10-year-old American girl receives reply from Soviet leader Andropov about her concerns of nuclear war 30 years ago today (1983)

1980s, Cold War


Video: 'Samantha Smith, is interviewed on Nightline by Ted Koppel on'

(Monday, April 25, 1983; during the Cold War) — 10-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, received a reply today from Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov to a letter she’d written expressing concern about possible nuclear war. Andropov reassured Samantha that the Soviet Union did not want war, and he invited her to visit his country, a trip Samantha made the following July.