THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL WORLD LEADERS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7

individual from the state. This included an end to alleg-
edly excessive government interference in the economy,
including privatization of state-owned enterprises and the
sale of public housing to tenants; reductions in expendi-
tures on social services such as health care, education, and
housing; limitations on the printing of money in accord
with the economic doctrine of monetarism; and legal
restrictions on trade unions. The term Thatcherism came
to refer not just to these policies but also to certain aspects
of her ethical outlook and personal style, including moral
absolutism, fierce nationalism, a zealous regard for the
interests of the individual, and a combative, uncompro-
mising approach to achieving political goals.
Rising unemployment and social tensions during her
first term made her deeply unpopular. Her unpopularity
would have ensured her defeat in the general election of
1983 were it not for two factors: her decisive leadership in
the Falkland Islands War (1982) between Britain and
Argentina and Britain’s victory, and the deep divisions
within the Labour Party. Thatcher won election to a sec-
ond term in a landslide.
By the end of Thatcher’s second term, few aspects of
British life had escaped the most sweeping transformation
of Britain since the postwar reforms of the Labour Party.
Thatcher’s most significant international relationship
was with Ronald Reagan, president of the United States
from 1981 to 1989. Thatcher and Reagan’s partnership
ensured that the Cold War continued in all its frigidity
until the rise to power of the reform-minded Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. In keeping with her strong
anticommunism—a 1976 speech condemning Communism
earned her the nickname “Iron Lady” in the Soviet press—
Thatcher strongly supported the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) and Britain’s independent nuclear
deterrent. This stance proved popular with the electorate,