On this day in 1983, the Kremlin released a letter from Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to Samantha Smith, an 11-year-old American girl who was anxious about the threat of nuclear war.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class as a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show for those interested in the big and small
moments of history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode,
we're looking at the story of two unlikely pen pals,
the newly elected leader of the U s s R.
(00:22):
And a little girl from Maine who called him out
for trying to conquer the world. The day was April.
The Kremlin released a letter from Soviet leader Uri Andropov
to Samantha Smith, an eleven year old American girl who
(00:46):
was anxious about the thread of nuclear war. The Russian
premier sought to put her mind at ease, assuring Samantha
that the Soviet Union wanted peace just as badly as
she did. The young girl's dress head was shared by
hundreds of millions of people, both in the United States
and in the Soviet Union. The two nations had waged
(01:08):
a cold war with one another for the last three decades,
each using the perceived threat of the other as justification
for building more and more nuclear weapons. By the fall
of two many people worried that the rhetoric between the
country's leaders had become too heated, and that at any moment,
(01:28):
those ever growing stockpiles of nuclear missiles might finally be
put to use. In November of that year, a sudden
change in Soviet leadership ratcheted up that uncertainty. After the
passing of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, former head of the
KGB URI, and Tropov was elected General Secretary of the
(01:50):
Communist Party. In his new role, Andropov fixated on the
idea that the United States was preparing to launch a
nuclear strike on his govern ment. Meanwhile, in the US,
people worried what Andropov might do with all that suspicion
and newfound power. Children like Samantha Smith could sense the
(02:11):
fear in the air. After all, there were constant TV
news reports about the devastation nuclear weapons would bring if
they were used, either intentionally or by accident. Smith later
explained that all this tension was the catalyst for her
letter to Andrepov. She said, quote, I woke up one
morning and wondered if this was going to be the
(02:33):
last day of the earth. I asked my mother, who
would start a war and why? She showed me a
news magazine with a story about America and Russia. One
that had a picture of the new Russian leader Uri
Andropov on the cover. After reading through the article together,
Samantha asked her mother if she would write a letter
to Andropov to ask whether he intended to start a war.
(02:57):
Samantha's mom encouraged her to write the letter in dead
and so later that day that's just what Samantha did.
Here's what she wrote. Dear Mr Andrew Pov, my name
is Samantha Smith. I am ten years old. Congratulations on
your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and
the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you
(03:18):
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 to know
why you want to conquer the world, or at least
our country. God made the world for us to live
together in peace and not to fight. The letter received
(03:39):
a good deal of publicity in both the United States
and in the Soviet Union, but Smith didn't hear back
from Russia for several months. Eventually, she learned that her
letter had been printed in a Soviet newspaper called Pravda
and that Andrewpov had even provided some commentary. Smith was
upset that she hadn't received a direct response, so she
(04:01):
wrote a second letter, this time to the Soviet ambassador
to the United States. Not long after, the girl received
a call from the U. S. Embassy telling her to
keep an eye on her mailbox. Then, in late April
of Samantha finally got a reply from Andrew Pov. The
letter read as follows. It seems to me I can
(04:23):
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
(04:45):
will not break out? Your question is the most important
of those that everythinking man can pose. I will reply
to you seriously and honestly, Yes, Samantha, we and the
Soviet Union are trying to do everything so that there
will not be war on earth. In America and in
our country. There are nuclear weapons, terrible weapons that can
(05:08):
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, never,
will it use nuclear weapons first against any country. In general,
we propose to discontinue further production of them, and to
(05:28):
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 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,
(05:51):
nor members of the government, want either a big or
little war. We want peace. There is something that we
have occupied our I'm with growing wheat, building and inventing,
writing books and flying into space. We want peace for
ourselves and for all people's of the planet, for our children,
and for you, Samantha. I invite you, if your parents
(06:14):
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 on
the sea, and see for yourself that in the Soviet
Union everyone is for peace and friendship among people's thank
you for your letter. I wish you all the best
(06:35):
in your young life. Samantha Smith accepted Andrewpam's invitation, and
it was announced that she and her parents would travel
to the Soviet Union in July of that year. The
press dubbed Smith America's youngest ambassador, but many Americans worried
she was more of a political pawn than a diplomat.
President Ronald Reagan had recently referred to the Soviet Union
(06:58):
as a quote evil empire. Now just a few months later,
a little girl from Maine was going to tour that
country with her parents and probably be filmed having a
great time while doing it. Not only would that undercut
the president's message, it would make great propaganda for the Soviets.
Andropov was surely aware of the benefits when he invited Samantha,
(07:21):
but he was also sincere in wanting to improve Soviet
relations with the West. Inviting a frightened young girl to
see that the enemy wasn't as scary as she thought
was a small but meaningful gesture of peace. Samantha Smith
and her family spent two weeks in the Soviet Union.
They didn't get to meet with Andropov due to his
(07:43):
declining health, but they were given a v I P
tour of some of the country's top landmarks, including Lennon's
Grave and the Bolshoy Ballet. Smith also met with Valentina Tereshkova,
the first woman to go to space, and at a
summer camp in Crimea. Smith got to interact with Soviet
children her own age at every stop of her journey.
(08:05):
The young girl's reactions were filmed and reported by members
of both the Soviet and the Western press. Overall, Samantha
was won over by our Soviet hosts. She told reporters quote,
some people have the wrong impression about them. They want
peace like I do. They want no harm to the world,
just like us. Smith returned to the US, having become
(08:28):
something of a celebrity in both countries. Over the next
two years, she acted as an unofficial Goodwill ambassador for
the US. She took part in a children's symposium in
Japan and gave speeches throughout the US about how to
foster better communication between nations. She appeared on The Tonight
Show with Johnny Carson and even interviewed presidential candidates for
(08:51):
a show on the newly launched Disney Channel. Unfortunately, even
though nuclear war never broke out between the US and
the Soviet Union, this story still doesn't have a happy ending.
In February of night four, Yuri Andropov died from kidney failure,
and a little over a year later, Samantha Smith died too.
(09:14):
On August five, she and her father were flying back
to Maine after filming a TV appearance. Their small commuter
plane crashed while attempting to land, and everyone on board
was killed. In the years that followed, Samantha's mother, Jane,
ran a foundation as a tribute to her daughter. It
promoted cultural exchanges between students of the Soviet Union and
(09:37):
the United States, a cause that Samantha had championed right
up until her death. Her tragic passing was deeply felt
at home and abroad. Both Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev
offered their personal condolences. The Russian government also responded by
issuing a postage stamp with Samantha's picture, as well as
(09:58):
by naming a diamond, a flower, and a mountain in
her honor. In the end, Samantha's trip to the Soviet
Union didn't have much effect on foreign policy. It wasn't
a turning point in the Cold War, and it didn't
eliminate the possibility of mutually assured destruction. However, the visit
did ease the burdens of a young child who never
(10:20):
should have had to shoulder them in the first place,
and she wasn't the only one to take comfort in
what she saw that year. Kids all across America saw
the Soviet Union through Samantha's eyes that summer, and by
the same token, kids in the Soviet Union saw an
American girl visiting their country who looked and acted just
like them. Imagine what a comfort that must have been
(10:44):
for children who had been taught to think of their
foreign counterparts is nothing but enemies to be feared and distrusted.
Samantha didn't get to live with that realization for long,
but many in her generation did. They got to see
themselves in the other and hopefully that humanizing experience stuck
with them. Hopefully they passed it on to their own kids,
(11:08):
who in turn will pass it on to theirs. Because
the world continues to be a scary place, and it's
a comfort to know that most people don't want to
blow it up, even in countries with governments that seem
like they do. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now
know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
(11:31):
If you enjoy today's show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at t d i HC show. You can
also share any comments or questions you might have by
dropping us a line at this day at I heart
media dot com. Thanks to Chandler May's for producing the show,
and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here
(11:52):
again tomorrow for another Day in History class. St.
This Day in History Class as a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show for those interested in the big and small
moments of history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode,
we're looking at the story of two unlikely pen pals,
the newly elected leader of the U s s R.
(00:22):
And a little girl from Maine who called him out
for trying to conquer the world. The day was April.
The Kremlin released a letter from Soviet leader Uri Andropov
to Samantha Smith, an eleven year old American girl who
(00:46):
was anxious about the thread of nuclear war. The Russian
premier sought to put her mind at ease, assuring Samantha
that the Soviet Union wanted peace just as badly as
she did. The young girl's dress head was shared by
hundreds of millions of people, both in the United States
and in the Soviet Union. The two nations had waged
(01:08):
a cold war with one another for the last three decades,
each using the perceived threat of the other as justification
for building more and more nuclear weapons. By the fall
of two many people worried that the rhetoric between the
country's leaders had become too heated, and that at any moment,
(01:28):
those ever growing stockpiles of nuclear missiles might finally be
put to use. In November of that year, a sudden
change in Soviet leadership ratcheted up that uncertainty. After the
passing of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, former head of the
KGB URI, and Tropov was elected General Secretary of the
(01:50):
Communist Party. In his new role, Andropov fixated on the
idea that the United States was preparing to launch a
nuclear strike on his govern ment. Meanwhile, in the US,
people worried what Andropov might do with all that suspicion
and newfound power. Children like Samantha Smith could sense the
(02:11):
fear in the air. After all, there were constant TV
news reports about the devastation nuclear weapons would bring if
they were used, either intentionally or by accident. Smith later
explained that all this tension was the catalyst for her
letter to Andrepov. She said, quote, I woke up one
morning and wondered if this was going to be the
(02:33):
last day of the earth. I asked my mother, who
would start a war and why? She showed me a
news magazine with a story about America and Russia. One
that had a picture of the new Russian leader Uri
Andropov on the cover. After reading through the article together,
Samantha asked her mother if she would write a letter
to Andropov to ask whether he intended to start a war.
(02:57):
Samantha's mom encouraged her to write the letter in dead
and so later that day that's just what Samantha did.
Here's what she wrote. Dear Mr Andrew Pov, my name
is Samantha Smith. I am ten years old. Congratulations on
your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and
the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you
(03:18):
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 to know
why you want to conquer the world, or at least
our country. God made the world for us to live
together in peace and not to fight. The letter received
(03:39):
a good deal of publicity in both the United States
and in the Soviet Union, but Smith didn't hear back
from Russia for several months. Eventually, she learned that her
letter had been printed in a Soviet newspaper called Pravda
and that Andrewpov had even provided some commentary. Smith was
upset that she hadn't received a direct response, so she
(04:01):
wrote a second letter, this time to the Soviet ambassador
to the United States. Not long after, the girl received
a call from the U. S. Embassy telling her to
keep an eye on her mailbox. Then, in late April
of Samantha finally got a reply from Andrew Pov. The
letter read as follows. It seems to me I can
(04:23):
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
(04:45):
will not break out? Your question is the most important
of those that everythinking man can pose. I will reply
to you seriously and honestly, Yes, Samantha, we and the
Soviet Union are trying to do everything so that there
will not be war on earth. In America and in
our country. There are nuclear weapons, terrible weapons that can
(05:08):
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, never,
will it use nuclear weapons first against any country. In general,
we propose to discontinue further production of them, and to
(05:28):
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 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,
(05:51):
nor members of the government, want either a big or
little war. We want peace. There is something that we
have occupied our I'm with growing wheat, building and inventing,
writing books and flying into space. We want peace for
ourselves and for all people's of the planet, for our children,
and for you, Samantha. I invite you, if your parents
(06:14):
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 on
the sea, and see for yourself that in the Soviet
Union everyone is for peace and friendship among people's thank
you for your letter. I wish you all the best
(06:35):
in your young life. Samantha Smith accepted Andrewpam's invitation, and
it was announced that she and her parents would travel
to the Soviet Union in July of that year. The
press dubbed Smith America's youngest ambassador, but many Americans worried
she was more of a political pawn than a diplomat.
President Ronald Reagan had recently referred to the Soviet Union
(06:58):
as a quote evil empire. Now just a few months later,
a little girl from Maine was going to tour that
country with her parents and probably be filmed having a
great time while doing it. Not only would that undercut
the president's message, it would make great propaganda for the Soviets.
Andropov was surely aware of the benefits when he invited Samantha,
(07:21):
but he was also sincere in wanting to improve Soviet
relations with the West. Inviting a frightened young girl to
see that the enemy wasn't as scary as she thought
was a small but meaningful gesture of peace. Samantha Smith
and her family spent two weeks in the Soviet Union.
They didn't get to meet with Andropov due to his
(07:43):
declining health, but they were given a v I P
tour of some of the country's top landmarks, including Lennon's
Grave and the Bolshoy Ballet. Smith also met with Valentina Tereshkova,
the first woman to go to space, and at a
summer camp in Crimea. Smith got to interact with Soviet
children her own age at every stop of her journey.
(08:05):
The young girl's reactions were filmed and reported by members
of both the Soviet and the Western press. Overall, Samantha
was won over by our Soviet hosts. She told reporters quote,
some people have the wrong impression about them. They want
peace like I do. They want no harm to the world,
just like us. Smith returned to the US, having become
(08:28):
something of a celebrity in both countries. Over the next
two years, she acted as an unofficial Goodwill ambassador for
the US. She took part in a children's symposium in
Japan and gave speeches throughout the US about how to
foster better communication between nations. She appeared on The Tonight
Show with Johnny Carson and even interviewed presidential candidates for
(08:51):
a show on the newly launched Disney Channel. Unfortunately, even
though nuclear war never broke out between the US and
the Soviet Union, this story still doesn't have a happy ending.
In February of night four, Yuri Andropov died from kidney failure,
and a little over a year later, Samantha Smith died too.
(09:14):
On August five, she and her father were flying back
to Maine after filming a TV appearance. Their small commuter
plane crashed while attempting to land, and everyone on board
was killed. In the years that followed, Samantha's mother, Jane,
ran a foundation as a tribute to her daughter. It
promoted cultural exchanges between students of the Soviet Union and
(09:37):
the United States, a cause that Samantha had championed right
up until her death. Her tragic passing was deeply felt
at home and abroad. Both Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev
offered their personal condolences. The Russian government also responded by
issuing a postage stamp with Samantha's picture, as well as
(09:58):
by naming a diamond, a flower, and a mountain in
her honor. In the end, Samantha's trip to the Soviet
Union didn't have much effect on foreign policy. It wasn't
a turning point in the Cold War, and it didn't
eliminate the possibility of mutually assured destruction. However, the visit
did ease the burdens of a young child who never
(10:20):
should have had to shoulder them in the first place,
and she wasn't the only one to take comfort in
what she saw that year. Kids all across America saw
the Soviet Union through Samantha's eyes that summer, and by
the same token, kids in the Soviet Union saw an
American girl visiting their country who looked and acted just
like them. Imagine what a comfort that must have been
(10:44):
for children who had been taught to think of their
foreign counterparts is nothing but enemies to be feared and distrusted.
Samantha didn't get to live with that realization for long,
but many in her generation did. They got to see
themselves in the other and hopefully that humanizing experience stuck
with them. Hopefully they passed it on to their own kids,
(11:08):
who in turn will pass it on to theirs. Because
the world continues to be a scary place, and it's
a comfort to know that most people don't want to
blow it up, even in countries with governments that seem
like they do. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now
know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
(11:31):
If you enjoy today's show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at t d i HC show. You can
also share any comments or questions you might have by
dropping us a line at this day at I heart
media dot com. Thanks to Chandler May's for producing the show,
and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here
(11:52):
again tomorrow for another Day in History class. St.
This Day in History Class News
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Gabe Luzier
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