Remembering Britain's "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher

Aimee Herd : Apr 9, 2013
News Staff – CBN, KPTV News

"Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you tonight in my red chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved…the Iron Lady of the Western World. Me? A Cold War warrior? Well, yes—if that is how they wish to interpret my defense of values of freedoms fundamental to our way of life." -Margaret Thatcher, 1976

(United Kingdom)—It was announced on Monday morning, April 8th that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had died of a stroke, at 87-years-old. (Photo: Guardian.UK)

Thatcher became Britain's first female prime minister in 1979, serving through 1990, and was admired by many for her strength and moral standards. Nicknamed "The Iron Lady" by the then Soviet Union; the name stuck with her, becoming a title of honor.

Having served as Prime Minister during the cold war of the 1980's, she was a great ally of US President Reagan's, and an outspoken opponent of communism. The two are credited with helping to bring the Cold War to an end.

Speaking at Reagan's funeral, Margaret Thatcher said, "I cannot imagine how any diplomat, or any dramatist, could improve on (Ronald Reagan's) words to Mikhail Gorbachev at the Geneva summit: 'Let me tell you why it is we distrust you.' Those words are candid and tough and they cannot have been easy to hear. But they are also a clear invitation to a new beginning and a new relationship that would be rooted in trust."

According to a news report, Thatcher "encouraged Britain to promote better relations with the Jewish population and made the first-ever trip to Israel by a sitting prime minister."

Making an early statement about the former prime minister's death, her former advisor Lord Timothy Bell said on Monday, "It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning."

A few of Margaret Thatcher's more memorable quotes are listed below:

"If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time and you would achieve nothing." -May 3, 1989, commenting on her 10th anniversary as Prime Minister.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you tonight in my red chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved ...the Iron Lady of the Western World. Me? A Cold War warrior? Well, yes, if that is how they wish to interpret my defense of values of freedoms fundamental to our way of life." -Jan. 31, 1976.

"There are dangers in consensus: it could be an attempt to satisfy people holding no particular views about anything. ...No great party can survive except on the basis of firm beliefs about what it wants to do." -Oct. 10, 1968, Conservative Party conference