Thatcher and Reagan - A special Relationship

Thatcher speaking at Reagan's funeral

The relationship between Britain and the United States has often been referred to as a "special relationship", this is clearly apparent between the strong relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. In the above clip Thatcher is speaking at Raegan's funeral and hails him as "The Great Liberator". As a leader he firm principles which he stuck to and acted on those with confidence and grace so that he could help Communist countries gain the freedom they deserved instead of living under a fierce Communist regime. Consequently these countries had a renewed faith in freedom and opportunity considering Reagan won the Cold War they had an improved quality of life. Furthermore Reagan was able to transform his relationship with  Gorbachev into one of becoming friends because they were good partners and worked together to ensure the world was a better place. The fact that Raegan liberated the countries in the Soviet Bloc shows that he does have grace and firmness to end the Cold War whilst offering the Communists a sense of freshness an optimism that they will now have a better quality of life that still to this day needs improvement.

Nicholas Wapshott, Thatcher, Reagan and their special relationship, New York Times, April 8 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/opinion/thatcher-reagan-and-their-special-relationship.html

Raegan and Thatcher immediately connected as they had similar views yet had contrasting images on the world stage. In a sense it was good vs bad with Thatcher being the woman in control, however this was not always the case which is what made there relationship so strong and long lasting. This article suggests that in fact Reagan did not end the Cold War, it was the workers in Communist countries that defied the Russian rule who ensured a peaceful end to the Cold War.  Despite this Thatcher and Reagan had a strong relationship who supported each other in difficult situations yet had respect and understanding of each other in order to make the world a safer place and protect the interests of their own countries. Therefore this article also suggests that Ronald Reagan was a good leader but was quite reliant on Thatcher in certain situations regarding nuclear arsenals as he almost traded away all of the West's nuclear arsenal at Reykjavik in 1986. This was the only argument they ever which would have been a huge economic defeat had she not intervened. Ultimately this article praises Reagan's presidency