In November 1982, at the height of the Cold War, a 10-year-old American girl watched the news and heard adults talk calmly about nuclear annihilation. Her name was Samantha Smith. That night, she asked her mother a disarming question: “If everyone is so afraid of the Soviet leader, why doesn’t someone just ask him if he wants a war?” So she did. Samantha wrote directly to Yuri Andropov, asking why the USSR wanted to fight and whether peace was possible. Months later, the unthinkable happened—Andropov replied. He said the Soviet people did not want war and invited her to visit. In 1983, Samantha traveled to the Soviet Union, met children her age, and returned with one simple message: “The Russians are just like us.” She died in a plane crash two years later, at 13. She never lived to see the Cold War end. But for a moment, a child cut through fear where governments could not. ----------

In November 1982, at the height of the Cold War, a 10-year-old American girl watched the news and heard adults talk calmly about nuclear annihilation. Her name was Samantha Smith. That night, she asked her mother a disarming question: “If everyone is so afraid of the Soviet leader, why doesn’t someone just ask him if he wants a war?” So she did. Samantha wrote directly to Yuri Andropov, asking why the USSR wanted to fight and whether peace was possible. Months later, the unthinkable happened—Andropov replied. He said the Soviet people did not want war and invited her to visit. In 1983, Samantha traveled to the Soviet Union, met children her age, and returned with one simple message: “The Russians are just like us.” She died in a plane crash two years later, at 13. She never lived to see the Cold War end. But for a moment, a child cut through fear where governments could not. ----------