Samantha Smith
Encyclopedia
Samantha Reed Smith was an American schoolgirl and child actress from Manchester, Maine
, who became famous in the Cold War
-era United States
and Soviet Union
. In 1982, Smith wrote a letter to the newly appointed CPSU General Secretary
Yuri Andropov
, and received a personal reply which included a personal invitation to visit the Soviet Union, which she accepted.
Smith attracted extensive media attention in both countries as a "Goodwill Ambassador
", and became known as "America's Youngest Ambassador" participating in peacemaking activities in Japan. She wrote a book about her visit to the Soviet Union and co-starred in the television series Lime Street, before her death at the age of 13 in the Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808
plane crash.
as leader of the Soviet Union in November 1982, the mainstream Western
newspapers and magazines ran numerous front page photographs and articles about him. Most coverage was negative and tended to a perception of a new threat to the stability of the Western world. Andropov had been the Soviet Ambassador to Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
and began his tenure as Soviet leader by strengthening the powers of the KGB
, and by suppressing dissidents. Andropov declared, "the struggle for human rights was a part of a wide-ranging imperialist plot to undermine the foundation of the Soviet state." Much international tension surrounded both Soviet and American efforts to develop weapons capable of being launched from satellites in orbit. Both governments had extensive research and development programs to develop such technology. However, both nations were coming under increasing pressure to disband the project. In America, president Ronald Reagan
came under pressure from a lobby of U.S. scientists and arms experts, while in Russia the government issued a statement that read, "To prevent the militarization of space is one of the most urgent tasks facing mankind".
During this period, large anti-nuclear protests were taking place across Europe and North America, while the November 20, 1983 screening of ABC
's post-nuclear war
dramatization The Day After
became one of the most anticipated media events of the decade.
The two superpowers had by this point abandoned their strategy of détente
and in response to the Soviet deployment of SS-20s, Reagan moved to deploy cruise
and Pershing II missiles to Europe. The Soviet Union's involvement in a war in Afghanistan was in its third year, a matter which was also contributing to international tension. In this atmosphere, on November 22, 1982, Time
magazine published an issue with Andropov on the cover. When Smith viewed the edition, she asked her mother, "If people are so afraid of him, why doesn't someone write a letter asking whether he wants to have a war or not?" Her mother replied, "Why don't you?"
, on the Canada–United States border, to Jane Reed and Arthur Smith. At the age of five, she wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth II
to express her admiration to the monarch. When Smith had finished second grade in the spring of 1980, the family settled in Manchester, Maine
, where she attended Manchester Elementary School. Her father taught literature and writing at the University of Maine at Augusta
while her mother worked as a social worker with the Maine Department of Human Services.
In November 1982, when Smith was 10 years old, she wrote to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov
, seeking to understand why the relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were so tense:
Her letter was published in the Soviet newspaper Pravda
.
Samantha was happy to discover that her letter had been published; however, she had not received a reply. She then sent a letter to the Soviet Union's Ambassador to the United States asking if Mr. Andropov intended to respond. On April 26, 1983, she received a response from Andropov:
A media circus
ensued, with Smith being interviewed by Ted Koppel
and Johnny Carson
, among others, and with nightly reports by the major American networks. On July 7, 1983, she flew to Moscow with her parents, and spent two weeks as Andropov's guest. During the trip she visited Moscow and Leningrad
and spent time in Artek
, the main Soviet pioneer camp, in the town of Gurzuf
on the Crimean Peninsula
. Smith wrote in her book that in Leningrad she and her parents were amazed by the friendliness of the people and by the presents many people made for them. Speaking at a Moscow press conference, she declared that the Russians were "just like us". In Artek, Smith chose to stay with the Soviet children rather than take the privileged accommodation offered to her. For ease of communication, teachers and children with fluent English were chosen to stay in the building where she was lodged. Smith shared a dormitory with nine other girls, and spent her time there swimming, talking and learning Russian songs and dances. While there, she made many friends, including Natasha Kashirina from Leningrad, a fluent English speaker.
Andropov, however, was unable to meet with her during her visit,
although they did speak by telephone. It was later discovered that Andropov had become seriously ill and had withdrawn from the public eye during this time. Smith also received a phone call from Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova
, the first woman to orbit the Earth. However, not realizing with whom she was speaking, Samantha mistakenly hung up after only a brief conversation. Media followed her every step—photographs and articles about her were published by the main Soviet newspapers and magazines throughout her trip and after it. Smith became widely known to Soviet citizens and was well regarded by many of them. In the United States, the event drew suspicion and some regarded it as an "American-style public relations stunt".
Smith's return to the U.S. on July 22, 1983, was celebrated by the people of Maine
with roses, a red carpet, and a limousine and her popularity continued to grow in her native country. Some critics at the time remained skeptical, believing Smith was unwittingly serving as an instrument of Soviet propaganda. In December 1983, continuing in her role as "America's Youngest Ambassador", she was invited to Japan, where she met with the Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone
and attended the Children's International Symposium in Kobe
. In her speech at the symposium, she suggested that Soviet and American leaders exchange granddaughters for two weeks every year, arguing that a president "wouldn't want to send a bomb to a country his granddaughter would be visiting". Her trip inspired other exchanges of child goodwill ambassadors, including a visit by the eleven-year-old Soviet child Katya Lycheva
to the United States. Later, Smith wrote a book called Journey to the Soviet Union whose cover shows her at Artek, her favorite part of the Soviet trip.
Smith pursued her role as a media celebrity when in 1984, she hosted a children's special for the Disney Channel
entitled Samantha Smith Goes To Washington...Campaign '84. The show covered politics, where Smith interviewed several candidates for the 1984 presidential election
, including George McGovern
and Jesse Jackson
. Her fame resulted in Smith becoming the subject of stalker
Robert John Bardo
, the man who would later go on to stalk and ultimately murder My Sister Sam
actress Rebecca Schaeffer
. Bardo took a bus to Maine in an attempt to meet Smith but was stopped by police and returned home by them.
In 1985 she co-starred with Robert Wagner
in a television series called Lime Street.
after filming a segment for Lime Street. While attempting to land at Lewiston-Auburn Regional Airport
in Auburn, Maine
, the Beechcraft 99
commuter plane struck some trees 4007 feet (1,221.3 m) short of the runway and crashed, killing all six passengers and two crew on board.
Much speculation regarding the cause of the accident circulated afterwards. Accusations of foul play circulated widely in the Soviet Union. An investigation was undertaken in the United States and the official report—which did not show evidence of foul play—was made public. As stated in the report, the accident occurred at about 22:05 EDT, the ground impact point located one mile (1.6 km) south-west of the airport, at 44°02′22"N 70°17′30"W. The report goes on to say, "The relatively steep flight path angle and the attitude (the orientation of the aircraft relative to the horizon, direction of motion etc.) and speed of the airplane at ground impact precluded the occupants from surviving the accident." The main point of the report was that it was a rainy night, the pilots were inexperienced, and an accidental, but not uncommon and not usually critical, ground radar
failure occurred.
Samantha Smith was mourned by about 1,000 people at her funeral in Augusta, Maine, and was eulogized in Moscow as a champion of peace. Attendees included Robert Wagner
and Vladimir Kulagin of the Soviet Embassy in Washington
, who read a personal message of condolence from Mikhail Gorbachev
, while President Reagan sent his condolences to Smith's mother, in writing,
The remains of Smith and her father were cremated. Their remains were buried side by side in Estabrook Cemetery, Aroostook County, near Houlton where Smith was born.
Smith's contributions have been honored with a number of tributes by Russians and by the people of her home state of Maine. A monument to her was built in Moscow; "Samantha Smith Alley" in the Artek Young Pioneer camp was named after her in 1986. The monument built to Smith was stolen by metal thieves
in 2003 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
in 1991. In 2003, Voronezh
retiree Valentin Vaulin built a monument to her without any support from the government. The Soviet Union issued a commemorative stamp
with her likeness. In 1986, when Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh
discovered asteroid
3147, she named it 3147 Samantha
. The Danish composer Per Nørgård
wrote his 1985 viola concerto "Remembering Child" in memory of Smith. A diamond
found in Siberia, a mountain in the former Soviet Union, a cultivar
of tulip
s and of dahlia
s, and an ocean vessel
have been named in Smith's honor. In Maine, the first Monday in June of each year is officially designated as Samantha Smith Day by state law
. There is a bronze statue of Smith near the Maine State Museum in Augusta, which portrays Smith releasing a dove
with a bear cub resting at her feet. The bear cub represents both Maine and Russia. Elementary schools in Sammamish, Washington
and in Jamaica, New York have been named after Samantha. In October 1985, Smith's mother founded the Samantha Smith Foundation, which fostered student exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union (and, after December 1991, the ex-Soviet successor states) until it became dormant in the mid-1990s.
In the mid-1980s, after Smith's death, a script was written for a television movie
titled The Samantha Smith Story with Robert Wagner
as producer. However, Columbia Pictures Television
decided not to film it due to lack of interest from any network.
Manchester, Maine
Manchester is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, located at . The population was 2,465 at the 2000 census. In the early 19th century, the town was known as "The Forks".-Geography:...
, who became famous in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
-era United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. In 1982, Smith wrote a letter to the newly appointed CPSU General Secretary
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the title given to the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. With some exceptions, the office was synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union...
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
, and received a personal reply which included a personal invitation to visit the Soviet Union, which she accepted.
Smith attracted extensive media attention in both countries as a "Goodwill Ambassador
Goodwill Ambassador
Goodwill Ambassador is a collective term sometimes used as a substitute honorific title or a title of honor for an Ambassador of Goodwill; but, most appropriately for a generic recognition, it is a job position or description that is usually indicated following the name of the individual recognized...
", and became known as "America's Youngest Ambassador" participating in peacemaking activities in Japan. She wrote a book about her visit to the Soviet Union and co-starred in the television series Lime Street, before her death at the age of 13 in the Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808
Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808
Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 was a scheduled flight from Logan International Airport to Bangor International Airport in the United States on August 25, 1985. On final approach to Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport, the plane crashed short of the runway, killing all six passengers and two crew on...
plane crash.
Historical context
When Yuri Andropov succeeded Leonid BrezhnevLeonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
as leader of the Soviet Union in November 1982, the mainstream Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
newspapers and magazines ran numerous front page photographs and articles about him. Most coverage was negative and tended to a perception of a new threat to the stability of the Western world. Andropov had been the Soviet Ambassador to Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
1956 Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....
and began his tenure as Soviet leader by strengthening the powers of the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, and by suppressing dissidents. Andropov declared, "the struggle for human rights was a part of a wide-ranging imperialist plot to undermine the foundation of the Soviet state." Much international tension surrounded both Soviet and American efforts to develop weapons capable of being launched from satellites in orbit. Both governments had extensive research and development programs to develop such technology. However, both nations were coming under increasing pressure to disband the project. In America, president Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
came under pressure from a lobby of U.S. scientists and arms experts, while in Russia the government issued a statement that read, "To prevent the militarization of space is one of the most urgent tasks facing mankind".
During this period, large anti-nuclear protests were taking place across Europe and North America, while the November 20, 1983 screening of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's post-nuclear war
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
dramatization The Day After
The Day After
The Day After is a 1983 American television movie which aired on November 20, 1983, on the ABC television network. It was seen by more than 100 million people during its initial broadcast....
became one of the most anticipated media events of the decade.
The two superpowers had by this point abandoned their strategy of détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
and in response to the Soviet deployment of SS-20s, Reagan moved to deploy cruise
Cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...
and Pershing II missiles to Europe. The Soviet Union's involvement in a war in Afghanistan was in its third year, a matter which was also contributing to international tension. In this atmosphere, on November 22, 1982, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine published an issue with Andropov on the cover. When Smith viewed the edition, she asked her mother, "If people are so afraid of him, why doesn't someone write a letter asking whether he wants to have a war or not?" Her mother replied, "Why don't you?"
Life
Samantha Smith was born on June 29, 1972, in the small town of Houlton, MaineHoulton, Maine
Houlton is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, on the United States – Canada border, located at . As of the 2010 census, the town population was 6,123. It is perhaps best known as being at the northern terminus of Interstate 95 and for being the birthplace of Samantha Smith...
, on the Canada–United States border, to Jane Reed and Arthur Smith. At the age of five, she wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
to express her admiration to the monarch. When Smith had finished second grade in the spring of 1980, the family settled in Manchester, Maine
Manchester, Maine
Manchester is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, located at . The population was 2,465 at the 2000 census. In the early 19th century, the town was known as "The Forks".-Geography:...
, where she attended Manchester Elementary School. Her father taught literature and writing at the University of Maine at Augusta
University of Maine at Augusta
The University of Maine at Augusta is located in the state capital of Augusta, Maine, and is a part of the University of Maine System. UMA is a regional state university providing baccalaureate and select associate degrees to meet the educational, economic and cultural needs of Central Maine...
while her mother worked as a social worker with the Maine Department of Human Services.
In November 1982, when Smith was 10 years old, she wrote to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
, seeking to understand why the relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were so tense:
- Dear Mr. Andropov,
- 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 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.
- Sincerely,
- Samantha Smith
Her letter was published in the Soviet newspaper Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
.
Samantha was happy to discover that her letter had been published; however, she had not received a reply. She then sent a letter to the Soviet Union's Ambassador to the United States asking if Mr. Andropov intended to respond. On April 26, 1983, she received a response from Andropov:
- 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 – I can 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
Mark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
. 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 of those that every thinking man can pose. I will reply to you seriously and honestly.
- Yes, Samantha, we in the Soviet Union are trying to do everything so that there will not be war on Earth. This is what every Soviet man wants. This is what the great founder of our state, Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir LeninVladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
, taught us.
- Soviet people well know what a terrible thing war is. Forty-two years ago, Nazi Germany
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, which strove for supremacy over the whole world, attacked our countryOperation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, burned and destroyed many thousands of our towns and villages, killed millions of Soviet men, women and children.
- In that war, which ended with our victory, we were in alliance with the United States
Allies of World War IIThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
: together we fought for the liberation of many people from the Nazi invaders. I hope that you know about this from your history lessons in school. And today we want very much to live in peace, to trade and cooperate with all our neighbors on this earth—with those far away and those near by. And certainly with such a great country as the United States of America.
- In America and in our country there are nuclear weapons—terrible weapons that can 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
No first useNo first use refers to a pledge or a policy by a nuclear power not to use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons...
against any country. In general we propose to discontinue further production of them and to proceed to the abolition of all the stockpilesNuclear disarmamentNuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
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 whole 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, nor members of the government–want either a big or 'little' war.
- We want peace—there is something that we are occupied with: growing wheat, building and inventing, writing books and flying into space. We want peace for ourselves and for all peoples of the planet. For our children and for you, Samantha.
- I invite you, if your parents 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 – Artek
Artek (camp)Artek is a Young Pioneer camp near Gurzuf, Ukraine. It was established on June 16 1925 on the Black Sea in the town of Gurzuf located on the Crimean peninsula, near Medved Mountain, Ukraine. The camp first hosted only 80 children but then grew rapidly. In 1969 it had an area of 3.2 km²...
– on the sea. And see for yourself: in the Soviet Union, everyone is for peace and friendship among peoples.
- Thank you for your letter. I wish you all the best in your young life.
- Y. Andropov
Media circus
Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype...
ensued, with Smith being interviewed by Ted Koppel
Ted Koppel
Edward James "Ted" Koppel is an English-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for Nightline from the program's inception in 1980 until his retirement in late 2005. After leaving Nightline, Koppel worked as managing editor for the Discovery Channel before resigning in 2008...
and Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
, among others, and with nightly reports by the major American networks. On July 7, 1983, she flew to Moscow with her parents, and spent two weeks as Andropov's guest. During the trip she visited Moscow and Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
and spent time in Artek
Artek (camp)
Artek is a Young Pioneer camp near Gurzuf, Ukraine. It was established on June 16 1925 on the Black Sea in the town of Gurzuf located on the Crimean peninsula, near Medved Mountain, Ukraine. The camp first hosted only 80 children but then grew rapidly. In 1969 it had an area of 3.2 km²...
, the main Soviet pioneer camp, in the town of Gurzuf
Gurzuf
Gurzuf or Hurzuf is a resort in Crimea, Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea.Gurzuf is a former Crimean Tatar village, now a part of Greater Yalta. It was made famous by Alexander Pushkin who visited the place in 1821. The famous ballet master Marius Petipa died here...
on the Crimean Peninsula
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. Smith wrote in her book that in Leningrad she and her parents were amazed by the friendliness of the people and by the presents many people made for them. Speaking at a Moscow press conference, she declared that the Russians were "just like us". In Artek, Smith chose to stay with the Soviet children rather than take the privileged accommodation offered to her. For ease of communication, teachers and children with fluent English were chosen to stay in the building where she was lodged. Smith shared a dormitory with nine other girls, and spent her time there swimming, talking and learning Russian songs and dances. While there, she made many friends, including Natasha Kashirina from Leningrad, a fluent English speaker.
Andropov, however, was unable to meet with her during her visit,
although they did speak by telephone. It was later discovered that Andropov had become seriously ill and had withdrawn from the public eye during this time. Smith also received a phone call from Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in...
, the first woman to orbit the Earth. However, not realizing with whom she was speaking, Samantha mistakenly hung up after only a brief conversation. Media followed her every step—photographs and articles about her were published by the main Soviet newspapers and magazines throughout her trip and after it. Smith became widely known to Soviet citizens and was well regarded by many of them. In the United States, the event drew suspicion and some regarded it as an "American-style public relations stunt".
Smith's return to the U.S. on July 22, 1983, was celebrated by the people of Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
with roses, a red carpet, and a limousine and her popularity continued to grow in her native country. Some critics at the time remained skeptical, believing Smith was unwittingly serving as an instrument of Soviet propaganda. In December 1983, continuing in her role as "America's Youngest Ambassador", she was invited to Japan, where she met with the Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone
Yasuhiro Nakasone
is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from November 27, 1982 to November 6, 1987. A contemporary of Brian Mulroney, Ronald Reagan, Helmut Kohl, François Mitterrand, Margaret Thatcher, and Mikhail Gorbachev, he is best known for pushing through the privatization of...
and attended the Children's International Symposium in Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
. In her speech at the symposium, she suggested that Soviet and American leaders exchange granddaughters for two weeks every year, arguing that a president "wouldn't want to send a bomb to a country his granddaughter would be visiting". Her trip inspired other exchanges of child goodwill ambassadors, including a visit by the eleven-year-old Soviet child Katya Lycheva
Katya Lycheva
Katya Lycheva served as a Soviet child-ambassador to the United States in 1986. She also acted in a number of Soviet films for children.-Goodwill visit to the United States:...
to the United States. Later, Smith wrote a book called Journey to the Soviet Union whose cover shows her at Artek, her favorite part of the Soviet trip.
Smith pursued her role as a media celebrity when in 1984, she hosted a children's special for the Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
entitled Samantha Smith Goes To Washington...Campaign '84. The show covered politics, where Smith interviewed several candidates for the 1984 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1984
The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...
, including George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
and Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
. Her fame resulted in Smith becoming the subject of stalker
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
Robert John Bardo
Robert John Bardo
Robert John Bardo is an American man serving life imprisonment without parole after being convicted in October 1991 for the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer on July 18, 1989, whom he had stalked for several years beforehand....
, the man who would later go on to stalk and ultimately murder My Sister Sam
My Sister Sam
My Sister Sam is an American situation comedy series that aired on CBS from 1986 to 1988. It was created by Stephen Fischer and executive produced by Diane English.-Synopsis:...
actress Rebecca Schaeffer
Rebecca Schaeffer
Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer was an American actress best known for her role in the sitcom My Sister Sam...
. Bardo took a bus to Maine in an attempt to meet Smith but was stopped by police and returned home by them.
In 1985 she co-starred with Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
in a television series called Lime Street.
Death
On August 25, 1985, Samantha and her father were returning home aboard Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808
Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 was a scheduled flight from Logan International Airport to Bangor International Airport in the United States on August 25, 1985. On final approach to Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport, the plane crashed short of the runway, killing all six passengers and two crew on...
after filming a segment for Lime Street. While attempting to land at Lewiston-Auburn Regional Airport
Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport
Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport is a public use airport in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States, opened in 1935. It is located four nautical miles southwest the cities of Auburn and Lewiston, both of which own and operate the airport, although it is located solely in the city of Auburn.The...
in Auburn, Maine
Auburn, Maine
Auburn is a city in and the county seat of Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 23,055 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan...
, the Beechcraft 99
Beechcraft Model 99
|-See also:-External links:*...
commuter plane struck some trees 4007 feet (1,221.3 m) short of the runway and crashed, killing all six passengers and two crew on board.
Much speculation regarding the cause of the accident circulated afterwards. Accusations of foul play circulated widely in the Soviet Union. An investigation was undertaken in the United States and the official report—which did not show evidence of foul play—was made public. As stated in the report, the accident occurred at about 22:05 EDT, the ground impact point located one mile (1.6 km) south-west of the airport, at 44°02′22"N 70°17′30"W. The report goes on to say, "The relatively steep flight path angle and the attitude (the orientation of the aircraft relative to the horizon, direction of motion etc.) and speed of the airplane at ground impact precluded the occupants from surviving the accident." The main point of the report was that it was a rainy night, the pilots were inexperienced, and an accidental, but not uncommon and not usually critical, ground radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
failure occurred.
Samantha Smith was mourned by about 1,000 people at her funeral in Augusta, Maine, and was eulogized in Moscow as a champion of peace. Attendees included Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
and Vladimir Kulagin of the Soviet Embassy in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, who read a personal message of condolence from Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, while President Reagan sent his condolences to Smith's mother, in writing,
"Perhaps you can take some measure of comfort in the knowledge that millions of Americans, indeed millions of people, share the burdens of your grief. They also will cherish and remember Samantha, her smile, her idealismIdealismIn philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
and unaffected sweetness of spirit."
The remains of Smith and her father were cremated. Their remains were buried side by side in Estabrook Cemetery, Aroostook County, near Houlton where Smith was born.
Tributes
Metal theft
Metal theft is the theft of metal items on a very large scale. These thefts usually increase when worldwide prices for scrap metal rise. In recent years, prices for metals have risen dramatically due to rapid industrialization in India and China...
in 2003 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
in 1991. In 2003, Voronezh
Voronezh
Voronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway...
retiree Valentin Vaulin built a monument to her without any support from the government. The Soviet Union issued a commemorative stamp
Commemorative stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event or person. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike definitive stamps which normally depict the subject along with the...
with her likeness. In 1986, when Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh
Lyudmila Chernykh
Lyudmila Ivanovna Chernykh is a Russian, Ukrainian and Soviet astronomer.In 1959 she graduated from Irkutsk State Pedagogical University. Between 1959 and 1963 she worked in the 'Time and Frequency Laboratory' of the All-Union Research Institute of Physico-Technical and Radiotechnical Measurements...
discovered asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
3147, she named it 3147 Samantha
3147 Samantha
3147 Samantha is a main belt asteroid, discovered by Lyudmila Ivanovna Chernykh on December 16, 1976. She named her discovery in memory of the young American peace activist Samantha Smith...
. The Danish composer Per Nørgård
Per Nørgård
Per Nørgård is a Danish composer.-Biography:Nørgård studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. To begin with, he was strongly influenced by the Nordic styles of Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Vagn Holmboe...
wrote his 1985 viola concerto "Remembering Child" in memory of Smith. A diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
found in Siberia, a mountain in the former Soviet Union, a cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
of tulip
Tulip
The tulip is a perennial, bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa, which comprises 109 species and belongs to the family Liliaceae. The genus's native range extends from as far west as Southern Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran to the Northwest of China. The tulip's centre of...
s and of dahlia
Dahlia
Dahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, perennial plants native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. There are at least 36 species of dahlia, some like D. imperialis up to 10 metres tall. Dahlia hybrids are commonly grown as garden plants...
s, and an ocean vessel
Passenger ship
A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is...
have been named in Smith's honor. In Maine, the first Monday in June of each year is officially designated as Samantha Smith Day by state law
State law
In the United States, state law is the law of each separate U.S. state, as passed by the state legislature and adjudicated by state courts. It exists in parallel, and sometimes in conflict with, United States federal law. These disputes are often resolved by the federal courts.-See also:*List of U.S...
. There is a bronze statue of Smith near the Maine State Museum in Augusta, which portrays Smith releasing a dove
Dove
Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...
with a bear cub resting at her feet. The bear cub represents both Maine and Russia. Elementary schools in Sammamish, Washington
Sammamish, Washington
-Surrounding cities and communities:-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 34,104 people, 11,131 households, and 9,650 families residing in the city. In 2007, the population is expected to pass 40,000....
and in Jamaica, New York have been named after Samantha. In October 1985, Smith's mother founded the Samantha Smith Foundation, which fostered student exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union (and, after December 1991, the ex-Soviet successor states) until it became dormant in the mid-1990s.
In the mid-1980s, after Smith's death, a script was written for a television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
titled The Samantha Smith Story with Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
as producer. However, Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television was the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems . The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974.-1974-1982:...
decided not to film it due to lack of interest from any network.