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Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, England, as the younger daughter of Alfred and Beatrice Roberts. Her father, a greengrocer and respected community leader, served as a lay leader in their church, city alderman, and mayor. He taught Margaret to act according to her own convictions rather than following others, encouraging her to persuade others to join her cause.
She attended Oxford University from 1943 to 1947, earning a degree in Chemistry, though her passion for politics was evident early on. Thatcher ran as a Conservative candidate for Dartford in the 1950 and 1951 elections. She married Denis Thatcher in December 1951, and they had twins, Mark and Carol Thatcher. During the 1950s, she practiced tax law before being elected to Parliament representing Finchley in 1959. Two years later, she joined the cabinet as Minister of Pensions. In 1970, she became Minister for Education and earned the nickname "Thatcher the Milk Snatcher" after ending free milk for schoolchildren as part of budget cuts. After the Conservative Party's losses in the 1974 general elections, she defeated Edward Heath to become party leader.
Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in May 1979, serving eleven and a half years—the longest tenure of any British Prime Minister in the 20th century. As Prime Minister, she was a firm capitalist determined to eradicate socialism in Britain. Her policies included cutting direct taxes, reducing spending and regulations, privatizing state industries and housing, reforming education, health, and welfare systems, taking a tough stance on crime, and promoting traditional values. Her tenure was marked by challenges such as an economic recession, inner-city riots, and a miners' strike.
Her first major success as Prime Minister came with the 1982 Falklands War, when she deployed British forces to reclaim the islands off South America that Argentina had invaded and occupied. The British victory reaffirmed Britain's status as a global power. During her time in office, the middle and upper classes experienced unprecedented economic prosperity, even as unemployment reached levels not seen since the 1930s, homelessness increased, and major British industries declined. She was a close political ally of U.S. President Ronald Reagan; both advocated strong foreign and defense policies and fostered a productive relationship with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, contributing to the end of the Cold War. Thatcher also convinced President George H.W. Bush to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Her firm support for the Poll Tax and opposition to a common European currency led to a bitter internal party revolt, forcing her resignation as Prime Minister in November 1990. After leaving office, she was made Baroness Thatcher and introduced to the House of Lords in 1992. She traveled internationally, delivering lectures and leading various organizations aligned with her beliefs. In her later years, declining health led her to withdraw from public speaking.
