mr. meese: i think it started out as a matter of philosophy. she met then governor reagan -- actually he had just left the governorship at the time. they had discussions and it views about the limitations of government were very similar. but i think it was her aggressive or fighting spirit, if you will, the fact that she was willing to stand up for her beliefs, and i think that in -- intrigued him. he had a similar position when he took over as governor for the state. also, in terms of his views for the federal government. also dealing with communism, there was a certain similarity of use there, no which were very important to him. it was the combination of the philosophy and the ideas she expressed, but also her style was one that was very attractive to him. nile: and you were, of course, instrumental in that first white house meeting. could you talk a little bit about margaret thatcher's first meeting in 1981, how that transpired, what was the impact of that visit on the anglo-american relati

mr. meesei think they were very influential and i think it was very comforting to president reagan to see that she had been successful in england. when he took over, he faced to the same thing, the same problem in the united states. we were in deep trouble economically. it was the worst crisis since the great depression of the 1930's. we were in deep trouble as far as our military forces. they had deteriorated. we were, as many people said, we were no longer a credible deterrent to our enemies or a reliable ally to our friends. ronald reagan was determined to change all of this. he campaigned on that. andit was reassuring to him she was doing the same things, a similar situation when she took over, so i think her example was very helpful to ronald reagan, and also was a lesson he could point to to the people of this country, look, another leader has done it. we can do it here. i would like to bring in john o'sullivan who spent many years as a senior speechwriter to margaret thatcher. workinge p