 we contemplate the world as it is today, and how it was when we first met here eight years ago, we too have a right to say something sure has happened. When we first met on these grounds in 1981, there was talk of unilateral cutbacks and American withdrawals and nuclear freezes and questions about the alliance, our alliance, the great alliance built with such difficulty and daring, whether the modern world had made them obsolete. Well, now it's changed. Now the excitement and vigor and energy in the world is with the cause of freedom. As the United States and Great Britain shortly after my return from Moscow, to note in a speech at Guild Hall, your extraordinary role in the revitalization of freedom. Today, in welcoming you to these shores, I and the American people again restate our gratitude. In the critical hour, Margaret Thatcher and the people of Great Britain stood fast in freedom's defense, and surely future historians will note that a supreme fact of this century was that Great Britain and the United States shared the same cause, the cause of human freedom. And together we've come, when we realized all we had striven for in that great conflict, world peace and freedom, the day may dawn when fair play, love for one's fellow men, respect for justice and freedom, will enable torment. Official guests, after eight historic years of your presidency, one of the greatest in America's history. On behalf of this great nation and of free people everywhere, and an opportunity to look ahead to the bright promise of the future. Mr. President, when you welcome me to the White House on my first official visit to Washington under your president's liberty, your conviction, Mr. President, that the only sure piece is one fact, but it is the man who holds that office, you sir, who has enabled us to begin the world over again.