Samantha Smith

Samantha Smith
Smith visiting the Artek pioneer camp in 1983
Born	Samantha Reed Smith (1972-06-29)June 29, 1972 Houlton, Maine, US
Died	August 25, 1985(1985-08-25) (aged 13) Auburn, Maine, US
Cause of death	Airplane crash
Resting place	Ashes buried at Estabrook Cemetery, Amity, Maine
Other names	America's Youngest Ambassador America's Littlest Diplomat America's Sweetheart[1] (US) The Goodwill Ambassador (USSR)
Occupations	Peace activist child actress
Years active	1982–1985
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Samantha Reed Smith (June 29, 1972 – August 25, 1985) was an American peace activist and child actress from Manchester, Maine, who became famous for her anti-war outreaches during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1982, Smith wrote a letter to the newly appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov, and received a personal reply with an invitation to visit the Soviet Union, which she accepted.

Smith attracted extensive media attention in both countries as a "Goodwill Ambassador", becoming known as America's Youngest Ambassador and subsequently participating in peacemaking activities in Japan.^[2] With the assistance of her father, Arthur (an academic), she wrote a book titled Journey to the Soviet Union, which chronicled her visit to the country. She later became a child actress, hosting a child-oriented special on the 1984 United States presidential election for The Disney Channel and playing a co-starring role in the television series Lime Street. Smith died at the age of 13 in 1985, onboard Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808, which crashed short of the runway on final approach to the Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport in Maine.