Samantha Smith holds a letter from Yuri Andropov in April 1983. “We want peace,” he wrote. “We want peace for ourselves and for all peoples of the planet. For our children and for you, Samantha.”
Samantha Smith with a letter she received from Soviet Premiere Yuri Andropov in 1983.
Smith sat in the back of Chaika limousine with her mother Jane on July 8, 1983 in Moscow.
Samantha Smith, with her parents Arthur and Jane Smith, tour Red Square in Moscow on July 9, 1983.
Samantha Smith, left, and her friend Natalia “Natasha” Kashirina Rosston chat on July 11, 1983, on a beach in the Pioneer Camp “Artek,” on the southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula, during Smith’s visit to the Soviet Union.
Smith, invited to the Soviet Union by Yuri Andropov, visited Petrodvorets near Leningrad July 17, 1983 with her friend Natasha Kasharina.
Samantha Smith and her parents, Jane and Arthur Smith, during their tour of Russia in July 1983.
Smith took a tour of Moscow, on July 19, 1983. Here she and a guide stroll the grounds of the Novodevichy Convent.
Smith wears a Russian folk costume given to her by schoolchildren during her on July 20, 1983 visit to Moscow.
Samantha Smith, who was 11 at the time, attends Artek, a Soviet pioneer camp on the Black Sea, during her 1983 visit to the Soviet Union.
Smith accompanies a group of Young Pioneers on a boat ride on the Black Sea on July 20, 1983 from Yalta, U.S.S.R.
Smith met with Valentina Tereshkova and Soviet leader Yuri Andropov while in Moscow. Tereshkova was the first woman to go to space 20 years ago.
Smith's grandmother Theresa Smith and first cousin Tyler Jones hold up a "welcome home" banner on July 20, 1983. They are preparing for 11-year-old Samantha's return from her two-week tour of the Soviet Union with her parents at the invitation of Soviet President Yuri V. Andropov. Samantha received a personal reply to her letter to Andropov which included an invitation to visit the Soviet Union.
Smith at a press conference in her luxury Moscow hotel before returning home to Maine on July 21,1983.
Smith, her father Arthur, background, and mother Jane, receive flowers and gifts as they arrive at the Augusta State Airport on July 22, 1983. The 11-year-old traveled with her parents to Russia for a visit at the invitation of Soviet President Yuri V. Andropov.
Smith is greeted by her grandmother Theresa Smith of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, as she arrives home on July 23, 1983.
Samantha Smith is back at her home on July 23,1983 in Manchester, Maine. Samantha Smith holds up one of the gifts she received from Soviet President Yuvi V. Andropov, while on her two-week tour of the Soviet Union.
Smith holds up a ceremonial key to her home town that town officials gave her during a welcome home celebration in Manchester on July 23, 1983. The 11-year-old returned home from a trip to Russia at the invitation of Soviet President Yuri V. Androppv.
Smith waves from her guest of honor car-top perch as her hometown celebrated her return from the Soviet Union on July 23, 1983. Samantha's mother Jane and father Arthur are seated beside her.
This 1983 file photo shows Samantha Smith at Manchester Elementary School.
Samantha Smith in the schoolyard of Manchester Elementary School at age 11 in 1983.
Smith, 12, walks with Soviet school children Natasha Repin, 13, left, Irene Ravlov, 14, right and a character from the CBS TV kids show "The Get Along Gang" during her Dec. 20, 1984 visit to the compound where Russian diplomats live. Smith delivered petitions signed by thousands of American school children seeking world peace.
Actor Robert Wagner, left, escorts Jane Smith, right, to St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church on Aug. 28, 1985 in Augusta for a memorial service for Smith's husband, Arthur, and her daughter Samantha.
Actor Robert Wagner, back center, sits in St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Augusta in this Aug. 28, 1985 photo as mourners as await memorial services for Arthur and Samantha Smith.
Actor Robert Wagner reacts during the funeral service for 13-year-old Samantha Smith and her father Arthur Smith on Aug. 29, 1985 in Augusta. The two were returning to Maine from London where Samantha was filming a new ABC-TV series "Lime Street" with Wagner.
Kathy Brammer, of Saco, places flowers at the Samantha Smith statue in Augusta during an anti-war protest in 2002. Smith and her father were killed in a plane crash in 1985.
Jane Smith, Samantha Smith’s mother, visits a memorial to her daughter at Artek Camp in 2005. Samantha Smith, who was 11 at the time, spent five days at the camp on the Black Sea during a tour of the Soviet Union in 1983.
A traditional dress called a sarafan and a headdress that Samantha Smith wore on her trip to Soviet Union are seen on display Thursday at the Maine State Museum in Augusta.
A photo of Samantha Smith made the cover of the November 1983 issue of Soviet Life. Her visit to the Soviet Union drew worldwide media attention and changed the way many Russians viewed Americans.
Laurie LaBar, chief curator of history, sets up a display case of Samantha Smith items on Thursday at the Maine State Museum in Augusta. The museum will also have a display of photographs from Smith’s 1983 visit to the Soviet Union.
Valery Kostin – with wife, Liliana – recalls Samantha Smith’s visit to the Soviet Union: “This girl arrived like an angel and changed the way Russian people viewed the United States.”
From left, Jane Smith, Liliana Kostina, Jean McMullan and Valery Kostin attend a gathering in Camden in 2011. The Samantha Smith Foundation was formally shut down last year.
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