestimate the important role they played in tearing down the Iron Curtain, with the help of Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, and of course the countless courageous citizens of Eastern Europe.
Since the movie somewhat hit home, I decided to do more research - off to the local library! The movie did not really go into detail about the close political relationship and friendship Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan had. I believe that without their special relationship, the Iron Curtain would have stayed closed longer. Both were staunch conservatives and staunch anti-communists who believed unequivocally in freedom and free-market economy. Of course, outspending the former "evil empire" also helped in its downfall but the economic side of the Cold War is a topic for another blog.
I was able to check out Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher - A Political Marriage by Nicholas Wapshott. The book offers a detailed look into Thatcher and Reagan's politically intimate relationship by relying on personal correspondence, as well as official records and letters/notes by their political aides and cabinet members. The book examines their upbringing, education and their eventual entry into politics. It was interesting to read how their different styles in governing (Reagan being the hands-off manager, who had broad ideas and left the nitty-gritty details to his cabinet members/aides, while Thatcher was more of a micro-manager, needing to be involved in the tiniest details of every policy decision) brought similar results. For the most part they were on the same page when it came to confronting the Soviet Union, although Thatcher was adamantly opposed to Reagan's idealistic proposal to rid the world of nuclear weapons. The Iron Lady considered it simply fantastical, unrealistic, and also wholly dangerous for Western Europe. In her view, the nuclear stand-off, the knowledge of MAD (mutual assured destruction) was somewhat an assurance to keep the Soviets in check. However, Reagan's fantastical idea also opened the door for renewed arms limitation discussions, especially after Gorbachev was (s)elected General Secretary. It was Thatcher who met Gorbachev first, at one of the funerals for the dying old communist guard that seemed to occur on a regular basis during the early 1980s. Her assessment of the new Soviet leader certainly helped to encourage Reagan to seek ways to improve US-Soviet relations. The result of this "new and improved" relationship is now history - the Iron Curtain fell, the Cold War officially ended, Germany was re-united thanks, in no small part, to the strong alliance between the political power couple of the twentieth century.
Since the movie somewhat hit home, I decided to do more research - off to the local library! The movie did not really go into detail about the close political relationship and friendship Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan had. I believe that without their special relationship, the Iron Curtain would have stayed closed longer. Both were staunch conservatives and staunch anti-communists who believed unequivocally in freedom and free-market economy. Of course, outspending the former "evil empire" also helped in its downfall but the economic side of the Cold War is a topic for another blog.
I was able to check out Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher - A Political Marriage by Nicholas Wapshott. The book offers a detailed look into Thatcher and Reagan's politically intimate relationship by relying on personal correspondence, as well as official records and letters/notes by their political aides and cabinet members. The book examines their upbringing, education and their eventual entry into politics. It was interesting to read how their different styles in governing (Reagan being the hands-off manager, who had broad ideas and left the nitty-gritty details to his cabinet members/aides, while Thatcher was more of a micro-manager, needing to be involved in the tiniest details of every policy decision) brought similar results. For the most part they were on the same page when it came to confronting the Soviet Union, although Thatcher was adamantly opposed to Reagan's idealistic proposal to rid the world of nuclear weapons. The Iron Lady considered it simply fantastical, unrealistic, and also wholly dangerous for Western Europe. In her view, the nuclear stand-off, the knowledge of MAD (mutual assured destruction) was somewhat an assurance to keep the Soviets in check. However, Reagan's fantastical idea also opened the door for renewed arms limitation discussions, especially after Gorbachev was (s)elected General Secretary. It was Thatcher who met Gorbachev first, at one of the funerals for the dying old communist guard that seemed to occur on a regular basis during the early 1980s. Her assessment of the new Soviet leader certainly helped to encourage Reagan to seek ways to improve US-Soviet relations. The result of this "new and improved" relationship is now history - the Iron Curtain fell, the Cold War officially ended, Germany was re-united thanks, in no small part, to the strong alliance between the political power couple of the twentieth century.
