| |
| |
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
|
WHEREAS, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female |
|
|
prime minister and one of the most commanding figures of the 20th |
|
|
century, died on April 8, 2013, at the age of 87; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The daughter of a grocer, Margaret Thatcher was |
|
|
first elected to Parliament in 1959, becoming the youngest of only |
|
|
25 women in the House of Commons; she surprised many by winning |
|
|
leadership of the Conservative Party in 1975, and by the following |
|
|
year, she had already earned the nickname the Iron Lady from the |
|
|
Soviet press for her hard-line position on Russia; she went on to |
|
|
guide the Tories to a landslide victory in the general election in |
|
|
1979; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Prime Minister Thatcher led the United Kingdom for |
|
|
11 years, the longest tenure of any English prime minister since the |
|
|
early 1800s; transforming a country beset by economic woes and |
|
|
mired in discontent, she restored a sense of optimism by lowering |
|
|
taxes, slashing spending, crushing once-powerful labor unions, and |
|
|
selling off unprofitable state-owned businesses, including Jaguar |
|
|
and British Airways; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, This bold leader captured the world's attention and |
|
|
restored national pride by sending troops to defend the Falkland |
|
|
Islands against an Argentine invasion in 1982; even detractors |
|
|
admired her courage, especially when she gave her keynote speech at |
|
|
the 1984 Tory convention mere hours after an assassination attempt |
|
|
had claimed the lives of colleagues; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Uniting with President Ronald Reagan and Pope John |
|
|
Paul II, Prime Minister Thatcher worked tirelessly to defeat Soviet |
|
|
communism, end the Cold War, and bring freedom to the people of the |
|
|
Eastern Bloc; the prime minister and President Reagan maintained a |
|
|
strong friendship based on a shared worldview, and among foreign |
|
|
heads of state, she was his staunchest ally; in 1986, she allowed |
|
|
United States warplanes to fly from British bases to bomb Libya in |
|
|
retaliation for acts of terrorism, and she sent ships, tanks, and |
|
|
troops to Iraq for the first Gulf War; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, After leaving 10 Downing Street in 1990, Prime |
|
|
Minister Thatcher continued to advocate for her vision of "popular |
|
|
capitalism" as a highly sought-after speaker on the lecture |
|
|
circuit; two years later, she took her seat in the House of Lords as |
|
|
Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, wrote her memoir, and dedicated |
|
|
herself to the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, a think tank that |
|
|
seeks to advance political and economic freedom; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on October 13, 1925, |
|
|
the youngest of two daughters of Beatrice and Alfred Roberts; she |
|
|
was raised in the central England town of Grantham in a modest home |
|
|
above the grocery shop, which her father ran in addition to serving |
|
|
as a Methodist preacher and local politician; the budding leader |
|
|
began developing her consummate political skill as a child |
|
|
assisting in her father's campaigns for office; she attended |
|
|
Somerville College at Oxford University, where she earned a |
|
|
master's degree in chemistry, and she worked briefly as a research |
|
|
chemist before qualifying as a barrister; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In 1951, Prime Minister Thatcher married |
|
|
businessman Denis Thatcher, who was her rock of support until his |
|
|
passing in 2003; she was the mother of twins, Mark and Carol, and |
|
|
the grandmother of Amanda and Michael Thatcher; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Margaret Thatcher profoundly changed British |
|
|
society and altered the course of world history, and her |
|
|
far-reaching accomplishments will continue to resonate with |
|
|
current and future generations around the globe; now, therefore, be |
|
|
it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas |
|
|
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Baroness Margaret |
|
|
Thatcher and extend deepest sympathy to the members of her family |
|
|
and to all who mourn her passing; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
|
prepared for her family and that when the Texas House of |
|
|
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Baroness |
|
|
Margaret Thatcher. |