SPEAKER_00: Reboot your credit card with Apple Card. It gives you unlimited daily cash back that can earn 4.15% annual percentage yield when you open a savings account. A high yield, low effort way to grow your money with no fees. Apply for Apple Card now in the Wallet app on iPhone to start earning and growing your daily cash with savings today. Apple Card subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Savings accounts by Goldman Sachs Bank USA. Member FDIC, terms apply.
SPEAKER_05: Sick of paying $100 for groceries and getting nothing but eggs, orange juice, and a paper bag? Then download the Drop app. Drop lets you earn points with your everyday shopping and redeem them for gift cards. Want a free dinner with those groceries? Drop it. How about daily lattes? Drop it. So download Drop today and get $5 just for signing up. Use invite code GETDROP777.
SPEAKER_01: This is brought to you by AT&T. AT&T believes connecting changes everything. I'm Jay Shetty and on my podcast On Purpose, I've had the honor to sit down with some of the most incredible hearts and minds on the planet. On this podcast, you get to hear the real life stories behind their journeys and the tools they used, the books they read, and the people that made a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in ours. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the journey soon.
SPEAKER_03: Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Luvvie Jayi Jones. I'm a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, and host of the podcast Professional Troublemaker. I'm so excited to be your guest host for this month of Loomanica. This month we're highlighting Prodigies, women who achieved greatness at a young age. This is especially a passion point for me because my latest book, Rising Troublemaker, A Fear Fighter Manual for Teens, reminds them that they are never too young to make a significant impact. Today's Loomanican was known as the girl who broke through the Iron Curtain. Her enthusiasm for letter writing made her unofficially America's youngest ambassador, or the pint-sized peacemaker. Please welcome Samantha Smith. Samantha Reed Smith was born on June 29th, 1972 in the small town of Houghton, Maine, near the US-Canada border. Her mother was a social worker, and her father was a professor at the nearby University of Maine. Samantha, at only 10 years old, had been a social worker for over 30 years. She was a young woman, and she was a young woman who lived in the United States. She was a young woman who lived in the United States. Samantha, at only 10 years old, had become familiar with the tragedies of recent history. She had studied World War II and the dropping of the bomb in Japan. She also watched the news and a TV program about the dangers of the Cold War. With all of this on her mind, Samantha expressed her worries to her mother, Jane. Jane presented her with a November 1982 issue of Time Magazine with then Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov on the cover. She wrote a letter to Andropov. Samantha quickly took her mother up on the suggestion and promptly mailed it. The letter read, Dear Mr. Andropov, My name is Samantha Smith. I am 10 years old. Congratulations on your new job. I have been worried about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote to have a war or not? If you aren't, please tell me how you're going to help to not have a war. This question you do not have to answer, but I would like to know why you want to conquer the world or at least our country. God made the world for us to live together in peace and not to fight. Sincerely, Samantha Smith. After mailing the letter, Samantha carried on in her everyday life until she found out that an excerpt of her letter with comments from Andropov had been published in the official paper of the Soviet Communist Party. Equipped with this information, she became frustrated that he had not replied directly to her, but she was still determined. Samantha proceeded to write a letter to the Soviet ambassador to the United States asking why she hadn't received a direct response from Andropov. About a week later on April 26th, 1983, Andropov wrote Samantha a substantial letter. In it, he compared Samantha to the character Becky from Tom Sawyer because of her courage and honesty. He explained that the Soviets were doing all that they could to prevent a war and that they had hopes of peace. At the end of the letter, he invited Samantha to come visit his country during the summer. Andropov wrote, "'And see for yourself, in the Soviet Union, everyone is for peace and friendship among peoples.'" Samantha took Andropov up on his offer. The summer of 1983, she spent two weeks touring the Soviet Union. She made the most of her trip. She visited Lenin's grave, attended the Bolshoi Ballet, met the first woman to go into space, Valentina Tereshkova, and spent time with Russian children at the Artec summer camp in Crimea. Both the American and Soviet press were all over the coverage of Samantha's trip. When she returned to the US, she was featured on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In Carson's interview with Samantha, she told him that she was shocked by how American the airport seemed when she arrived.
SPEAKER_02: When I first got to Moscow, the airport, it looks American. I wasn't sure if we were in Moscow or not.
SPEAKER_08: And they have our planes already? No. No, I... You mean it's very nice, like American airports?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Though word of Samantha's letter and trip spread far and wide, it did little to influence Soviet and American policies or to change the trajectory of the Cold War. Nevertheless, her budding relationships with people on the other side of the Iron Curtain was an important part of humanizing the enemy. Not all of Samantha's actions were seen as benevolent. Many critics saw her trip as propaganda and an empty distraction from the real and difficult problems of the Cold War. Even President Ronald Reagan was skeptical, and when asked whether he would like to invite a Russian girl to visit the United States, he declined. He justified his decision by explaining that while he believed the people behind the Iron Curtain wanted peace, their wants and desires were not connected to actions of the hostile Soviet Union. In December 1983, Samantha traveled to Japan. She had been invited to meet Japan's Prime Minister and to speak at the Children's International Symposium for the 21st Century. At the symposium, Samantha proposed the idea of a granddaughter exchange program with the notion that a president wouldn't send a bomb to a country his granddaughter was visiting. Though some of her ideas were clearly naive, Samantha became an icon. In 1985, she published a book entitled Journey to the Soviet Union, which told the story of her famous trip. In 1984, Samantha was given a minor role on the TV sitcom Charles in Charge. That paved the way for a more significant role on the ABC series Lime Street in 1985. Sadly, her time on the show was short-lived. On August 25th, 1985, Samantha and her father Arthur were on a return flight from filming the Lime Street episode when something went wrong. The plane was flying too low and clipped the tops of some pine trees. Eventually, it crashed, killing the passengers, including Samantha and Arthur. In a statement made by Samantha's mother days after the crash, she said, I hope Samantha and Arthur have helped us realize how important each one of us can be. Samantha couldn't accept man's inhumanity to man. She stood fast in the belief that peace can be achieved and maintained by mankind. All month, we're highlighting prodigies. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast. You can order Rising Troublemaker everywhere books are sold. Special thanks to creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan for inviting me to guest host. Talk to you tomorrow.
SPEAKER_06: After six plus months with 50% paid off, upgrade ends financing and any promo credits. Ctmobile.com.
SPEAKER_08: Do you hear it? The clock is ticking. It's time for the new season of 60 Minutes. The CBS News Sunday Night tradition is back for its 56th season with all new big name interviews, hard-hitting investigations and epic adventures. No place, no one, no story is off limits. And you'll always learn something new. It's time for 60 Minutes. New episode airs Sunday, September 24th on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
SPEAKER_04: You're at a place you just discovered and being an American Express Platinum card member with global dining access by Resy helped you score tickets to quite the dining experience. Okay, chef. You're looking at something you've never seen before, much less tasted. After your first bite, you say nothing because you're speechless. See how to elevate your dining experiences at americanexpress.com slash with Amex. Don't live life without it. Terms apply.
