The name would stick. On January 19th, 1976, Margaret Thatcher, the leader of Britain's

conservative party, delivered a forum policy speech at Kensington Town Hall, in which

she characteristically pulled no punches. Thatcher said, the Russians are bent on world

dominance and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial

nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo don't have to worry about

the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter, while we put just about

everything before guns. In Moscow, a communist newspaper took note. A Reuters correspondent

reported, British Tory leader Margaret Thatcher was today dubbed the Iron Lady by the

Soviet Defense Ministry newspaper Red Star, the Iron Lady. And so a legend was born.

It's sometimes said that because of our past, we as a people expect too much and set our

sights too high. Mr. Chairman, that's not the way I see it. Rather it seems to me that

throughout my life in politics our ambitions have steadily shrunk. And our response to

disappointment hasn't been to lengthen our stride, but a shortened distance to be

covered. But with confidence in ourselves and in our future, what a nation we could be.

I'm John Meacham, and this is It Was Said, Episode 4, The Ladies Not For Turning.

The

Elected Prime Minister in 1979, Margaret Thatcher approached the 1980 Conservative Party conference

in Brighton with some trepidation. It was autumn and Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister

in the history of Great Britain, was worried that support within the party for her conservative

agenda was soft. Her husband, Dennis Thatcher, tried to call her as she prepared her speech.

Honestly love, we're not trying to write the Old Testament, he remarked.

The address was to be given on Friday, October 10, 1980.

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