Samantha Smith: The Forgotten Peace-Ambassador Girl of The Cold War
Who would have thought that a Child can contribute, never mind even participating in peace-making scenes, would foster eventful exchanges between the two warring nations of The Cold War?
The Year was 1982; Cold War Tensions reached new heights after The Soviet Union backed Afghani Communists and intervened on their behalf in 1979, ending the detenté era that flourished in the 1970s. In The US, President Ronald Reagan won the election in 1980 by the platform for being hard on communism, declaring that freedom and democracy will leave Marxism and Leninism on the ash heap of history. On The other end, successive leadership changes rocked Moscow in 1982 when The Long-term Soviet Secretary-General Leonid Brezhnev died, succeeded by KGB leader Yuri Andropov. His reputation was significantly damaged by taking part in The 1968 Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia, suppressing and only making minor to no changes to policies set in the Brezhnev era.
Putting all of that into the eyes of many ordinary Americans living at that time, wondering whether or not this ever-escalating tension between these two superpowers will blow up big time. Among those crowds is Samantha Reed Smith, a Ten-year-old Girl from Maine, who looks at the cover of Time Magazine depicting Andropov. With prior knowledge of current Cold War Tensions, Samantha Smith asked Her Mother, If people are so afraid of him (Andropov), why doesn’t someone write a letter asking whether he wants to have a war or not? Her mother replied, Why don’t you?
Seeking the answer herself to as what were The Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov true intentions, She wrote to Andropov in November 1982:
Dear Mr. Andropov,
My name is Samantha Smith. I am 10 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 it if you would. Why do you want to conquer the world or at least our country? God made the world for us to share and take care of. Not to fight over or have one group of people own it all. Please lets do what he wanted and have everybody be happy too.
Samantha Smith
Although Her Letter was published in the Soviet newspaper Pravda, She was taken aback by Andropov not replied her yet and sent another Letter to Soviet Ambassador to The US Anatoly Dobrynin asking for clarification. Finally, on April 26, 1983, did she received a reply from Andropov:
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 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
With a reply and a personal invitation by Andropov to visit The Soviet Union, The American and Soviet media reacted with a frenzy. With Her Parents accompanying her, She traveled to Moscow and Leningrad before heading to Artek, The most popular youth camp in the Eastern Bloc. Her positive statement on the experience while in The Soviet Union met with different reactions in the two nations. American media treat Her like a celebrity, with some saying that She is used as a propaganda tool by the Soviet government. On the other hand, Soviet media made Her popular and well-known across the Soviet Union by portraying Her as a Child Ambassador.
The return of Samantha Smith to Her Hometown in Augusta, Maine, was received with enthusiasm and euphoria despite growing critics of what She was doing. Her popularity continued to rise in The US. By the End of 1983, She held the title of America’s Youngest Ambassador, Embarking on a journey to Japan to continue her quest towards helping The World reach Peace. She was invited and accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone to attend The Children’s International Symposium in Kobe. While in Kobe, She suggests in her speech that American and Soviet leaders exchange granddaughters for two weeks once a year by arguing that a president would not want to send a bomb to a country his granddaughter would be visiting.
Sadly, Her journey had met an early end on August 25, 1985, when She and Her Father Airplane flight crashed and killed them both. Her life was eulogized by The New Soviet Leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, and US President Ronald Reagan, with Honors given to her regarding Her contribution across the two superpower countries. In just four years after Her passing, The Berlin Wall fell, and by 1991, The Soviet Union collapsed and disintegrated into 15 New Independent Nations.
In recent years, We have seen a comeback of Child Ambassadors like Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan and Greta Thunberg from Sweden, with different approaches and goals, who have the same spirit Samantha Smith had almost 40 years ago. More and more youth across borders are participating in movements that want change for the world to become a better place, proof that soft diplomacy works. With that said, Her legacy and contributions are slowly being washed away by ignorance and apathy, a condition that mirrors many, not just the youth but also elder statesmen forgotten in history. May hope rest in the following years that Her legacy is well-known again, and so do many people that contributed to World Peace.
-DFF
