politico.com/story/2018/04/09/this-day-in-politics-april-9-1982-506180
Haig met for five hours with British officials. Afterward, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher emphasized her government’s determination to secure an Argentine withdrawal before formal negotiations could begin and said she wanted Haig to make this clear to the Argentine military government of President Leopoldo Galtieri in Buenos Aires, where Haig would head next.
Meantime, Nicanor Costa Mendez, the Argentine foreign minister, said the danger of war was waning after he returned to Buenos Aires from an earlier meeting with Haig in Washington. At the time, Argentine intelligence officers were working with the CIA to bolster Contra insurgents in Nicaragua. Prior to mounting their invasion on April 1, the Argentines believed they might be rewarded for this help through a policy of noninterference by the United States.
President Ronald Reagan’s administration was divided over the conflict. Haig, believing equivocation could undermine the NATO alliance, favored backing the British. But Thomas Enders, the assistant secretary of state for Inter-American affairs, feared that supporting Britain would undermine U.S. anti-communist efforts in Latin America.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Jeane Kirkpatrick sided with Enders. Kirkpatrick was the guest of honor at a dinner held by the Argentine ambassador on the day the Argentine military landed on the islands.
Reagan said he couldn’t understand why two U.S. allies were arguing over “that little ice-cold bunch of land down there.”
Literally one of the thickest presidents they ever had