Samantha Smith

Samantha Reed Smith (June 29, 1972 – August 25, 1985) was an American schoolgirl from Houlton, Maine who was called "America's Youngest Ambassador" in the United States and the "Goodwill Ambassador" in the Soviet Union during her short lifetime. She became famous in these two countries and well-known worldwide after writing a letter to the Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Yuri Andropov during the Cold War, and receiving a reply from Andropov which included a personal invitation to visit the Soviet Union, which Smith accepted. Assisted by extensive mass media attention in both countries, she participated in peacemaking activities in Japan after her visit to the Soviet Union, she wrote a book and co-starred in a television series before her death at age 13 in an airplane crash.