[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

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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

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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.