December 1982:  Ten-year old Samantha Smith of Manchester, ME writes a letter to Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov to express her worry about the United States and The USSR getting into a nuclear war.

April 1983:  Andropov replies to Samantha reassuring her that the Soviet Union wants no war with the United States.  He invites her to visit the Soviet Union.

July 1983: Samantha, accompanied by her parents, leaves for a two-week trip to the Soviet Union.  She visits Moscow, Leningrad, and the summer camp 'Artek'.

December 1983: Samantha goes on a 10-day trip to Japan, where she delivers a speech at the Children's International Symposium.

February 1985:  An action-adventure television series featuring Samantha is announced.  The show, starring Robert Wagner, is first called "J.G. Culver", then renamed "Lime Street."

August 25, 1985:  Samantha, 13, and her father, Arthur Smith, are killed in a Bar Harbor Airlines crash near Auburn, ME.

October 1985:  The Samantha Smith Foundation is established.  It is a non-profit foundation fostering international understanding.

December 1986:  A statue of Samantha is unveiled in front of the State Cultural Building.  It shows Samantha releasing a dove, with a bear cub at her side.

 

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Read an article "Remembering Samantha" by Josie Huang.

Read "The Innocent Abroad. Samantha Smith" chapter from the book "Citizen Diplomats.  Pathfinders in Soviet-American relations" by Gale Warner and Michael Shuman. 

Wikipedia.org published a page about Samantha Smith.  It has a brief account of her early years, her letter, her trip to the USSR, the media attention her trip brought her as well as details of her death (along with the flight report), her funeral and tributes on both sides of the ocean.  View>>