The definite study of Thatcher's impact and influence on Reagan has yet to be written...I believe she showed him the way, she honed his idea that EVIL EMPIRE should, and could, be confronted..opposed, not appeased..the genesis of Grenada and Panama, was after all, the Falklands..
I'm sure when she passes on it will be just as tearful an event.
Taking nothing away from Thatcher, but Reagan's position that the Evil Empire had to be defeated was prominent long before Margaret Thatcher came to office.