more than two decades ago eleven year old samantha smith answered that question we were living back then obviously during the cold war i would get top secret briefings about the end of the world what would happen that nuclear war exterminated us and here comes this girl you know speaking truths that the adults hadn't yet learned and the adults kind of said well she's right the troops were reflected in a letter that the little girl wrote to the soviet leader at the time you dionne drop of expressing her concern about the possibility of a nuclear war between the soviet union and the united states a time. same when mutual assured destruction was becoming an all too realistic possibility it was met and she came along and she basically said this is stupid why don't you adults do something about it or i'm going to inherit a world war i may not live to be an adult unfortunately samantha smith did not live to be an adult she was killed in a plane crash just a few years after her diplomatic efforts but her legacy lives on and she lives a rock star moment she had her moment she made the most of it