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19831776 Club

Samantha Smith, 10, lands in the Soviet Union; Andropov's pen pal sees Moscow for herself

The Maine girl who asked the Soviet leader "are you going to vote to have a war or not?" tours Moscow, Leningrad, and a Black Sea pioneer camp at his personal invitation.

In November 1982, a ten-year-old from Manchester, Maine sat down and wrote a letter to the new Soviet leader. Samantha Smith asked Yuri Andropov plainly: "Are you going to vote to have a war or not?" Andropov wrote back the following April, comparing her to Mark Twain's Becky Thatcher and inviting her to see the Soviet Union for herself. That July, Smith toured Moscow, Leningrad, and a Black Sea pioneer camp, and told reporters the Russians were "just like us."…

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More from July 7
1846

Sloat raises the flag over Monterey; Mexico's California falls without a shot

Sailors and marines from three warships walk ashore unopposed, ending both Mexican rule and the weeks-old California Republic declared at Sonoma.
1898

McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution; Hawaii is annexed, and its $4 million debt with it

The House voted 209 to 91 and the Senate 42 to 21, with a Pacific war making the islands' coaling station and anchorage look essential to Washington.
1958

Eisenhower signs Alaska into the union; the territory has waited forty years for this moment

The House voted 210-166, the Senate 64-20; Alaska is cleared to become the 49th state, though formal admission is not yet complete.
19411776 Club
The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, sailed from Charleston via Argentia, begins disembarkation on an island the U.S. has no treaty obligation to defend.
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Read the full July 7 edition →Everything that happened on July 7 →
More from Cold War America
1947

The law takes hold: America wakes to a Defense Department and a new spy agency

One day after Forrestal's confirmation, the government's wartime agencies formally give way to a unified national security machine.
1984

A van bomb tears into the US embassy annex at Aukar, killing 23

Guards' gunfire kept the van from reaching the building; it still detonated close enough to rip off the front wall.
1979

A US spy satellite catches a double flash near Antarctica; no one will say what caused it

Vela 6911's sensors record the exact signature built to catch an atmospheric nuclear blast.
1952

Nixon goes on television and refuses to give up the dog

Facing calls to quit the ticket, the senator lays open his bank accounts and says he is keeping Checkers no matter what.
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