On July 7, 1983 Samantha flew to Moscow at the expense of the Soviet Union. For two weeks she toured the country: Moscow, Leningrad, Red Square, met with the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, ate a burger and fries with the U.S. ambassador, and spent several days at the Soviet youth camp Artek on the Black Sea. Through it all the U.S. and Soviet media followed her every step.
Samantha didn’t stop after her tour of Russia. She wrote a book called Journey to the Soviet Union in which she wrote, “I dedicate this book to the children of the world. They know that peace is always possible.” She then went to Japan and met with the prime minister and spoke at an international children’s symposium. She also hosted a special for the Disney channel during the 1984 presidential campaigns to educate kids about the candidates, politics and the government.
Samantha heard the North American promise they would never start a nuclear war; she also heard how the voices from the Kremlin swore that neither would they. And then, with the clear and simple logic of her eleven years she asked, “they why do you both go on making missiles and aiming them at each other?”
Samantha Smith died in a plane crash in 1985, when she was 13 years old.