tv Politics Public Policy Today CSPAN April 8, 2013 8:00pm-9:00pm EDT
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>> former british prime minster margaret thatcher today. she remained prime minster longer than any other british politician in the 20th century from may 1979 to november 1990. tonight, c-span looks back at the career of margaret thatcher. first some of her state visit during president ronald reagan's final year in office. then an interview with her about her book "the downing street years." here we see mrs. thatcher during a 1988 visit where she held a meeting with then president
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of course i'm sad that i'm not in this position with him. because we knew before that i was the prime minster. we have the same political dreams and the same ways of achieving them. governor reagan came to see me in my room. there are lots of times to record. but i think the nicest thing of all it's a different world now and a much better one and a much more hopeful one. >> the thing she said about the state of the world, she would play a major role in bringing
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things about and these employments. - - improvements. when you stop to think today the unity we have with the allies and nato. i don't think very much of the world can remember more than four decades a piece. >> that was strong and consistent leadership. the president stakes out the ground on wish he wish to fight. he stood on that ground and he fought and he won. >> former first lady nancy reagan released a statement about the relationship between her husband president reagan. saying ronny and margaret was political soul mates. margaret had the clear vision of strong determination to stand up for her beliefs.
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we will remember margaret thatcher known as the iron lady of british politics, a title she received from the soviet press after a speech after the world war. a quote from the former prime minster, anyone who understand the problems of running a home will be near to understanding the problems of running a country. next prime minster thatcher answers questions in the telecast of british prime minster question in 1989. >> mr. speaker, this new parliament session, this start of new decade, the 1970. when socialism meant we had to be treated by a third world country. the 1980s have been the decades when britain regained
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her pride. that's why over the latest three years, we're seeing a 40% increase in business investment and unprecedented advance. that's why industries like steel, newspapers and docks were barely adequate in 1960s. that's why this country has been getting the lion share of overseas investment coming into the european community. they deserve to come to britain. i will give way to the gentleman.
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>> the prime minster talks about pride in our country. what could pride could she have since the second world war and preside over a situation with teenage children going hungry in the streets of britain. >> if the honorable gentleman listen to the statement, he will see funds have been allocated. he also will know 1,900,000 more homes than there were during the lifetime the last labor government. profitability is higher than 20 years. of course you need profitability. what else do you get the income
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that enable you to do better for the services. what is more mr. speaker, people want a success. more people than ever own their own homes and shares. more people are running their own business. this year, an extra new business has been started up every seven minutes. the ownership of property is no longer the privilege of the few. we've extended ownership ever more widely to the overwhelming majority of the nation giving them the self-confidence and pride that comes with property and choice. the old labor order is being replaced by one based on ability and effort. that is the new britain. that is the britain of the 1990.
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>> this industry is so satisfied with her performance, why she can't explain -- >> that is nonsense. the cbi have two exchange rate. some industries have a high exchange rate. they think it helps them export. the only real security for industry is it's efficient by virtual of management and by virtue of design. mr.speaker, a widening opportunity even further.
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i understand the gentleman tell his party conference education and training -- please let me get on with a few more sentences -- under this government, they always have been. let's look at the path on education. it's important for our future. the national curriculum is making sure that every child has a really good basic education. the new gcse has been an outstanding success and has brought better exam results. despite what the gentleman said, there are 210,000 more students in higher education than there were in 1979. every four people taking degrees when labor left office, there are now more than five. the last labor government didn't
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leave much of a legacy on training either. our approach has been much more fundamental to provide good quality training. it was this government which set up the youth training. it is this government which set up employment training, the largest adult training program this country ever known. in spite of their effort, half a million people joined employment training and well over two million young people benefit from the youth training scheme. i give way from the honorable gentleman. >> you talk about people owning their own houses and how much better off they were under this government. would you like to explain to my constituents who came to see me
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on saturday who was a member of the armed forces, actually finished the armed force and went to work on an oil rig. bought his own home. his son was in a serious accident, finally had to give up work in order to look after that child. is now being evicted from his home because he cannot pay the mortgage payment. how do you explain to my constituents and to thousands like them, how much better off are they under this government? >> mr. speaker, the honorable gentleman is correct, there will always be people who cannot cope because they have particular circumstances. that does not take away the enormous increase in owner occupation, two out of every
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three families now own their own homes. that would never happened under the labor. two out of every three families. exceptional case which is hard which gives -- does not take away that enormous achievement. nor the fact that nine million people now own shares. i was talking about training. i would like to get on a make my own speech and then i will give way later. i was talking about training and how the trade unions have tried to frustrate the training scheme. employers who are investing heavily to the tune of 18 billion-pounds a year. that's on top of the 31 billion pounds they invested last year in plant machinery. of course we must do better still to compete with germany
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and japan. that's why we're developing a network of enterprise council throughout the country in business. it is business that can work with the university and training and not the socialist politicians who think they can run everything. mr.speaker, i will not give the detailed figures because this government has devoted funds to research thanks to our national income. the government will be able to spend nearly 3 billion pounds on technology next year. this is why -- we have growth, we have investment, good profits, output higher than ever before, high rate of new businesses and a good rate of investment and a good rate of investment on research. which one to come first?
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>> she painted a picture that's well with the education system. could she explain to parents why their children are being sent home from school? >> mr. speaker, they were not my constituents. we have the very best education. we have a very good local economy. we have a very good policy that run our education system superbly and we have the best results. i will point out again to the honorable gentleman, there are more teachers than any previous time in our history. there's more being spent on each
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individual pupil than ever before. mr.speaker, i do have to lay out the government policy. i will give way from time to time, i would like to get a little bit of my own speech out. we have shared the success, economic success has brought unprecedented prosperity to this country. since this government came to pass, a family with two children where the husband is on a journey now gets extra 55-pounds a week and take home pay after allowing for the increase in prices. after allowing for the increase in prices. a family with two children where
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the husband is on average earning after inflation now gets an extra 55-pounds a week over and above what you got at the end of the time of labor. of course more wealth is being created. in terms of what the money will buy for every three pounds that family had under labor, they now have four pounds. greater prosperity also meanss a a -- means as a nation, we can afford service. since this government been in office, there have been more doctors, nurses and patients treated every year.
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national health information, you don't want them to know the fact. this is more good news. sending home people who are sick and disabled, has nearly doubled under this government. we gave extra help to the tune of half million patient who need it most and we also abolished -- >> the prime minster talked a great deal with the family, generosity, she fail to make a case for what the government has done to 16 and 17-year-old in this country. tens and thousands of them without jobs who are thrown out.
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mr.speaker -- >> mr. speaker, the honorable gentleman is not correct and he knows it. there are more w.t.s. places in every region than there are young people. we think young people should go on training if they have not a job. some of those 16 to 17-year-olds who is a particular hardship problem, the homes where they can't go, they have allowances that the honorable know that the policy of persuading young people to go to training are not in fact is a right one.
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mr.speaker, this excellent record on social services has only possible because conservative policies have led to more wealth being created than ever before. and wealth being spread more widely than ever before. mr.speaker, we must build on these economic achievements. over the last two years, the economy has been growing at a faster rate that we can sustain. the stretch of inflation has emerged and the large external trade has opened up. natural homeowners and businesses are concerned by interest rates. savers will never forget that in the 1970's, labor government robbed them of a large part of
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their savings by letting inflation run rampant. inflation today is lower than the lowest that labor ever achieved between 1974 and 1979. it was lowered by their standards is a cause of concern for us because it is far too high by our standards. the absolute priority is to get inflation down. i give way to the honorable gentleman. >> it is the fact of the matter that the -- 30% of our industry are being destroyed at a time when it's available for investment and this is reflected
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now 20 billion pounds. what is the prime minster going to explain when the balance of payment is going to be in the black again? >> mr. speaker, when we have growth growing too fast, inflation does reemerge ended. that is the course why one gets adverse balance. payment deficit. we could hope that manufacturing industry here will see more of a demand. there's no doubt about the demand. i can only point out to the gentleman, manufacturing industry is in very much better shape and therefore, much more organized and has been able to invest in new technology and there in fact, higher manufacturing exports and the best of the labor and higher manufacturing investment. they depend on how well
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businesses keep their costs down. the more the trade unions press for higher wage claims regardless of productivity, the greater the threat to our competitive position and to jobs, it's about time for the opposition to face up to that. the opposition's approach is shown by their policy on credit control. for two days in today's open market, credit control do not and could not work. what i saw recently was very interesting. i happen to have it with me. it says this, --
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>> order! >> works just like every other visa credit card. you can choose your own credit limit. simply pick the relevant box, 1000 pounds, 2000 pounds or other, please specify. use it to spread the cost of christmas or birthdays or summer holidays and nice picture of the eiffel tower. use it as a second credit card. every time you use the card, the cooperative bank makes a donation to labor. >> that was prime minster margaret thatcher in 1989 in the first televisized prime minster's question. mr.thatcher died today at the
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age of 87 from a stroke. during her tenure as prime minster, she restructured the british economy. she led britain to victory and she's given credit for helping the u.s. and the soviet union through the end of the cold war. here's part of what she said from the british house of commons when she resigned in 1990. the age ofgree that civil is gone. andlook back with pride all of thoseof years as a well statesman. >> i think mr. speaker, as long as my honorable friend is a member of this house. yes, in response to his question, do i look backward
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with some pride and satisfaction of achievement of our country in the last 11.5 years. >> margaret thatcher talking about resigning as prime minster in 1990. her passing today brought tribute to many people in politics and around the world. today is a truly sad day for our country. we lost a great prime minster a great leader a great britain. as ours for woman prime minster, margaret thatcher succeeded against all the odds. she didn't just lead our country, she saved our country. president obama had this to say about the former prime minster. here in america, many of us will never forget her standing shoulder to shoulder with president reagan reminding the world we are not carried along by history. we can shape them with moral
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conviction, unyielding courage and iron will. a few years after her resignation, we interviewed mr. thatcher about her book "the downing street years." also her political career in the conservative party. >> margaret thatcher can you tell us how you wrote this book? >> yes. i had to decide first how i wanted to do it.had i already thought that the first thing i must do is to tell a story of the years when i was i downing street. there wereth exciting years. we changed the entire economy.aa we had the libyan raid, we had the end of the cold war and we had the gulf.d how should i do it. so i thought instead of tellingn it in enormous detail, someas people do almost everyday, idi will take the main themes and
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follow them through and try to put them in a time frame in theo election which i thought. first thing i had to do wast to get the whole structure ofe the chapters right. then i sat down and wrote as much as i can remember about each without in fact, referringn to documents, making a note of what i needed to look out. masses and masses of documents that mustes be consulted. every meeting i had was documented and what was said and what was concluded. also, we have to look up some of the reporting in the newspaper. wee had exciting question times in thes house.he the times we had exciting debates. all of the paperwork was
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enormous. i was dealing with some things, it had been such a deepthe agonizing experience. at the parliament christmas i sat down and wrote about all the members fresh in my mind. i wrote up some other special occasions.e wi i had a particular difficult problem when someone resigned.fm apart from this was on official record. i looked at all of these
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beautifully of minutes and cabinet minutes and conclusionse so it can be read without too much difficulty. >> first thing that come to mind when i read the book, you did four hours a sleep a night.s' how did do you that? >> you do have a night when youv can have longer if you wish. it becomes so much a habit youh find you can't sleep very muchc longer. >> you talk about your trip to e
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the states where you addressed the congress. you were up until 4:00 in the morning working with britain working on your speech. i know you got up -- >> about 6:00. >> how did do you that? how do you do that and staycl clear headed? >> i did it because it had to e done. you somehow find the energy to do. this congress was the biggest thing that happened to me. i knew that ronald reagan what he did was absolutely superb. e a real professional. otherwise you're. looking down t your notes.o when you're looking up and you may go from one teleprompter to another but your eyes never leave the audience. i wasn't as skilled at it as he was so i had to practice.r
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i rised from -- when youy actually read through a speech, speaking, you frequently findnt you have to change it, the drafting, reading. you got the sentences too long,, the speaking they must be shorter. you change the final version quite a bit while you're doing the rehearsal. it was very late and i got one or two complicated sentences that had to be honed down. it was more important to havedon the extra hour of sleep.l s >> when you used to do that, was
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that scripted? >> scripted, can't possiblye because you didn't know what the questions will be. that developed the question to ask the prime minster. then couldn't give you any clue to the questions. i will take about four hours preparation trying to spot whats the questions would be because t they like to catch me with the latest topical questions. i immediately, you had to think of a response. , question, immediate response. really what we call is being quick on your feet. p >> in this book, did your
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publisher say to you, you got t put personal thing in there or this book won't sell? >> he did say try to put personal recollections becausey, that makes it human. do so many of the things that occurred.gois >> letn' me read you something b the book. being prime minster is a lonely job in a sense it ought to be, you cannot leave if a crowd.th but with dennis there i was never alone, what a man, what a husband, what a friend. >> all of that is true. because it is lonely and there are times when you're down in m the dumps, times things done go
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right. youto have your husband there who's loyalty and affection is unquestioned.d also can give you quite good advice. which is very important, sometimes small things can get completely out of proportion. at the end of the day, i mightt return from the house of commons bybe 11:00.at nothing like the white house.t l small in the raptors. we had no housekeeper, no cook.d so the evening i will go and get supper. i would just sit down and talk for hours.n that's the outside view. he was in the oil and chemistryu
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and contacted all industries frequently. he was called upon and givee advice to others or to speak ate industrial dinners. he always cared about politics. he spoke about what he kneww about. he never had an interview.'t. he wouldn't. he never had a political secretary. he wrote himself 30 and 50 replies every week from letter from the public. really, i was totally lucky.w he was always there.>> >> how long you've been married >> we married in 1951, 42 years. >> has he given an interviewnce sense you stepped down?
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>> no. >> you think he will? >> i doubt it. >> got a lot of little things i wrote down. i will read them to you. mr.gandhi was not meant to see this as a female trade, mentalli practical, are only women mentally practical? >> i think that we tend to be much more practical. in addition to doing the job as prime minster, a lot of decision is to be made.ma you come to make the practicalk decisions quickly and keep everything tight and keep everything a pretty timetable. she give up quite a lot of. things herself. she wanted some things, she will get it. she also, i think, was really lonely.
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she hadn't a husband t and she d two sons. one was killed in an accident and then her other son, whon't haven't been in politics -- i had a letter from her two weeks before her assassination. she wrote such a charming letter. she herself had been assassinated. ite just feel a special bond wi that family. mrs.gandhi really cared about every single thing she did.
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she was such a charming woman. i >> you mentioned britton 1984, e what happened? >> what happened was thursdayec night, up really late, big rally speech was on a friday -- some ofr the issues taken. as you all have a very long evening on the first day. you have to go out to a special ball or agents two look after constituencies. you get backit 11:00.d then the final round of the speech. itic was about quarter to
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3:00 when i had finished.oo my secretary came in and said i'm sorry to bother, but must have by 8:00 tomorrow morning. therefore you i think you must look at those papers now.r i knew what it was about and gave him the decision he needed. that was a quarter to 3:00. at ten minutes to 3:00, the bomf went off. just as he was leaving and taking it back to his room. i thought that this was a bomb this a car outside. dennis had already gone to bed and ide dashed into the bed andd was out when it happened. it sounded as though there was h second one.an as i knew later that wasn't so, what had happened, it wasn't a car bomb outside.
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it is a bomb in the bathroom directly above our suiteo which in fact, had taken out a whole section of the hotel which gone right up into the air. the second bomb came down enormous on top of the existingh building. the lightst stayed on and, although the windows came in. i ran across the corridor . one got a shock from the electric typewriter. the otherth said i still got the speech mrs. thatcher and i'm just typing it.
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we begin to find some people missing. we were told to stay where we were that night and then told we could try to find a way out. we tried one way and then soon came across and we couldn't get out that way. we waited and then we were told we could try another way and we did which took us out to the main hall. then for the first time, he told the enormity of the damage. guess where the main entrance was. we begin to look for people who we knew and hoping they already got out of a the building and ge
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we went over to a college which had a conference there.i there were several rooms where we can have about an hour in aig half sleep and then i got up. i got up next morning and i turned on the television, we knew how many people were missing. there were five people killed and many severely injured.par norman's wife is still paralyzed to this day. i found the police and said, was there any hope starting the conference? he said the conference ise allhe
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the store.pl i walk on the platform from one side and those on the other. it was 9:30, the conference restarted. everyone determined, we weren't going to be put off by terrorist bombs. >> two things, in the middle of your discussion in the book, you said and your aide, i want toyo ask you about her, melt down ank prayed and the reason i want tot ask you about that, did you think that there were otherhi bombs coming? >> we knew that we had a lot of people missing.le m we didn't know that other bombsn coming. we knew there are a lot of people missing. that's why we prayed.e ca what else can one do.
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>> who's crofing.lo >> she's so -- she works also for me and for him. she's really a great friend of the family.en she is just indispensable.ed she always welcome wherever in the world she goes. >> you write often in the book about checkers.o what's checkers? >> checkers is the name of a the prime minster's country house.ou it was givense to the nation bya gentleman called lord lee who had an american wife and they had this beautiful home. he was in the cabinet of the world war i cabinet.
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when lord george was made a prime minster during world war t i, lee realized a different kind of prime minster. he thought the prime minster sho should have a country home. lord had no children. so actually refurnished the house with nice antiques there. he moved out and gave it to thed nation as a place of rest andv recreation for prime minstersus forever. it's a lovely country house andd beautiful grounds.to it tends to be -- it was there of course that i first brought
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this to gorbachev and gorbachev to meet them. it was just love.ly. >> how far is it from london? >> about an hour and a quarter driving time. >> our advice at this timego mrs. gorbachev was a committed hard line marxist. she took down the shelves of the library by possibly confirming that. did you notice her picking? >> my husband was in thee library. she's a great philosopher herself and she loves philosophy. did seem at that time, she was i very hard line communist and also mr. gorbachev. as i read in the book, it is
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much later, that i learned that she had reason not to be a hard line communist because her grandfather was a farmer, not enormous farmers, they boughty'd other farms and were farming very well.in he had quite a good size farm and starling came. mrs.gorbachev grandfather refused, he said no, i have a wife and four children. we farm this farm well and continue to do that. o mrs.gorbachev mother was one off
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the four children. >> neither one of them speak rbglish? >> mrs. gorbachev understoodso some english and mr. gorbachev didn't and i didn't speaks russian. >> you remembered two proverbs, two russian proverbs.mr it to read the two of them. once a year even an unloaded gun can go off and how did youwe remember that? did you write it down? >> i wrote everything down. it was a full account to refer to afterwards. >> another proverb was mountains live without that guest anymore they can live without air. comm
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>> are you different in arent setting like checkers? were you there with mr. gorbachev and ronald reagan -- >> i think more relaxed. your home and country house and you welcome guests to the country house.y h and it something special about that.ial it's much less formal than ten downing street.ho it's much less formal than the n
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white house. >> they call for informal dress and you didn't like that. >> no -- we were at montbello.o they had done everything possible to make it very nice for us and it was.nk i think when you're going to agt summit or heads of state in government, your own people expect you to be formally dressed. they were asked to be informal.
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>> quote, his style, work and decision-making was in tact and broad-brushed and very different from my own, ronald reagan. what's the difference in the style of working between you and ronald reagan? >> i had to do thing in much more detail. first because i was concerned to see the policies stood up.st not only in the general termsul would stand up in a particularut detail. second, i'm not the person from united states. i was asking questions in the house of commerce twice a week. i will be asked about detail. had tok know it.o the person in congress doesn't go down to ask questions in fuln open session. he goes down to address the house. he doesn't then have a leader of
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the opposition getting up or criticizing or anything like that. it's a very different system. i knew much more detail in orde to carrier on the job. you >> you refer to a hotline between you and the white housei is there a telephone?is? >> it a telephone. if you want a document inne detail, there i s a hotline.um >> did you use it very often? >> no, i don't think they have to be used often. i sometimes received a very welcome calls from ronald reagan. >> did you ever have a strong disagreement with ronald reagan? >> no, i don't think so.a therebe were times when he wantd to do something and i said certainly not. there was never any tension between us >> what was about the
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relationship that created that atmosphere?a >> the fact that i knew and he knew we were working for thein same purpose and the same ends and often by the same methods. a that's just and great thing to know. the greatest nation in the world has the same view, the philosophy of life, justice and democracy. >> say looking back it is now clear ronald reagan's originali decision on fbi was cell mosts important on his presidency?>> b >> that was the one that made the russians to understand that they can never keep up with the technology of the united states. just having the capability and they knew full well we wereg going to a level of technology n that couldn't emulate. there was no point of trying to be the strongest super power in the world and threatening others with their power. that was the end of that particular dream. >> here's part of a 1995 interview with margaret
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thatcher. you can see more with the former prime minster at c-span.org. >> both of these books, what did you learn? >> i think you see -- you're amazed how much happened during those years and how much you manage to crowd into the time. it's the first time that you see the whole life. you see it is actually happened and you manage to cement it. that's the different aspect writing a bit of history and
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living out of the future. >> queen elizabeth authorized a ceremonial funeral for margaret thatcher. the former prime minster died today at the age of 87. .... >> c-span created by america's cable company in 1979 brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> next on c-span first lady, a conversation on the lives of three first ladies. we'll look at the political partnership between sarah polk and her husband james polk. then the live of margaret taylor, wife of president zachary taylor. president taylor died 16 months into the presidency following his death, abigail fillmore d
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