Soviet leader Yuri Andropov writes letter to U.S. fifth-grader Samantha Smith
On this day in 1983 the Soviet Union releases a letter that Russian leader Yuri Andropov wrote to Samantha Smith an American fifth-grader from Manchester Maine inviting her to visit his country.Andropovs letter came in response to a note Smith had sent him in December 1982 asking if the Soviets were planning to start a nuclear war.At the time the United States and Soviet Union were Cold War enemies.President Ronald Reagan a passionate anti-communist had dubbed the Soviet Union the evil empire and called for massive increases in U.S.
defense spending to meet the perceived Soviet threat.In his public relations duel with Reagan known as the Great Communicator Andropov who had succeeded longtime Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1982 assumed a folksy almost grandfatherly approach that was incongruous with the negative image most Americans had of the Soviets.Andropovs letter said that Russian people wanted to live in peace to trade and cooperate with all our neighbors on the globe no matter how close or far away they are and certainly with such a great country as the United States of America.In response to Smiths question about whether the Soviet Union wished to prevent nuclear war Andropov declared Yes Samantha we in the Soviet Union are endeavoring and doing everything so that there will be no war between our two countries so that there will be no war at all on earth.
Andropov also complimented Smith comparing her to the spunky character Becky Thatcher from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.Smith born June 29 1972 accepted Andropovs invitation and flew to the Soviet Union with her parents for a visit.Afterward she became an international celebrity and peace ambassador making speeches writing a book and even landing a role on an American television series.In February 1984 Yuri Andropov died from kidney failure and was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko.
The following year in August 1985 Samantha Smith died tragically in a plane crash at age 13.
