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By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Laurent Belsie

April 27, 1983

Yes, Samantha, there is a Yuri Andropov. Earlier this year, fifth-grader Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, wrote the Soviet leader pleading for an end to the arms race. In a return letter, he assured her he is doing everything possible to avoid a nuclear war and invited her to visit.