MARGARET ROBERTS THATCHER - UNITED KINGDOM

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00575448
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: March 16, 2022
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2016
• Case Number: F-2014-01469
• Publication Date: May 18, 1982

Approved for Release: 2014/10/24 000575448
Margaret Roberts THATCHER
Prime Minister (since May
1979)
Addressed as:
Prime Minister
Leader of the Conserva-
tive Party since 1975, Margar-
et Thatcher is the first woman
ever to serve as Prime Minis-
ter of Britain or of any Euro-
pean country. According to
the press, she is a self-
proclaimed crusader for free
enterprise and the economic
revival of Great Britain. A
member of Parliament since
1959, Thatcher has held several important government
positions during her career, including that of Secre-
tary of State for Education and Science (1970-74).
UNITED KINGDOM
0
The daughter of a grocer and a seamstress, Thatch-
er won a scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford, and
graduated with honors in chemistry in 1947. While
there she was president of the University Conservative
Association. After working for four years as a re-
search chemist in an industrial firm, she began to
study law, specializing in tax legislation and patents.
During her political career she has served as joint
parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Pensions and
National Insurance (1961-64) and shadow deputy chancel-
lor of the exchequer (1974-75). Thatcher visited the
United States in 1967 on a Foreign Leader Grant. On
later trips she met with Presidents Gerald Ford (1975)
and Jimmy Carter (1977, 1979). She renewed an ac-
quaintance with President Ronald Reagan, whom she has
known for several years, on a state visit to Washington
in February 1981. She also received the William J.
Donovan Medal, awarded by veterans of the Office of
Strategic Services to individuals who render distin-
guished service to the cause of freedom.
Thatcher, 56, enjoys listening to music by Bach,
Beethoven, and Chopin and reading detective stories,
historical novels, and biographies. Her husband,
Denis, is a retired oil company executive. The Thatch-
ers have 28-year-old twins, Mark and Carol.
CR M 82-12519
18 May 1982
Approved for Release: 2014/10/24 000575448