Drawing on a host of recently declassified documents from the Reagan-Thatcher years provides an innovative basis to understand the development and nature of the relationship between the two leaders.
"A connection between Thatcherite and Reaganite domestic policy is often assumed by historians. The two political leaders are commonly viewed in the same 'New Right' context. Yet, although there was an alignment - and this study shows how the two administrations cited developments across the Atlantic in justification of their respective policy agendas - it is clear that this shared context was often only in terms of rhetoric and presentation rather than in policy. In this ground-breaking study, containing over thirty interviews with key protagonists, James Cooper explores a more complex relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s; he reveals the strengths and weaknesses of their political bonds, and shows that their fortunes, whilst in concurrent power, offered a crucial mutual validation as they sought to 'roll back the state."--P. [4] of cover
A connection between Thatcherite and Reaganite domestic policy is often assumed by historians. The two political leaders are commonly viewed in the same 'New Right' context. Yet, although there was an alignment - and this study shows how the two administrations cited developments across the Atlantic in justification of their respective policy agendas - it is clear that this shared context was often only in terms of rhetoric and presentation rather than in policy. In this ground-breaking study, containing over thirty interviews with key protagonists, James Cooper explores a more complex relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s; he reveals the strengths and weaknesses of their political bonds, and shows that their fortunes, whilst in concurrent power, offered a crucial mutual validation as they sought to 'roll back the state'.
A neglected area of transatlantic history is the relationship between the Reagan administration and the Northern Ireland conflict. This article will seek to address this situation by charting the extent of Ronald Reagan's interest in the issue and the ways and means that other protagonists sought to secure and prevent his involvement. It will examine the president's approach in the context of different views in his administration, the State Department's desire to maintain American neutrality on the issue, and the desire of leading Irish-American politicians for the American government to be far more interventionist. Thus, Reagan's contribution to the Anglo-Irish process encapsulates a variety of interlinking fields of research: the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland during the 1980s; the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement; and the internationalisation of the conflict before the advent of President Bill Clinton in 1993.