"Thatcher and Ronald Reagan Were Political Soulmates."
Not always. There's no question that Reagan and Thatcher shared many of the same political instincts -- including a conviction in the superiority of free markets and private initiative, a suspicion of big government, and respect for organized religion. Their awareness of this basic philosophical overlap served as the basis for a remarkable partnership that has yet to find its equal in the long history of the U.S.-UK "special relationship." The common front that the two were able to build against the Soviet Union certainly helped them to navigate one of the most dangerous phases of the Cold War in the early 1980s.
And yet the public image of a serenely harmonious "power couple" obscures more than it reveals. Both were fervent defenders of their countries' respective national interests, which sometimes clashed. As Thatcher biographer John Campbell notes, Thatcher was profoundly disappointed when the Reagan administration failed to take her side after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands: The White House pushed her to seek mediation rather than a military solution to the conflict. She also harshly criticized Reagan for failing to get the U.S. deficit under control. In the late 1980s, Campbell observes, Thatcher was also strongly critical of Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense plan, though she succeeded in keeping her misgivings relatively quiet.
But perhaps the worst (and most visible) disagreement between the two came in 1983, when the United States invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada. The leader of the island was a Marxist named Maurice Bishop, and the Americans were worried that the Cubans were maneuvering to expand their influence there. But Grenada, a former British colony, was a member of the Commonwealth, and the British strongly objected to the American failure to warn them before the intervention. In the end, Thatcher and Reagan managed to weather the disagreement.
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