11-year old Samantha Smith writes to Soviet leader and is invited to Soviet Union

American schoolgirl Samantha Smith came to prominence in 1983 for her letter written to newly-appointed Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, and his personal reply, inviting her to visit the Soviet Union. Samantha Smith had written the letter in November the year previously, when Andropov had just succeeded Leonid Brezhnev, and in that letter she asked Andropov directly whether there would be a war and if not, how he would help to prevent it. This was the era of the Cold War, and the Western world viewed the new appointment warily, partly because Andropov was unknown to them whereas at least they knew Brezhnev, and also because he was perceived as a greater threat to the West than his predecessor.

The letter was published by Pravda, the Soviet newspaper, but it was not until April 1983 that Andropov's reply arrived. In it, he attempted to reassure the schoolgirl that the last thing anybody in his country wanted was a nuclear war, and that she would be welcome to visit in the summer time. In July of that year, she and her parents flew to Moscow to take up Andropov's invitation. While there, they met many people including children the same age as Miss Smith. However, she was unable to meet the Soviet leader himself during her time there, as he had taken ill and in fact would only live until February 1984.

Upon her return, Miss Smith was feted by the US media and used that fame to continue to campaign for better relations between the superpowers. Eventually, she was selected to appear in a television series called 'Lime Street' alongside veteran actor Robert Wagner, she would complete three episodes.

It was while returning from filming the TV series that Samantha Smith was killed, aged just 13, in a plane crash at an airport near her home in Maine.  Her death (and that of her father, who was accompanying her) was mourned by people in both countries and a personal message of condolence was sent by new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

The text of her letter, plus the reply from Yuri Andropov, is reproduced below (source: Wikipedia)

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

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 know 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