Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher A Political Marriage

by Wapshott, Nicholas

• ISBN13: 9781595230478
• ISBN10: 1595230475
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-08
• Publisher: Sentinel

Summary

An insightful character study of the most important Anglo-American friendship since FDR and Churchill It’s well known that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were close allies and kindred political spirits. During their eight overlapping years in office, the U.S. president and the U.K. prime minister worked together to promote lower taxes, deregulation, free trade, and an aggressive stance against the Soviet Union. But according to Nicholas Wapshott, the Reagan/Thatcher relationship was much deeper than an alliance of mutual interests. Drawing on interviews with those closest to them, as well as on hundreds of recently declassified private letters and telephone calls, Wapshott depicts a more complex, personal, and sometimes argumentative relationship than has previously been revealed. On the surface they had little in common, in either background or personality. Reagan, the son of the town drunk, used his genial charm to win over his enemies and always focused on the big picture rather than details. Thatcher, the daughter of a strict middle-class shopkeeper, was a hard worker and master of details who would rather be respected than liked. Yet from their very first meeting in 1975, they recognized each other as political soulmates, committed not just to conservative principles but to getting things done. Over the years, they discussed and debated strategies, took strength from each other, celebrated each other’s triumphs, and commiserated with each other’s failures. Wapshott shines new light on this unique friendship and how it changed the world.

Author Biography

Nicholas Wapshott is an editor at the New York Sun and the former New York bureau chief for the Times of London. He was previously editor of The Saturday Times of London and founding editor of The Times Magazine. As political editor of The Observer, Wapshott covered Margaret Thatcher-'s final years in office.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
Above the Shop	p. 1
The World of Work	p. 22
A Taste of Power	p. 46
The Road to the Top	p. 70
Success at the Polls	p. 101
The Honeymooners	p. 126
A Lovers' Tiff	p. 142
Outcast of the Islands	p. 160
Cold Warriors	p. 186
Strikebusters	p. 209
From Russia with Love	p. 226
The Victors	p. 251
The Merry Widow	p. 272
Epilogue	p. 289
Acknowledgments	p. 295
Notes	p. 297
Select Bibliography	p. 315
Index	p. 321
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