The Iron Lady, 1925 -2013
There are leaders and then there are “Leaders” who shape and help define the spirit of their times. Margaret Thatcher was of the latter kind.
A true friend of the United States and an indomitible Prime Minister of Britain is now gone.
Tributes Pour In for Margaret Thatcher
….Mrs. Thatcher, 87, was Britain’s first female prime minister, serving for 11 years beginning in 1979. She was known as the Iron Lady, a stern Conservative who transformed Britain’s way of thinking about its economic and political life, broke union power and opened the way to far greater private ownership.
The daughter of a grocer, she was leader of Britain through its 1982 war in the Falklands and stamped her skepticism about European integration onto her country’s political landscape for decades.
Though Mrs. Thatcher had been in poor health for months, the news of her death still overwhelmed many. Within moments of the announcement by Lord Bell, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron offered tributes to what Mr. Cameron called “a great leader, a great prime minister, a great Briton.”
Indeed.
April 8th, 2013 at 9:38 pm
And she also had the courage to be right about the EMU and even, perhaps dare I say this, the reunification of Germany at a time when her advisors thought her hopelessly mired in World War think. Not that an alternate path of Germany keeping the mark was impossible — as a slight majority of Germans now tell pollsters they wish had happened.
April 9th, 2013 at 3:28 am
Hi Mr. X,
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John Major was a grand step downward for the Tories in their revolt against their own PM. Wonder if they are pleased with themselves now in retrospect, even if the poll tax was a singularly politically daft move by Thatcher, most of Major’s tenure was daft. Nice guy, but no Thatcher.
April 9th, 2013 at 9:48 pm
The legacy of Lady Thatcher I suspect looks very different from an American perspective, the ‘Iron Lady’ may have put some steel into the USA, but at times there was very clearly a gap in the ‘Special Relationship’. I often find when visiting the USA her admirers are conservative leaning women and those who live in ‘Middle America’. Sometimes I wonder if the remarks about Mrs Thatcher being the woman leader the USA needed contain a grain of truth.
Here in the UK her legacy is very mixed. Yes she was decisive and divisive. Her stance on the EU bewildered many, she did after all sign the Maastricht Treaty, for a stronger centralised ‘Union’ even if she publicly protested at times. An issue that still bedevils conservative and national politics, probably to the detriment of her Conservative Party. Incidentally the USA publicly has stated the UK should remain in the EU.
On the economy I still think she was right to aim for a smaller state, whether that was selling off nationalised industries – some survived, many remain dependent on subsidies, e.g. the railways. What did not follow was economic success, in terms of being competitive and fuller employment. Instead the financial sector went forth, just like the USA and much later came crashing down. During her time as PM much of this was camouflaged by the benefits of North Sea oil; yes the UK became at one point a non-OPEC oil exporter.
She was a great PM then, today we can see her legacy much clearer. On reflection she postponed our demise at home and abroad – compared to our past and newer, more successful countries.
RIP and next Wednesday I will watch her funeral mindful of her time in power.
April 10th, 2013 at 3:31 am
Hi david,
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The legacy of Lady Thatcher I suspect looks very different from an American perspective, the ‘Iron Lady’ may have put some steel into the USA, but at times there was very clearly a gap in the ‘Special Relationship’. I often find when visiting the USA her admirers are conservative leaning women and those who live in ‘Middle America’.
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Very astute observation.
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This is, in my view, true. I am not sure if “Little Englander” is a completely congruent analogy for “Middle America” but speaking as a resident, it is the most wholly American part of America without the unique regional cultural distinction (South, Texas, Alaska, Hawaii) or coastal cosmopolitanism of other parts of the country. We’re parochial and skeptical (“it won’t play in Peoria”, Missouri is the “show me” state) but we know who our friends are and Margaret Thatcher struck a chord here in a way that, say, Edward Heath or Gordon Brown could not. One of the ZP readers, James Bennett is the author of The Anglosphere Challenge and knows the cultural nuances and connections of the “Anglo-Saxon” world far better than I do and might be able to add something here
April 10th, 2013 at 12:52 pm
I think she resonates with some women because she made a place for herself at the table and the head of it too! You don’t have to agree with her policies for that to be so, but it probably helps.
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I was just thinking this am, as I rambled on at my usual blog comment spots, that I am such a little “thatcher” in my online talkativeness. But if you feel stifled by some societal expectations (we all do, it’s not just women) one way to make sure you are heard is to keep talking.
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By the way, as a native midwesterner, I think the midwest does have a unique cultural distinction. Think the painting “American Gothic.” Or am I misunderstading your point, zen?
April 10th, 2013 at 12:56 pm
You know those old WWII war movies which were specifically meant to bring the country together with its regionalisms? You have the Brookly guy (an immigrant maybe) and the Texas guy and the Californian and the guy from Wisconsin, each behaving to type? I think each region thinks it is the most American of the Americans….
April 10th, 2013 at 4:08 pm
She destroyed what she wanted to save, by believing that by freeing the market, it would remake Britain into the country she grew up in, rich powerful, competitive.
Her policies, cruel and decisive, shattered working class communities up and down the country, and have left a bitterness that will linger for a longtime yet. She was a radical, a radical who had no idea what the end result of her policies would be.
April 11th, 2013 at 3:23 am
Madhu:
Except for the South. It thinks it’s the most Southern of the Americans.
April 11th, 2013 at 8:24 am
Madhu: Except for Utah. We think we’re the most Saintly of the Americans.
April 11th, 2013 at 11:32 am
I work for a British organization and have no opinion on MT. My British colleagues with one single exception hate her guts. I don’t think that time will be kind to her legacy.
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Speaking of old WWII movies, I rewatched “Decision Before Dawn” (1951) the other day and there was that US regionalism on display as well, great movie btw. As to the regionalism, I got into a conversation with a British socio-linguist one time who had done work in the US. He asked me where I was from and I said “Northeast Texas” and then he asked me if I considered myself more a “Southerner” or a “Texan” and I said “Southerner”, to which he replied, “Then you’re from east of Greenville.” He was right, actually a good bit east of Greenville. The South that I knew and grew up in is mostly gone now, sadly, but it was definately a distinct region with its own specific culture . . .
April 11th, 2013 at 1:04 pm
Personally, I think it is pretty obvious that you are not a real American unless you say “pop” instead of “soda”. ^_~
April 11th, 2013 at 3:09 pm
You know what would be a great movie to help explain current day American Foreign Policy? All About Eve:
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“All About Eve is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on the 1946 short story “The Wisdom of Eve“, by Mary Orr.
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The film stars Bette Davis as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway star. Anne Baxter plays Eve Harrington, a willingly helpful young fan who insinuates herself into Channing’s life, ultimately threatening Channing’s career and her personal relationships. George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, Barbara Bates, Gary Merrill and Thelma Ritter also appear, and the film provided one of Marilyn Monroe‘s earliest important roles.”
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America = Betty Davis, China = Eve Harrington.
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Oh, I’m just kidding. I’m no China hawk, but I am a naturally skeptical and suspicious minded person by nature.
April 11th, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Darn it, I forgot to remove a bunch of formatting and now my comment is stuck in the zenpunditian spam filter. Like I said: the Borg.
April 11th, 2013 at 4:32 pm
Fixed!
April 11th, 2013 at 5:02 pm
Madhu, Seydlitz. TK, LC
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Eastern Texas is definitely “South” in it’s cultural orientation while the rest is “West” and most importantly “Texan” (with a rich and old Tex-Mex subculture, especially in the border counties). Having been an independent Republic once along with sheer size has shaped Texan identity. Alaska is bigger in land area but the Federal government controls most of it:
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http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/map-owns_the_west.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/291-federal-lands-in-the-us&h=2212&w=2692&sz=2668&tbnid=Ih-mrdw_BPxdcM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=104&zoom=1&usg=__wpclrIw_PCl2SLtEX0sl6gaW9H4=&docid=Lljtit2IFUsKEM&sa=X&ei=wOtmUZH5BaPEyQHYmICYCg&ved=0CEsQ9QEwAw&dur=564