As a 10-year-old girl, Samantha Smith sat at her kitchen table and wrote a letter to then Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov, telling him of her worries about Russia waging war against the United States. She became an international celebrity when Andropov answered her letter and invited her to the Soviet Union. She visited the country in the summer of 1983 but did not meet Andropov.
The statue, dedicated in December 1986, was designed by her mother, Jane Smith, and sculptor Glenn Hines. The $25,000 cost was raised by donations. It depicts Samantha releasing a dove, with a Teddy bear at her feet representing the Russian bear and the Maine black bear. It is located on the grounds of the Maine state library/museum/archives, next to the Capitol. The inscription on the plaque says:
In 1982 ten year old Smanatha Smith wrote a letter to Yuri Andropov, the leader of the Soviet Union, asking, “Why do you want to go to war with the United States?” Mr. Andropov’s reply to that letter, his invitation for Samantha to visit, and her subsequent trip with her parents to the Soviet Union began a personal dialogue between the peoples of the Soviet Union and the United States that many believe contributed to the thaw in the dangerous Cold War of the 20th Century. Samantha’s untimely death at age 13 in an airplane accident was mourned by adults and children world wide. Maine is proud of her native daughter and we remember the message she taught us: One child can play a powerful part of the bringing of peace to the world.
After returning to America, Samantha was a host of a Disney Channel special educating kids about the candidates in the 1984 presidential campaign, spoke at an international children’s conference in Japan, starred in the Lime Street television series, and wrote the book “Journey to the Soviet Union.” On August 25, 1985, Samantha and her father were killed in a plane crash. They were on their way home from London where she had finished filming a segment for the TV series. She was then 13 years old.
