http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith

How many people remember her?

I remember Samantha Smith very well. Unfortunately, her untimely passing probably overshadowed much of the goodwill work she did during her short life.

BTW, Yuri Andropov died shortly thereafter, as did his successor Konstantin Chernenko. I recall my older sister joking about Soviet politicians catching colds and keeling over.  :-\\ Of course, when the dust finally settled, Gorbachev was in power.

I remember Samantha Smith too.  It's amazing how a short letter from a young girl can get a world leader's attention.  I was heart broke when she died.  I'm wondering where that letter is archieved now?

I am impressed that she was able to so much, in such a short life.

many of her friends are uncomfy with her use by the peace movement - saying that she was just an ordinary kid - but Anne Frank was too - how is the peace movement any less noble than the anti-bigotry movement

(by the way there is one Samantha Smith Elementary - http://schools.lwsd.org/Smith/ )

bumping this up because i really want to know what people think of my points

One of my best friends in high school was also named Samantha Smith. It was weird because their were big headlines saying Samantha Smith died and our bio teacher sort of freaked out when my friend walked into the room. She read the headline but obviously not the article...

That kid was amazing though... she did more in her short 13 than I ever have in my 38.  :-[