The 10-Year-Old American Girl who Became an Icon for Peace
In 1982, a young American girl wrote to the USSR’s leader, asking for peace. His response turned her into a global symbol of hope amid Cold War tensions.
The pressure was building. At the height of the Cold War, the two superpowers battled for ideological supremacy, each backed by a growing arsenal of nuclear weapons. Tensions kept rising. Mutually assured destruction felt inevitable.
The threat of nuclear war shaped daily life. Both American and Soviet children regularly practiced “Duck & Cover” drills, crouching under desks and donning gas masks in preparation for an attack.
One day after school, Samantha Smith, a 10-year-old from Maine, confided her fears to her mother. Her mother suggested she write to the new Soviet leader, Yuri Andropov. In December 1982, she did just that.
Then, in the midst of it all, a letter arrived on the desk of the Soviet General Secretary. The sender? A 10-year-old American girl. It turns out the two nations weren’t so different after all.
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 let’s do what he wants and have everybody be happy too.
Samantha Smith
A few months later, to the surprise of many, Andropov responded. His letter, written in Russian with an English translation, read:
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—you can tell by your letter—that you are a courageous and honest girl, resembling Becky, the friend of Tom Sawyer in the famous book by 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 one any thinking person can ask. I will reply to you seriously and honestly.
Yes, Samantha, we in the Soviet Union are doing everything we can to ensure there is no war on Earth. That is what every Soviet citizen wants. That is what the great founder of our state, Vladimir Lenin, taught us.
Soviet people know well what a terrible thing war is. Forty-two years ago, Nazi Germany, which sought to dominate the world, attacked our country, burning and destroying thousands of towns and villages and killing millions of Soviet men, women, and children.
In that war—our Great Patriotic War—we were allies with the United States, fighting together to free many people from the Nazi invaders. I hope you have learned about this in your history classes. And today, we want nothing more than to live in peace, to trade, and to cooperate with all nations—especially a great country like the United States.
Both our countries possess nuclear weapons—terrible weapons that could kill millions in an instant. But we do not want them to be used. That is why the Soviet Union has publicly declared that we will never be the first to launch them. In fact, we propose to halt their production entirely and eliminate all nuclear stockpiles worldwide.
You asked, “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, farmers, writers, doctors, nor government officials—wants war, big or small.
We want peace. We are busy growing wheat, building, inventing, writing books, and exploring space. We want peace for ourselves and for all people—for our children and for you, Samantha.
If your parents permit, I invite you to visit our country this summer. You will meet other children, visit an international summer camp on the sea, and see for yourself: in the Soviet Union, everyone desires peace and friendship.
Thank you for your letter. I wish you all the best in your young life.
Yuri Andropov
A Global Goodwill Ambassador
In July 1983, Samantha and her family crossed the Iron Curtain. Her visit to the Soviet Union was widely covered by the media in both countries. On her trip, she paid her respects at Lenin’s tomb, attended a Bolshoi Ballet performance, and even met Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.
Dubbed a "Goodwill Ambassador," Samantha shared her impressions with reporters: "Some people have the wrong impression about the Soviets... [They] want peace like I do." She became a global symbol of peace and a reminder that, despite political tensions, ordinary people—especially children—shared the same hopes for the future.
As the Cold War slowly eased in the latter part of the 1980s, Samantha wasn’t there to witness the peace she had hoped for. In August 1985, Samantha and her father were killed in a plane crash.
