Foreword by Ronald Reagan to: In Defence of Freedom by Margaret Thatcher

Published 1986, Aurum Press, London | 1986 | Ronald Reagan

[ScaniaBoy]

In warfare, Napoleon wrote, the moral to the material is as three to one. Fierce in her belief in the primacy of ideas, Prime Minister Thatcher has included the quotation in this volume. I might add that it is because a similar ratio prevails in statecraft that the Prime Minister so excels in its practice.

Her personal strength has by now quite rightly become a matter of renown. They were there the wrenching early years, when Mrs. Thatcher and her government set themselves the task of seeing to it that, for once, inflation should go down. Through it all, Mrs. Thatcher stood firm – and today inflation is down. There was the Falklands crisis – the Falklands crisis and Mrs. Thatcher’s famous answer. Pressed on the point, she collected herself, smiled calmly, and simply replied, ”Failure – the possibilitys do not exist.”

And there are, even now, the hostile sessions – the heckling, the harassment – in the House of Commons, at least once a week at the Prime Minsiter’s Question Time (an ordeal I have never ceased to thank the framers of our own Constitution for sparing the President). Mrs. Thatcher can certainly become roused in these sessions when she needs to, but as I listen to the broadcasts, it seems to me that even then she retains a certain, unshakeable inner confidence, even serenity.

This inner confidence arises, of course, from Mrs. Thatcher’s convictions, among them the subject of this volume – the belief that human freedom is to be cherished, and defended. All her policies turn upon this one central point, and upon the crucial insight that is not only right to defend liberty, but immense practical use to the polity. Given freedom, Mrs. Thatcher holds, individuals will on balance behave responsibly and govern wisely. And given freedom, they will create jobs, goods, and services – in short economic growth. It would be inappropriate for me to comment in detail upon the policies of a fellow Head of Government. But perhaps I could safely go so far as to suggest that they seem to have passed the only test that truly matters. They work.

In this collection, there is much to learn from, and much to enjoy. Reading it deepened my already immense respect for Prime Minister Thatcher as a leader – and made me still more proud to be able to call her a friend.

[ScaniaBoy]

Many or even most of the things that President Reagan says about his ally Mrs Thatcher could so easily be said about him and his policies. But of course that would have been far from the thoughts of this genteel man.

Even in this short piece so much of the man shines through, his humor, courteousness, but also his steely resolve to fight and win for freedom. How lucky we were that he was there when he was needed, during some of the darkest moments for the Free World since WW II.

[Eurotwit]

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