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N0KFQ > TODAY 25.04.17 12:59l 51 Lines 2213 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 30509_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 25
Path: IW8PGT<IV3ONZ<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<VE2PKT<N0KFQ
Sent: 170425/1155Z 30509@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1983
Andropov writes to U.S. student
On this day in 1983, the Soviet Union releases a letter that
Russian leader Yuri Andropov wrote to Samantha Smith, an American
fifth-grader from Manchester, Maine, inviting her to visit his
country. Andropov's letter came in response to a note Smith had
sent him in December 1982, asking if the Soviets were planning to
start a nuclear war. At the time, the United States and Soviet
Union were Cold War enemies.
President Ronald Reagan, a passionate anti-communist, had dubbed
the Soviet Union the "evil empire" and called for massive
increases in U.S. defense spending to meet the perceived Soviet
threat. In his public relations duel with Reagan, known as the
"Great Communicator," Andropov, who had succeeded longtime Soviet
leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1982, assumed a folksy, almost
grandfatherly approach that was incongruous with the negative
image most Americans had of the Soviets.
Andropov's letter said that Russian people wanted to "live in
peace, to trade and cooperate with all our neighbors on the
globe, no matter how close or far away they are, and, certainly,
with such a great country as the United States of America." In
response to Smith's question about whether the Soviet Union
wished to prevent nuclear war, Andropov declared, "Yes, Samantha,
we in the Soviet Union are endeavoring and doing everything so
that there will be no war between our two countries, so that
there will be no war at all on earth." Andropov also complimented
Smith, comparing her to the spunky character Becky Thatcher from
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain.
Smith, born June 29, 1972, accepted Andropov's invitation and
flew to the Soviet Union with her parents for a visit. Afterward,
she became an international celebrity and peace ambassador,
making speeches, writing a book and even landing a role on an
American television series. In February 1984, Yuri Andropov died
from kidney failure and was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko.
The following year, in August 1985, Samantha Smith died
tragically in a plane crash at age 13.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
Winlink: n0kfq@winlink.org
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