Samantha Smith Crossed Iron Curtain

In November 1982, 10-year-old American schoolgirl Samantha Smith wrote to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov asking why the Soviet Union wanted to wage war and conquer other countries. Andropov replied in April 1983, denied that his country wanted a nuclear war, and invited her to visit. Smith toured the Soviet Union with her parents that summer and became an international celebrity and symbol of US-Soviet peace known as "America's Youngest Ambassador." She died at age 13 when Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 crashed while approaching an airport in Maine.

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