I was disturbed by the celebrations in the streets of Britain when Margret Thatcher died, and I decided I needed to know more about the “Iron Lady.” I found this book and was instantly intrigued by the title. I expect Reagan fans, and I’m definitely in that camp, will enjoy the book more than those opposed to Reagan’s politics. Apparently there are many in Britain who are not Thatcher fans, and I will guess they won’t like this book. However, I think anyone interested in the history of the Cold War would enjoy reading or at least be interested in this book.

The subtitle of the Nicholas Wapshott book is “A Political Marriage,” and I found it remarkable how close Reagan and Thatcher were. I got the impression from reading the personal messages between them that they were uncomfortable with how close they were. Prime Minister Thatcher probably had to worry the most; her opponents tagged her as “Reagan’s Poodle.” The reality was that she often displayed the strongest will in disagreements and Reagan worked his personality overtime when he thought he taken a position that had disappointed or angered her. Reagan, to his credit, valued her directness and council.

I learned much about Reagan. I knew that he had grown up with an alcoholic father, but did not know that he grew up “…feeling cruelly isolated, a sensation reinforced by his chronic nearsightedness.”  Reagan needed friends, and President Truman had said, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Reagan was content when Nancy was upstairs, but the “…role of Reagan’s principal advisor and confidante in chief fell instead to…Margaret Thatcher.” Thatcher had grown up as a loner. She was influenced by a controlling father as “…a humble scholarship girl…” Early in her political career she was “…shut out of the cozy cabal of men who ruled the Conservative Party.”

Thatcher and Reagan first met after he had completed his second term as California governor and she had just been elected Britain’s Conservative leader. The two became political soul mates at that meeting and formed a personal alliance. It was improbable that Reagan would be elected President. Reagan’s march to the presidency began when an unknown woman fellow passenger on a flight told him, “You gotta run for President!” That unsolicited advice seemed to drive him to become President while Thatcher was Prime Minister, and a powerful personal connection forged from that first meeting resulted in a close and powerful alliance that would have tremendous influence on history.

After high school Ronald Reagan followed a girl named Margaret to Eureka College, received a “Needy Student Scholarship,” and washed dishes in the girl’s dorm. He did just enough as a student to stay out of trouble earned slightly better than average grades, and played football. He believed that racism was un-Christian. He sat with black friends in the balcony of the local segregated theater.

Margaret Roberts grew up in a staunchly Methodist family that worked at helping the poor. She attended Oxford to study chemistry. She had little money and was thrown in with mostly wealthier and better-connected students. She joined the Conservative Association and is reported to have had only one boy friend, enjoyed her first sip of wine, and smoked her first cigarette. She campaigned for Winston Churchill and Reagan campaigned for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and then Harry Truman. Margaret would maintain her political allegiances while Reagan became disenchanted with liberalism. He began to believe the party “…was rife with communism’s fellow travelers.” He eventually readily agreed to help the FBI in investigations of Communist activities in Hollywood.  

Reagan developed skill as a radio announcer and was said to be a master of ad-libbing. He became a successful Hollywood actor in mostly “B-grade” movies. His amiability, power of persuasion, and talent for storytelling were said to have been inherited from his father. He hired his father, who had given up alcohol, to write answers to his fan mail. His father had been active in Democratic politics, and Reagan became active in the Screen Actors Guild and often declared himself an “a rabid union man.” However, it is said that in retrospect he began to believe “…the best of intentions can be undermined by the heavy hand of bureaucracy.”  

Reagan was single again after Jane Wyman tired of him, and he had no difficulty finding eager female companions. He met Nancy as she was fighting erroneous accusations of Communist activities, and they must have gotten along well. She was pregnant when they were married. His Conservative ideas and his exposure on General Electric Theatre began to attract national attention. He was co-chairman of Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign. Goldwater’s landside defeat led a group named the “kitchen cabinet” to recruit and prepare Ronald Reagan for national politics. Jimmy Carter underestimated Reagan, and Reagan was elected president.

Margaret would run as a Conservative for parliament and lose twice in a staunchly Labour district. One positive outcome is that she met the divorced and wealthy Denis Thatcher who “…gently pursued Margaret Roberts” until the two married. She doggedly continued in politics until she was elected to parliament, and as a woman was a “rarity” in the Conservative party. She watched and learned as the coal miner unions went on strike and drove the Conservative leader Heath from power. She became education secretary, limited the provision for free milk to school youngsters to a third of a pint daily, and was called, “Margret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher.” That name undoubtedly did not please her, but she was immensely amused and delighted when the Soviets called her “The Iron Lady.”

There were aspects of the book that surprised me. For one, Jerry Ford rudely ruled out Reagan from a list of vice presidential candidates. He said, “Absolutely not. I don’t want anything to do with that son of a bitch.” Barry Goldwater later chose not to support Reagan’s presidential aspirations. However, Reagan’s insistence that nuclear weapons should be banned was the most surprising to me. Margaret Thatcher strongly disagreed with Reagan as she believed that the nuclear arsenal had resulted in maintaining peace.

Their strongest disagreements between Reagan and Thatcher came when Thatcher sent an invasion in response to an Argentine military Junta in the British Falkland Islands. Thatcher strongly opposed Reagan invading Grenada, a member of the British Commonwealth. A Marxist coup effectively put “Cuban advisors” in charge of the island. Reagan sent an invasion force to take back Grenada. Thatcher was appalled, but Reagan went into overdrive to appease her as he did what he thought was best.

There is limited discussion of Reagan’s Alzheimer’s, but more interesting to me was the list of dignitaries who attended his funeral. Margret Thatcher was there, of course. However, so was Mikhail Gorbachev and Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa. Enough said about Reagan’s influence on the peace that followed the Cold War.