Breaking News Margaret Thatcher is dead

Former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

She didn't put off the tough decisions. She spoke her convictions. And, together with Ronald Reagan, she changed the world.

Margaret Thatcher, who served three consecutive terms as Great Britain's prime minister, died Monday at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke. She was remembered in America, and in Britain, as a bulwark not only against Communism in the 1980s but against the growth of the state -- an ideology that will long outlive her on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

"She was really a fearless leader who always followed core conservative principles," said Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Thatcher is remembered for her controversial, but successful, efforts to rein in government spending, privatize state entities and take on the unions. The success of her policies in Britain was arguably a force multiplier for the strength of conservatism in the United States under Reagan.

"The foundations of the Reagan revolution were actually laid by the Thatcher revolution in Britain," Gardiner said Monday.

Her speeches and her convictions can be heard echoing today, in the modern conservative arguments on tax policy, on regulation and other areas in Washington. The idea that a rising tide lifts all boats -- to conservatives, the notion that encouraging wealth creation helps the economy as a whole -- was perhaps best articulated in her last House of Commons speech in 1990.

Challenged by a member who pointed out that the gap between rich and poor grew under her stewardship, she retorted: "All levels of income are better off than they were. ... What a policy, (the member of Parliament) would rather have the poor poorer, provided the rich were less rich. That is a liberal policy."

Former President George W. Bush, in a statement, called Thatcher an "inspirational leader who stood on principle and guided her nation with confidence and clarity."

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said the people of the U.S. and Great Britain and all "believers in small-government principles" lost an "icon" Monday.

"With her strength of character and unfaltering conviction, she forged a new path forward along with another hero of the conservative approach to government, former President Ronald Reagan," he said.

Reagan biographer Craig Shirley said in a statement that "without Margaret Thatcher, all of us would be living in a far different and far worse world."

Thatcher made history as the first female prime minister and the longest-serving in almost two centuries.

But those accomplishments were overshadowed by her record in office. She took on the unions and won. She sold off state-owned monopolies and tackled inflation despite the dire economic consequences it caused in the short run.

"We are rolling back the frontiers of socialism and returning power to the people," she once said.

Together with Reagan, she confronted Communism, reaching out to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Her alliance with Reagan was considered critical in defeating Communism, but also in strengthening the bond between Great Britain and America.

"Prime Minister Thatcher is a great example of strength and character, and a great ally who strengthened the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States," George W. Bush said. Story culled from foxnews