    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [March 7, 1991]
    [Pages 225-227]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Upon Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Margaret
    Thatcher
    March 7, 1991

        The President. Welcome, welcome, Margaret. Please be seated. Ladies
    and gentlemen and so many distinguished guests, and members of this
    administration, and friends of what is indeed a special relationship.
    Particularly to Sir Denis Thatcher and Mark and Diane Thatcher, and
    above all, the greengrocer's daughter who shaped a nation to her will.
        America's highest civilian award is the Medal of Freedom. And we're
    here to present it to one of the greatest leaders of our time. For over
    11 of the most extraordinary years in British history, she helped
    freedom lift the peoples of Europe and the world. Former Prime Minister
    Margaret Thatcher, we are delighted you are with us today.
        She's been called the Iron Lady--irrepressible, at times
    incorrigible, always indomitable. [Laughter] And she summoned the best
    in the human spirit, speaking for our values and our dreams. Once she
    said, ``Turn if you like; the lady's not for turning.'' And she wasn't.
    Instead, the free world turned to her--for counsel, for courage, for
    leadership that proclaimed a belief in right and wrong--not a devotion
    to what is popular.
        It has been said that great leaders reflect their time. Margaret
    Thatcher did. She also transformed her time as few leaders ever have.
    Consider the 1980's and early nineties--a golden age of liberty.
    Remember what she meant and how she mattered. Hers was not merely among
    Britain's finest hours. She helped mold perhaps democracy's finest era.
        Think first of what she meant to the place that Shakespeare called
    ``this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.'' She didn't
    create spirit in the British people; it's been there for a millennium.
    But Margaret Thatcher believed in it and once again unleashed it.
        She cherished human dignity and self-determination. So, when an
    antidemocratic military moved against the Falkland Islands, Britain met
    the challenge. And she sought to decrease what government must do and
    increase what the individual may do. So she put private roofs over
    British heads--and restored economic pride to British hearts. Like her
    successor, John Major, she believed passionately in free enterprise. And
    so she used it to renew British initiative and national pride. Margaret
    Thatcher didn't merely make Britain a leader in the new world order; she
    defined the essence of the United Kingdom.
        Think next of what she meant to us--what she meant to America. Mrs.
    Thatcher understood the ties that bind our nations--moral and economic,
    political and spiritual--so she defended America, helped inspire it. No
    country could have had a more valiant comrade in arms. No President--as
    another great leader, Ronald Reagan, could attest--could ask for a
    better friend.
        We will never forget her courage in helping forge a great coalition
    against the aggression which brutalized the Gulf. Nor will I forget one
    special phone conversation that I had with the Prime Minister. In the
    early days of the Gulf crisis--I'm not sure you

    [[Page 226]]

    remember this one, Margaret--in the early days of the Gulf crisis I
    called her to say that though we fully intended to interdict Iraqi
    shipping, we were going to let a single vessel heading for Oman enter
    port down at Yemen--going around Oman down to Yemen--let it enter port
    without being stopped. And she listened to my explanation, agreed with
    the decision, but then added these words of caution--words that guided
    me through the Gulf crisis, words I'll never forget as long as I'm
    alive. ``Remember, George,'' she said, ``this is no time to go wobbly.''
    [Laughter]
        Those who work with me in the White House know we use that
    expression often and have used it during some troubling days. And never,
    ever will it be said that Margaret Thatcher went wobbly. [Laughter]
        Finally, think of what Margaret Thatcher meant to the world. Her
    resolution and dedication set an example for all of us. She showed that
    you can't lock people behind walls forever when moral conviction uplifts
    their souls. And she knew tyranny is powerless against the primacy of
    the heart.
        Margaret Thatcher helped bring the cold war to an end, helped the
    human will outlast bayonets and barbed wire. She sailed freedom's ship
    wherever it was imperiled. Prophet and crusader, idealist and realist,
    this heroic woman made history move her way.
        Prime Minister, there will always be an England, but there can never
    be another Margaret Thatcher. Thank you for all you've done.
        And now I have the great privilege to ask Commander Ross to read the
    citation on the Medal of Freedom. We're delighted you're here.
        Commander Ross. The President of the United States of America awards
    this Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Right Honorable Margaret
    Thatcher. Three times elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
    Margaret Thatcher led her country with fearlessness, determination,
    integrity, and a true vision for Britain. In over a decade of
    achievement, she extended prosperity at home and made signal
    contributions to transatlantic partnership, the unity of the West, and
    overcoming the postwar division of Europe. With a strong sense of her
    nation's history and of the principles which brought it to greatness,
    she restored confidence to the British people.
        The United States honors a steadfast and true ally and a firm friend
    of political and economic freedom throughout the world.
        Signed, George Bush, The White House, Washington, DC, 7 March 1991.
        Mrs. Thatcher. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I am so very
    honored to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the greatest
    country in the free world. And thank you, Mr. President, for the
    wonderful things you have said, including that wobbly bit. [Laughter]
        It's a double honor to receive this medal from the hands of a
    President whose steadfast leadership has just won the victory of freedom
    that will rank with the greatest in history. And I am especially moved
    to receive it in the White House, which in addition to its powerful
    historical association has many sterling memories for me personally. It
    was here with you and your predecessor that I embarked on the adventure
    of restoring the economy and the defenses of the free world against the
    many threats that faced us a decade ago.
        We've overcome many difficulties since those early days and faced
    many crises. The onward march of freedom is not inevitable; it has its
    enemies, as we know. But when in our time freedom came to be tested,
    there were no faint hearts in the White House--only great hearts. Great
    hearts who had been wise enough to keep their sword and armor in case of
    danger. Great hearts who had harnessed the genius of scientists so that
    your armed forces had the very best equipment. Great hearts who knew
    that the sovereignty of freedom and justice had to be upheld not by
    pious sentiments or platitudes but by staunch and valiant deeds of men
    and women.
        The decision to use force is not easy to take, either for
    politicians or for generals, for whose performance in the campaign I
    have boundless admiration.
        I've been involved in taking three such decisions, some of which you
    referred to, Mr. President. First, it fell to me to send armed forces
    8,000 miles to recover the

    [[Page 227]]

    Falkland Islands from an earlier aggressor. And then with President
    Reagan, to allow the use of air bases in Britain for the raid on Libya.
    We in Britain have experienced and still experience terrorism and knew
    someone had to stand up against it. And then, third, Mr. President, I
    was with you at Aspen when you made the historic decision that Saddam's
    seizure of Kuwait would not stand.
        I wish only that the Iraqi dictator could have seen your somber
    determination on that occasion. Much grief to his countrymen, much pain
    to his neighbors and to us might then have been avoided.
        Like you, Mr. President, I hate violence. And there's only one thing
    I hate even more--giving in to violence. We didn't give in to it. The
    battle of Desert Storm has not only liberated Kuwait and her people; it
    has sent an awesome warning to any other dictator who sets out to
    extinguish the rights of others for his own evil gain. The sanction of
    force must not be left to tyrants who have no moral scruples about its
    use.
        I want to pay a grateful tribute on behalf of myself, the British
    people, and the British soldiers who fought in the field, to the
    statesmen and generals who conceived, planned, and executed a great
    victory with a minimum of allied casualties. We and the world are in
    their debt.
        But freedom has won victories in peace as well. The way of life and
    prosperity of Western Europe was a constant reproach to the poverty of
    communism in Eastern Europe. Now that the shackles of communism have
    been removed from Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria, they
    are now free to rejoin Western Europe--something which would have seemed
    impossible 2 or 3 years ago.
        The great principles of freedom, justice, and democracy, which are
    the inheritance of both our countries, find their most eloquent
    expression in the American Declaration of Independence. As one of your
    statesmen pointed out, it was not a document designed for one
    generation, but, and I quote, ``For posterity unlimited, undefined,
    endless and perpetual.'' And so it has been. And so it may ever be.
        Mr. President, once again, its truths have been upheld. Once again,
    the strong bond between our two countries in peace have been reaffirmed
    as it has been in war. The peoples of the alliance you, sir, formed will
    feel proud not only because the battles they fought were won but because
    they know that what you did was morally right. Their victory will bring
    hope to other oppressed peoples that they, too, one day may be free.
        It is in that spirit, Mr. President, that I accept this award--not
    on behalf of myself only but on behalf of my country and remembering the
    people struggling toward freedom in the Baltic States, remembering those
    striving to make freedom work in Eastern Europe, and those trying to
    negotiate a free South Africa in peace. And on behalf of those
    throughout history who never having known freedom have, nonetheless,
    died for it. And for us here today.
        Mr. President, this is a very proud day. May I thank you for this
    award. May I say that we salute America and we salute you, Mr.
    President, and all the things you stand for. Thank you.

                        Note: The President spoke at 5:30 p.m. in the East
                            Room at the White House. During the ceremony,
                            the following persons were referred to: Sir
                            Denis Thatcher, husband of former Prime Minister
                            Thatcher, and their children, Mark and Diane;
                            Prime Minister John Major of the United Kingdom;
                            Jake Ross, Navy aide to the President; and
                            President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.