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| − | '''Margaret Thatcher''' (born October 13, 1925) became the leader of the Conservatives in [[The United Kingdom]] in February 1975. She was opposed to socialism out the of control union power that had brought down the previous Conservative government in 1974 and ran on these issues, resulting in her being elected as Prime Minister in May 1975 with the Conservatives sweeping into power. She sold many of the nationalized industries back to private investors and made tax cuts. Thatcher stood up against the powerful Labour Party unions, thus encouraging the British coal and newspaper industries by breaking the power of the corrupt unions who had a stranglehold over these industries. Due to her strong standards and her leadership style, she became known as the "Iron Lady," a term originally coined as an insult by the communist [[Soviet Union]], but one she adopted with glee. Another famous statement of hers is that "the lady is not for turning" Thatcher was always a strong supporter of the the [[United States of America]], and was a good friend of their President [[Ronald Reagan]], uniting with him in actions against the Communists. She led Britain to victory against [[Argentina]] in a 1982 war over ownership of the [[Falkland Islands]], and though the United States were allies of both countries and did initially try to wager a negotiated settlement, when that failed the Americans supported Britain and not Argentina with vital intelligence information. Thatcher won 3 elections between 1979 and her ousting from power by her own party in 1990. Alongside Winston Churchill many consider Thatcher to be one of the two most important British political leaders of the twentieth century. | + | '''Margaret Thatcher''' (born October 13, 1925) became the leader of the Conservatives in [[The United Kingdom]] in February 1975. She was opposed to socialism out the of control union power that had brought down the previous Conservative government in 1974 and ran on these issues, resulting in her being elected as Prime Minister in May 1975 with the Conservatives sweeping into power. She sold many of the nationalized industries back to private investors and made tax cuts. Thatcher stood up against the powerful Labour Party unions, thus encouraging the British coal and newspaper industries by breaking the power of the corrupt unions who had a stranglehold over these industries. Due to her strong standards and her leadership style, she became known as the "Iron Lady," a term originally coined as an insult by the communist [[Soviet Union]], but one she adopted with glee. Another famous statement of hers is that "the lady is not for turning" Thatcher was always a strong supporter of the the [[United States of America]], and was a good friend of their President [[Ronald Reagan]], uniting with him in actions against the Communists. She led Britain to victory against [[Argentina]] in a 1982 war over ownership of the [[Falkland Islands]], and though the United States were allies of both countries and did initially try to wager a negotiated settlement, when that failed the Americans supported Britain and not Argentina with vital intelligence information. Thatcher won 3 elections between 1979 and her ousting from power by her own party in 1990. Margaret Thatcher was the longest serving Prime Minister for more than 150 years, and alongside Winston Churchill, many consider her to be one of the two most important British political leaders of the twentieth century. |
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| | + | ==Quick Facts== |
| | + | Born: 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire |
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| | + | First entered Parliament: 8 October 1959 |
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| | + | Elected as Prime Minister in May 1975 |
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| | + | Age she became PM: 53 years, 204 days |
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| | + | Maiden Speech: 5 February 1960 during the second reading of her Private Member's Bill |
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| | + | Total time as PM: 11 years, 209 days |
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| | + | Nickname: "The Iron Lady" |
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| | + | Education: Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School and Somerville College, Oxford |
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| | + | Family: Margaret Thatcher is the younger of two daughters. She married Sir Dennis Thatcher, and has one son and one daughter |
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| | + | Interests: Music, art, opera and reading |
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| | + | == "Thatcherisms" == |
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| | + | *"I like Mr Gorbachev, we can do business together." |
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| | + | *"I have made it quite clear that a unified Ireland was one solution that is out. A second solution was a confederation of two states. That is out. A third solution was joint authority. That is out-that is a derogation of sovereignty." |
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| | + | *"I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left." |
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| | + | *"If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you." |
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| | + | *"I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near." |
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| | + | *"What Britain needs is an iron lady." |
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| | + | *"Unless we change our ways and our direction, our greatness as a nation will soon be a footnote in the history books, a distant memory of an offshore island, lost in the mists of time like Camelot, remembered kindly for its noble past." |
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| | + | *"I just owe almost everything to my father [and] it's passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election." |
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| | + | *"Democratic nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend." |
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| | + | [http://www.quoteworld.org/authors/margaret-thatcher/1/] |