0:00:25 > 0:00:31On May 7th, 1945, Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34had some wonderful news for the nation.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39Hostilities will end officially
0:00:39 > 0:00:42at one minute after midnight tonight.
0:00:42 > 0:00:43CHEERING
0:00:46 > 0:00:49After six long years of fighting,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52British, American and Soviet forces
0:00:52 > 0:00:55had finally defeated Hitler's Nazi Germany.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03But as the nation rejoiced, a new enemy was looming on the horizon.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08We knew them well.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12They were our former allies, the Soviet Union.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18Many people assumed that with victory won against the Germans and the Japanese,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21we could all settle down to a lifetime of peace.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25But we were already facing a new kind of conflict.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28An armed standoff against the totalitarian empire
0:01:28 > 0:01:30of the Soviet Union.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36In the months following the war, Soviet-backed communists
0:01:36 > 0:01:39seized power across eastern Europe.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44For Churchill, these developments confirmed
0:01:44 > 0:01:48his long-standing suspicions of the Soviet Union.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50But there was little he could do.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56Just weeks after victory, Churchill was voted out of Downing Street.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07The next spring, Churchill boarded a train
0:02:07 > 0:02:12heading deep into the American Midwest and went on holiday.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16But he was keen to remind the world of his enduring influence.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21And as his train rattled through the night,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Churchill and his travelling companion cracked open the cards
0:02:24 > 0:02:27and started knocking back the bourbon.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37But Churchill's drinking partner wasn't just anybody,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39he was a man called Harry S Truman,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42President of the United States.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44# Oh, give me land
0:02:44 > 0:02:46# Lots of land
0:02:46 > 0:02:49# Under starry skies above
0:02:49 > 0:02:51# Don't fence me in... #
0:02:51 > 0:02:56Churchill had been invited to speak at a small liberal arts college
0:02:56 > 0:02:57in Fulton, Missouri,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01the home state of President Truman.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04It was meant to be an off-duty speech.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06But as Churchill admitted to Truman,
0:03:06 > 0:03:11he wanted his words to be heard across the world.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14# But I ask you, please
0:03:14 > 0:03:16# Don't fence me in... #
0:03:16 > 0:03:19While Churchill was travelling across America,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22he wrote to Britain's new Labour Prime Minister, Clement Attlee,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25and casually mentioned that he might be giving a speech
0:03:25 > 0:03:29very similar to one he'd already given at Harvard two years before.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31But that wasn't entirely true.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33This was going to be something different.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37In Washington, Churchill had asked Harry Truman to help him write it.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40"It's your speech," Truman said, "you write it yourself."
0:03:40 > 0:03:42He even refused to read a draft.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46But that night on the train, a few stiff drinks down the line,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Truman changed his mind.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52And when he put the speech down, he said it was, "Admirable."
0:03:52 > 0:03:54"It would do nothing but good," he added,
0:03:54 > 0:03:56"although it would make a stir."
0:03:56 > 0:03:58That was putting it mildly.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01For Joseph Stalin and for many others,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04this was the moment when the Cold War began.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09On March 5th, 1946, Churchill and Truman
0:04:09 > 0:04:13were shown into Westminster College's spruced-up gym,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16the only place large enough to cram everyone in.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19And it's one of the great privileges of my lifetime
0:04:19 > 0:04:20to be able to present to you
0:04:20 > 0:04:24that great world citizen, Winston Churchill.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26APPLAUSE
0:04:32 > 0:04:35From Stettin in the Baltic
0:04:35 > 0:04:38to Trieste in the Adriatic,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42an Iron Curtain has descended across the Continent.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Behind that line lie all the capitals
0:04:46 > 0:04:51of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54And all are subject, in one form or another,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57not only to Soviet influence,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure
0:05:00 > 0:05:04of control from Moscow.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08An Iron Curtain had dropped around Poland,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15In this Iron Curtain speech,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Churchill was the first Western statesman
0:05:18 > 0:05:23to single out the Soviet Union as the greatest threat to world peace.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26And he also gave us a three-word phrase
0:05:26 > 0:05:30that we're still arguing about to this day.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35A special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire
0:05:35 > 0:05:38and the United States of America.
0:05:38 > 0:05:39APPLAUSE
0:05:40 > 0:05:42Churchill himself was half American
0:05:42 > 0:05:45and he passionately believed
0:05:45 > 0:05:48that Britain's security and prosperity
0:05:48 > 0:05:51depended on closer ties with our American cousins.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56So in this gym in the Missouri heartland,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58he set out to woo his listeners,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01to persuade them to stick with the Western Alliance
0:06:01 > 0:06:06and to stand by Britain in the face of a new and terrible enemy.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11For the next half century,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15the world was locked in an ideological battle
0:06:15 > 0:06:19between communist east and capitalist west.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Totalitarianism against democracy.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31Churchill's Iron Curtain had descended.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43# 'S wonderful
0:06:44 > 0:06:46# 'S marvellous
0:06:46 > 0:06:50# You should care for me... #
0:06:52 > 0:06:54October, 1956.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58And here, outside Covent Garden's Royal Opera House,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00people had been queuing for three days
0:07:00 > 0:07:02for the hottest tickets in town.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06We're very keen.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09We've been doing this for about ten years at Covent Garden,
0:07:09 > 0:07:11but we've never had a three-day queue.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13For London's culture vultures,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15this was an evening not to be missed.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19A rare British appearance by the Bolshoi Ballet.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25The performance even had the royal seal of approval.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33The Bolshoi was Russian culture at its most glorious.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Glittering and exotic.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39It was also a shiny example of Soviet soft power,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41art in the service of communism.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46But even as the dancers were gliding across the London stage,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49another European capital was experiencing
0:07:49 > 0:07:53a very different kind of Russian visit.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03The night the Bolshoi captivated London
0:08:03 > 0:08:06has gone down in history as Bloody Thursday.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Because hundreds of miles away on the great Hungarian plain,
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Soviet tanks were rumbling towards Budapest
0:08:14 > 0:08:18in a raw display of old-fashioned hard power.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23On October 23rd, 1956,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27thousands of people had taken to the streets of Budapest
0:08:27 > 0:08:29demanding an end to Soviet rule.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33As the demonstrations gathered momentum,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37Hungary's communist leaders called on Moscow for help.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42And as dawn broke just two days later,
0:08:42 > 0:08:4530,000 Soviet troops entered Budapest.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53For four days, the Red Army opened fire on the crowds.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01And then, on November 4th, a new wave of tanks were sent in.
0:09:01 > 0:09:08After six days of fierce fighting, the uprising was finally crushed.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13But it was at the cost of at least 4,000 Hungarian lives.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Never had there been a more brutal
0:09:16 > 0:09:18or a more spectacular demonstration
0:09:18 > 0:09:21of the Soviet Union's determination
0:09:21 > 0:09:25to crush all dissent behind the Iron Curtain.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29But here in London, Hungary wasn't even the first item on the agenda
0:09:29 > 0:09:32for Sir Anthony Eden's Conservative government.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Because at the very moment that the Red Army was rumbling into Budapest,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38British tanks were taking part
0:09:38 > 0:09:41in an equally controversial military adventure.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45# Please, please, please, please...#
0:09:45 > 0:09:49That July, the Egyptian government had seized control
0:09:49 > 0:09:55of a major waterway running through their country. The Suez Canal.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58In Britain, the news came as a terrible shock.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Britain had controlled the canal since the 1870s.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07And it had become a vital route for British trade,
0:10:07 > 0:10:12cutting through Africa and linking Europe to Asia.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Now Prime Minister Anthony Eden wanted to snatch it back.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19But his timing couldn't have been worse.
0:10:19 > 0:10:25And as the crises of Suez and Hungary unfolded side by side,
0:10:25 > 0:10:30the limits of British power were painfully exposed.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37In Hungary, the Kremlin ignored the West's hand-wringing protests
0:10:37 > 0:10:42and mercilessly throttled a popular revolution.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46But at Suez, the Americans refused to back
0:10:46 > 0:10:48our little show of military muscle.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52They were outraged that Britain had sent in troops
0:10:52 > 0:10:54without consulting their allies.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56And they also wanted to send a message.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59That the days of the old European empires
0:10:59 > 0:11:03throwing their weight around were over.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08Washington, not London, was now the heart of Western power.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12Britain was forced into a red-faced withdrawal.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17It was a sharp reminder that we were no longer the superpower of old.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21For the British people, the events of 1956
0:11:21 > 0:11:25were a humiliating lesson in the harsh new realities
0:11:25 > 0:11:28of the Cold War world.
0:11:40 > 0:11:46On 22nd October, 1962, President John F Kennedy
0:11:46 > 0:11:49revealed terrifying news to the Western world.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55The purpose of these bases can be none other
0:11:55 > 0:11:58than to provide a nuclear strike capability
0:11:58 > 0:12:00against the Western hemisphere.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06American spy planes had discovered Soviet missiles on Cuba,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10just 100 miles from the American coast.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12I call upon Chairman Khrushchev
0:12:12 > 0:12:16to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless
0:12:16 > 0:12:18and provocative threat to world peace.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21For years, the front line in Europe
0:12:21 > 0:12:25had seemed the most likely Cold War flashpoint.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31But the Cuban crisis showed that east and west could clash anywhere.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36And now, as Kennedy ordered a blockade around the Cuban coast
0:12:36 > 0:12:40to stop the delivery of further Soviet missiles,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44the British people watched and waited.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Meanwhile, Britain's Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan,
0:12:50 > 0:12:52offered the President his support
0:12:52 > 0:12:55and tried to see whether he could have any influence
0:12:55 > 0:12:58over the fate of the world.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01"Hello? Can you hear me now?"
0:13:01 > 0:13:03"Yes, sir. I hear you very clearly
0:13:03 > 0:13:06"and I'll hand the phone to the President. Over."
0:13:07 > 0:13:09"Hello, Prime Minister."
0:13:10 > 0:13:13"Hello. What's the news there? Over."
0:13:17 > 0:13:20During the crisis, Harold Macmillan spoke to President Kennedy
0:13:20 > 0:13:24almost every day, often very late at night.
0:13:24 > 0:13:25Now, Macmillan was almost 70,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28whereas Kennedy was just 45.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31But Macmillan was well aware that in this conflict,
0:13:31 > 0:13:33it was the younger man, the American,
0:13:33 > 0:13:35who was really calling the shots.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38And that he himself was basically just a junior partner.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42But Macmillan always liked to see himself as the wise old counsellor
0:13:42 > 0:13:45offering all the benefits of his experience.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47The Greek to Kennedy's Roman.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57# I want to be happy
0:13:57 > 0:13:59# I want to be... #
0:13:59 > 0:14:01The world stood at the edge of darkness.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04This was a genuine doomsday scenario
0:14:04 > 0:14:08that might mean the end of civilisation itself.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12# But a mushroom cloud hangs over my dreams
0:14:12 > 0:14:15# It haunts my future and threatens my schemes... #
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Some people could only think of their nearest and dearest.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Among all the stories about British reactions to the Cuban crisis,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27this one strikes me as particularly moving.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30"A father of six kept his three eldest children from school yesterday
0:14:30 > 0:14:35"so that the whole family could be together during the Cuban crisis.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38"Mr Peter Gardner, a 44-year-old company director
0:14:38 > 0:14:41"from Shoreham, Sussex, explained,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45"'I could not protect my children in a bomb raid, nor could anyone else,
0:14:45 > 0:14:50"'but I feel we should all be together at this dangerous time.'"
0:14:51 > 0:14:53- # We prayed - # We prayed
0:14:53 > 0:14:56# We partied, we laughed and we pray... #
0:14:56 > 0:14:59With the Third World War apparently only moments away,
0:14:59 > 0:15:04this was as close as Britain ever came to nuclear annihilation.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07# I cling to my baby
0:15:07 > 0:15:10# And she clings to me... #
0:15:10 > 0:15:13And then the Kremlin blinked.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19On 28th October, the Russians agreed to dismantle the missiles.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21The crisis was over.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27The British people could breathe a great sigh of relief.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29# Please, please, please
0:15:29 > 0:15:30# Where did you go?
0:15:30 > 0:15:33# Where did you go? #
0:15:33 > 0:15:36And so could Harold Macmillan.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50But the reality was much, much more frightening
0:15:50 > 0:15:54than either Macmillan or the British people had ever guessed.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Because if the missile crisis had escalated,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01we would have been the launch pad
0:16:01 > 0:16:04for the Americans' attack on the communist block.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08All thanks to a deal struck in the 1950s.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15The arrangement was called, Project Emily.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17It sounds innocuous enough,
0:16:17 > 0:16:19but under the terms of the deal,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22the Americans installed 60 Thor ballistic missiles
0:16:22 > 0:16:25on RAF sites up and down the United Kingdom.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29By hosting the Thors,
0:16:29 > 0:16:33the Government had effectively drawn a target on Britain
0:16:33 > 0:16:36and invited the Kremlin to take aim.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39And what neither the public, nor, more shockingly,
0:16:39 > 0:16:44Macmillan himself knew during those long days and nights in October,
0:16:44 > 0:16:49was just how close to that attack Britain almost came.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59The Cuban crisis was a chilling reminder of Britain's vulnerability.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04It left many people convinced that a devastating nuclear war
0:17:04 > 0:17:08was now not a possibility, but a terrifying probability.
0:17:23 > 0:17:29In June 1982, a hero of the old west came riding into town.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35The Hollywood actor turned President of the United States, Ronald Reagan,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39had arrived in London for what would be an historic visit.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47You wanted law and order in this town. You've got it.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50I'll shoot the first man that starts for those sticks.
0:17:50 > 0:17:51Come on!
0:17:51 > 0:17:54This was Ronald Reagan's first visit to Britain
0:17:54 > 0:17:57as President of the United States.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59He stayed at Windsor Castle
0:17:59 > 0:18:02and it was, he wrote in his diary, "A fairytale experience."
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Early the next morning, in the calm before the storm,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09Reagan saddled up his horse
0:18:09 > 0:18:12and went for a ride here at Windsor Great Park.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15With him was his trusty sidekick.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18On this occasion, the Queen.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28But he wasn't here just to show us how to ride a horse Western style.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Reagan had come to make a speech
0:18:30 > 0:18:33in which he would present his vision
0:18:33 > 0:18:36of the Soviet Union's inevitable demise.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40The President spoke in Parliament's Royal Gallery,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44dwarfed by paintings of Waterloo and Trafalgar.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Great British victories over another evil empire.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50FANFARE
0:18:52 > 0:18:56And one phrase in particular captured Reagan's confidence
0:18:56 > 0:18:58that communism was doomed.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00APPLAUSE
0:19:00 > 0:19:04The march of freedom and democracy, which will leave Marxism-Leninism
0:19:04 > 0:19:08on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies
0:19:08 > 0:19:12which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16'..leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history
0:19:16 > 0:19:18'as it has left other tyrannies...'
0:19:18 > 0:19:22This speech was Ronald Reagan's manifesto for winning the Cold War.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26And at its heart was a sense of moral certainty
0:19:26 > 0:19:30that the communists were wrong and we in the West were right.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32In many ways, Reagan was echoing another speech
0:19:32 > 0:19:35made by a great international statesman on foreign soil.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40Winston Churchill's speech at Fulton, Missouri, in 1946.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Now, that was the speech in which Churchill coined the phrase,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45the Iron Curtain.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48And it's often seen as the moment that the Cold War began.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51And now, here in the Palace of Westminster,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Reagan took the great man's career
0:19:54 > 0:19:56as an inspiration for victory.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00During the dark days of the Second World War,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04when this island was incandescent with courage,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08Winston Churchill exclaimed about Britain's adversaries.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11"What kind of a people do they think we are?"
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Afterwards, at a Number 10 lunch in the President's honour,
0:20:22 > 0:20:27Mrs Thatcher told Reagan that she thought his speech magnificent.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31He had, she said, written a new chapter in our history.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36It was time, they thought, to say what we really believed.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41Time to take on the Soviet Union and beat it.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43For Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46the status quo was no longer an option.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Their mission wasn't to contain communism, it was to roll it back.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53To exploit its weaknesses
0:20:53 > 0:20:55and to assert our strengths.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Free markets, free speech
0:20:58 > 0:21:01and above all, military strength.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05So to Reagan's critics, his image of the ash heap of history
0:21:05 > 0:21:07was disturbingly appropriate,
0:21:07 > 0:21:11but you didn't need to be a card-carrying CND supporter
0:21:11 > 0:21:14to appreciate this fantastic poster.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17"She promised to follow him to the end of the earth.
0:21:17 > 0:21:18"He promised to organise it!"
0:21:32 > 0:21:36We often think of Margaret Thatcher as the ultimate Cold War warrior,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40talking tough and looking tough.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44But this wasn't always the case.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48# Her hair is hollow gold
0:21:48 > 0:21:51# Her lips sweet surprise... #
0:21:51 > 0:21:53The daughter of a grocer,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Margaret Thatcher had risen from humble beginnings.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00When she became the first female leader
0:22:00 > 0:22:02of the Conservative party in 1975,
0:22:02 > 0:22:07many people saw her as an irritating, short-lived fluke.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09There's a little bit sticking up there.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11You can see it in the reflection.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Then, in 1976, she delivered a speech
0:22:16 > 0:22:19that would transform her image for ever.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32In Britain, her speech made little impact,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35but 2,000 miles away in Moscow,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39a young Soviet journalist called Yuri Gavrilov
0:22:39 > 0:22:41was paying close attention.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47And he coined a phrase that gave Mrs Thatcher her warrior image.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53And here it, is Gavrilov's article, under the ominous title,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Iron Lady Frightens.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59"The Conservative leader, Margaret Thatcher," he says,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02"recently gave a spiteful anti-Soviet speech
0:23:02 > 0:23:03"at Kensington Town Hall.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07"Pretentiously entitled, Wake up, England!
0:23:07 > 0:23:09"In her hysterical speech,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11"the Russians are trying to take over the world.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15"And, according to Mrs Thatcher, the English people are asleep
0:23:15 > 0:23:19"and oblivious to the danger which only she can see."
0:23:19 > 0:23:22You know, the funny thing about Gavrilov's article
0:23:22 > 0:23:26is that he meant those words, Iron Lady, as an insult.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29But, of course from that day on,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Margaret Thatcher wore them with defiant pride.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35I stand before you tonight
0:23:35 > 0:23:39in my Red Star chiffon evening gown.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:23:48 > 0:23:53My face softly made up and my fair hair gently waved.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55LAUGHTER
0:23:57 > 0:24:00The Iron Lady of the Western world.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:24:05 > 0:24:08A Cold War warrior,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11an Amazon philistine,
0:24:11 > 0:24:15even a Peking plotter.
0:24:15 > 0:24:16LAUGHTER
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Well, am I any of these things?
0:24:18 > 0:24:20ALL: No!
0:24:22 > 0:24:24Well, yes, if that's how they...
0:24:24 > 0:24:26LAUGHTER
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Yes, I am an Iron Lady.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Margaret Thatcher had found her mission,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39as a committed crusader against communism.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45We must start with the essence of our Conservative belief.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Individual liberty.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53When she became Prime Minister in May 1979,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57these beliefs underpinned all her political objectives.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04And eight years later, in March 1987,
0:25:04 > 0:25:06she was ready to take them
0:25:06 > 0:25:12directly to the heart of the communist empire, Moscow.
0:25:12 > 0:25:18At last, the Soviet people saw the Iron Lady for themselves.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20She wanted to show the world
0:25:20 > 0:25:25that she was the West's most respected and experienced leader.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28And she saw herself as the chief representative
0:25:28 > 0:25:32of the West's increasingly wealthy society.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37the Western economy was entering a new era of growth and confidence,
0:25:37 > 0:25:42but in the East, the Soviet alternative to capitalism
0:25:42 > 0:25:44was grinding to a halt.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47# Everybody wants to rule the world... #
0:25:49 > 0:25:51Here, in the heart of the Kremlin,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55would the Iron Lady denounce the Soviet bear or embrace it?
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Mrs Thatcher told the press that of all her foreign visits,
0:25:59 > 0:26:01this was one she was most prepared for.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04She was ready, she said, for a long dialogue,
0:26:04 > 0:26:08plenty of disagreements and a hostile press.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10CHEERING
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Mrs Thatcher had dressed to impress.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23With her glamorous array of hats, coats and tailored suits,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26her look symbolised the Western luxury,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29to which the Soviet people aspired.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32# She's a juvenile scam never was a quitter
0:26:32 > 0:26:34# Tasty like a raindrop She's got the look... #
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Everywhere she went, she was mobbed.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38# She's got the look
0:26:38 > 0:26:39# She's got the look
0:26:39 > 0:26:41# She's got the look... #
0:26:41 > 0:26:42The Russians admired strength.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45And here, on primetime TV,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49was the warrior queen in full force.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Look, if you attack us,
0:26:52 > 0:26:56you will have such a terrible time that you cannot win.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01And isn't that the best defence to anyone who threatens you?
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Doesn't...? One moment.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07..Doesn't the bully go for the weak person, not for the strong?
0:27:07 > 0:27:10You have more... If you take this view,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13I wonder why you have so many nuclear weapons.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19To the Russians, Britain's Prime Minister
0:27:19 > 0:27:22had once been the capitalist enemy,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25but now they treated her like a film star.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31Here in the Kremlin, they didn't call Margaret Thatcher the Iron Lady any more,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34they called her the lady with the blue eyes.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Here in Britain, Mrs Thatcher remains
0:27:39 > 0:27:41a controversial and divisive character.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45But there's no denying her impact
0:27:45 > 0:27:47in those last days of the Cold War.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54CHEERING
0:27:54 > 0:27:56At time when Soviet communism was flagging,
0:27:56 > 0:27:58she strove unceasingly
0:27:58 > 0:28:01to represent and advance
0:28:01 > 0:28:03the Western way of life.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05And in the end, she won.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10East Germany has tonight opened its borders to the West.
0:28:10 > 0:28:1328 years after the Berlin Wall was built,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16its people are once more free to travel anywhere.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26# With or without you
0:28:26 > 0:28:31# With or without you
0:28:31 > 0:28:35# I can't live
0:28:35 > 0:28:40# With or without you
0:28:40 > 0:28:43# With or without you. #