04.08.13

Hoeven Statement on the Death of Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today issued the following statement in response to the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher:

“Those of us who came of age in the shadow of the Cold War know the challenges that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher faced when she came to office in 1979. The Soviet Union was still a formidable nuclear threat to the United States and our allies and the Berlin Wall still stood strong and impenetrable. The first woman and longest-serving prime minister of Great Britain, she met these challenges with poise and character.

“Prime Minister Thatcher, dubbed the Iron Lady by the Kremlin, restored pride in her country through her tenacity and will to effect constructive change. She put her nation on the path to prosperity and, in partnership with President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, asserted the moral preeminence of western democracy over Soviet communism; and she lived to see the rise of democratic governments in Russia and Eastern Europe.

“Lady Margaret Thatcher stands as one of the great figures of the 20th Century, not only for the people of Great Britain, but for freedom-loving peoples everywhere. Her legacy will live on for generations among the millions of people she helped to liberate.”