Forgotten history. 43 years ago today (7/7) The American youngest ambassador went to Russia.
She is Samantha Smith, a 11 years old girl from Maine. Anyone here still remember her?
A year before her trip, Smith wrote a letter to the newly appointed head of USSR, Yuri Andropov who was deemed a hawk by the west but actually he was an ambitious reformer.
In her letter Samantha asked Andropov, “Why do you want to conquer the world or at least our country?”. Her letter was published in Russia and she received Andropov’s reply and invitation.
She attended summer camp in Crimea where she rejected special treatment and chose to share a dormitory with 9 Russian girls together just like everyone else.
In her press conference after visit, she declared:
The Russians do not want a war. They are just like us.
After her death by accident many Russians believed it was a CIA job because American hawks don’t like to improve relationship between 2 countries, which of course is not true. But it’s understandable why many Russians believed so. If a Russian girl did same like Samantha Smith did and died by accident in Russia, I’m sure many Americans would believe KGB did it.
Link: https://youtu.be/o0DDQ3TEZeE?is=Y2oHoyIE0qzuUp6z
Replies to: “Forgotten history. 43 years ago today (7/7) The American youngest ambassador went to Russia.”
Did she later suffer health issues from radiation exposure?
Andropov was not a nice guy.
From Three Mile Island?
(no message)
No, more likely Pu-239 produced from the A-1 "Annushka" reactor near Ozyorsk.
I am just being sarcastic about this ambassador, I do not expect that they did such a thing to her, but the Russians did like to send a message when they offed rivals, and they were also known not to be concerned with American embassy officials health when testing new technology.
The girl you mentioned seems to have been assigned during Andropov’s brief time at the top. He was a hard line KGB guy.
.
(no message)
Consent Management