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Samantha SmithSamantha Reed Smith (June 29, 1972 – August 25, 1985) was an American schoolgirl from Manchester, Maine, who was called America's Youngest Ambassador in the USA and the Goodwill Ambassador in the USSR during her lifetime. She became famous in these two countries and well-known worldwide after her letter written to the Soviet leader Yuri Andropov in the Cold War period. Biography Early years She was born in Houlton, Maine and lived there with her parents, Arthur and Jane Smith, and her dog, Kim. Samantha liked field hockey, roller skating, reading, science, having some trouble with mathematics however, and played on her school’s softball team. At age five she wrote a letter to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, telling her that she liked her. In 1980, when Samantha had just finished second grade, their family moved to Manchester, Maine, where Samantha attended Manchester Middle School. Her father taught literature and writing at the University of Maine at Augusta. Her mother worked as a social worker with the Maine Department of Human Services Augusta. Soon the first signs of the future changes in their lives appeared: Samantha began to be annoyed when she was watching TV, because there was information about nuclear weapons all the time. Later Samantha's mother told, how all the story began exactly. After Andropov became the Soviet leader the main American newspapers and magazines had his portrait on their covers and leading articles dedicated to him with rather negative view on this event and expectations of new threats to the world. One of them met Samantha's eyes. Her question was: if all people are so afraid of him, why no one writes a letter, asking whether he wants to have a war or not? Her mother replied: "Why don't you?" The letters In November 1982, when Samantha was in fifth grade, she decided to write a letter to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, trying to understand why the relations between the Soviet Union and the USA were so tense: - Dear Mr. Andropov,
- My name is Samantha Smith. I am ten years old. Congratulations on your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote to have a war or not? If you aren't please tell me how you are going to help to not have a war. This question you do not have to answer, but I would like to know why you want to conquer the world or at least our country. God made the world for us to live together in peace and not to fight.
- Sincerely,
- Samantha Smith
Her letter was published in the Soviet newspaper Pravda and within a few weeks, she received a response from Andropov on April 25: - Samantha Smith Manchester, Maine USA
- Dear Samantha, I received your letter, which is like many others that have reached me recently from your country and from other countries around the world.
- It seems to me—I can tell by your letter—that you are a courageous and honest girl, resembling Becky, the friend of Tom Sawyer in the famous book of your compatriot Mark Twain. This book is well known and loved in our country by all boys and girls.
- You write that you are anxious about whether there will be a nuclear war between our two countries. And you ask are we doing anything so that war will not break out.
- Your question is the most important of those that every thinking man can pose. I will reply to you seriously and honestly.
- Yes, Samantha, we in the Soviet Union are trying to do everything so that there will not be war on earth. This is what every Soviet man wants. This is what the great founder of our state, Vladimir Lenin, taught us.
- Soviet people well know what a terrible thing war is. Forty-two years ago, Nazi Germany, which strove for supremacy over the whole world, attacked our country, burned and destroyed many thousands of our towns and villages, killed millions of Soviet men, women and children.
- In that war, which ended with our victory, we were in alliance with the United States: together we fought for the liberation of many people from the Nazi invaders. I hope that you known about this from your history lessons in school. And today we want very much to live in peace, to trade and cooperate with all our neighbors on this earth—with those far away and those near by. And certainly with such a great country as the United States of America.
- In America and in our country there are nuclear weapons—terrible weapons that can kill millions of people in an instant. But we do not want them to be ever used. That's precisely why the Soviet Union solemnly declared throughout the entire world that never—never—will it use nuclear weapons first against any country. In general we propose to discontinue further production of them and to proceed to the abolition of all the stockpiles on earth.
- It seems to me that this is a sufficient answer to your second question: "Why do you want to wage war against the whole world or at least the United States?" We want nothing of the kind. No one in our country—neither workers, peasants, writers nor doctors, neither grown-ups nor children, nor members of the government—want either a big or "little" war.
- We want peace—there is something that we are occupied with: growing wheat, building and inventing, writing books and flying into space. We want peace for ourselves and for all peoples of the planet. For our children and for you, Samantha.
- I invite you, if your parents will let you, to come to our country, the best time being this summer. You will find out about our country, meet with your contemporaries, visit an international children's camp—"Artek"—on the sea. And see for yourself: in the Soviet Union—everyone is for peace and friendship among peoples.
- Thank you for your letter. I wish you all the best in your young life.
- Y. Andropov
Worldwide success A media circus ensued, with Smith being interviewed by Ted Koppel and Johnny Carson, among others. On July 7, 1983, Smith flew to Moscow with her parents, accepting Andropov's invitation, spending two weeks as a guest. During this trip she visited Moscow, Leningrad and spent some time in Artek, the main Soviet pioneer camp in Gurzuf town on Crimea peninsula. In Leningrad she and her parents were amazed by friendliness of all surrounding people and by presents many people made them. In Artek Samantha was asked to choose, whether she wants to live in the separate cottage with her parents or in main buildings together with other children. Samantha chosen the latter. For comfortable communication, teachers and children with fluent English were chosen from other ones having their vacations in Artek, to live in the building, where she was lodged. Staying in a dormitory with nine other girls, Samantha spent her time swimming, talking, and learning Russian songs and dances. She made a lot of friends there, the best being Natasha Kashirina from Leningrad, who spoke English in perfection. All expenses were payed by the Soviet side. After this trip Samantha became known to nearly every citizen of the Soviet Union and loved by most of them. After her trip Smith became a social activist, hosting a children's special in 1984 for Disney about politics. She went to Japan with her mother, where she met with Yasuhiro Nakasone, the Prime Minister of Japan and attended the Children's International Symposium in Kobe. In her speech on this Symposium she suggested, that Soviet and US leaders exchange granddaughters for two weeks every year, arguing, that a president "wouldn't want to send a bomb to a country his granddaughter would be visiting". Later Samantha wrote a book called Journey to the Soviet Union and became an actress, co-starring in a TV series called Lime Street. She was generally loved in the USA, although certain part of its population, including many 1930s-1950s emigrants from the Soviet Union, looked unfavorably at her trip and some of the media called Samantha Pawn in Propaganda War. Samantha's death On a return flight from filming a segment for Lime Street in the summer of 1985, Smith's plane missed the runway by 200 yards and crashed, killing her, her father Arthur, and four other passengers and the crew. Many speculations circulated after this accident, some said it was organized by CIA, other accused KGB. An investigation was held in the USA and the official report was made public. Neither of above mentioned rumours was approved by it. The main point of it is that there was a dark and rainy night, a too small airport that was only equipped to serve local airlines, inexperienced pilots and accidental, but not uncommon and not critical in other circumstances ground radar failure. This point of view was also generally accepted by Jane Smith. Samantha was only 13 years old. In tribute Her mother, Jane Smith, founded the Samantha Smith Foundation in October 1985, which fostered student exchanges between the United States and the former Soviet Union. USSR Vladimir Kulagin of the Soviet embassy in Washington spoke at Smith's funeral, and the Soviet Union issued a commemorative stamp with her picture in her memory. A monument to Samantha was built in Moscow. A cultivar of tulips and of roses were named in Samantha's honour. When Soviet astronomer L. I. Chernykh discovered asteroid 3147, she named it 3147 Samantha. A diamond and a mountain were also named after her. USA The first Monday in June of each year is designated as Samantha Smith Day by the law of Maine http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/1/title1sec126.html There is a statue of Samantha Smith near the Maine State Museum in Augusta http://www.state.me.us/sos/kids/allabout/people/s_smith.htm. A statue at the Maine State House was made of Samantha releasing a dove, while a bear cub is resting at her feet. The bear cub represents both Maine and Russia. A Washington State elementary school was also named after Smith. Post-Soviet Russia After the Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Samantha Smith very soon was forgotten by the Russian media and the government. Her anniversaries were not even mentioned in the news. The monument, built to her in Moscow, was stolen by non-ferrous metals' thieves in 2003. But many people in Russia still remember Samantha. In 2003 a man from Voronezh built a monument to her, without any support from the government. References - Arthur and Samantha Smith: Journey to the Soviet Union, Little Brown and Co., 1985. 1st ed. ISBN 0316801763.
- Anne Galicich: Samantha Smith: A Journey for Peace, Minneapolis Dillon Press, Inc., 1987. ISBN 0875183670
External links Smith, Samantha Smith, Samantha Smith, Samantha Smith, Samantha
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