The History Of The Miss America Organization, The Grievances Presented Against It, And Actions Taken To Rectify These Issues

Since its advent, the Miss America pageant has been beset by controversy. The organization has been an institution of American culture for nearly a century, one throughout which the pageant has garnered accusations of racism, sexism, and nationalist chauvinism. The role of Miss America, however, was not originally designed with pretensions of presenting the paragon of intelligent and successful American womanhood. With origins as a “bathing beauty” contest, it was through a series of shrewd maneuvers that Miss America became a scholarship for a bathing beauty with a brain — one to which there are still many objections.

Introduction

“There she is, Miss America. There she is, your ideal. ” These words were often crooned to me by my parents when I stumbled out of bed on a Saturday morning, hair tangled before my drooping eyes. Although I associated these words with pancakes sizzling and my family’s grinning faces, they were traditionally sung by Bert Parks during the Miss America pageant. Miss America’s stature in American culture is illustrated by this account; she is someone who fascinates the nation, and she embodies our dreams as a people. Miss America is a representative of our culture, and as such her identity matters. As interest groups plead for their respective visions of Miss America to be a reality, it is important that we understand her role in relation to us, the people she represents.

For weeks drama unfolded on morning television as different members of the Miss America Organization presented their views on issues like the swimsuit competition and the pageant’s new leadership. I was transfixed as women stepped forward, condemning or exulting the steps taken by a new administration establishing “Miss America 2. 0. ” I became ravenous, studying how this pageant began and what its role should be now in relation to its past. In this volatile time of changes for the Miss America Organization, I considered Miss America’s past, present, and future. We will first review how Miss America was not initially created with any noble intentions, much less those of becoming the elaborate scholarship organization that it is today. Next will be a survey of how the Miss America Organization has essentially always faced opposition. We will conclude by discussing the alterations made by a new board of directors in an effort to create “Miss America 2. 0”.

The Miss America pageant was born as Atlantic City businessmen developed a “Fall Frolic” to extend the summer attractions. A facet of the Frolic was Miss Inter-City Beauty, a contest judged by audience applause and judges’ opinion of the contestants’ appearances. The first winner was a sixteen-year-old high school student, Margaret Gorman, about whom it is unknown if she ever pursued a postsecondary education. Though not beginning as anything of prestige, the organization transformed from a struggling tourist trap into the Miss America Organization through the maneuverings of Lenora Slaughter, the newly crowned pageant director.

Slaughter revolutionized the scope of the pageant throughout her thirty-two-year reign as she implemented the talent competition, the scholarship prize, evening gowns, and the annual telecast of the pageant. While a record of 60 million viewers embraced Miss America, opposition that existed even at the first pageant also built. Religious groups morally condemned the pageant during its days as Miss Inter-City Beauty for its suggestive requirement of a swimsuit component. A similar objection was held by feminist organizations in 1968 when a protest was held on the afternoon of the pageant.

Robin Morgan, the 1968 protest’s organizer, distributed a manifesto that instead scoffed at Miss America’s objectification, denouncing it as a county fair contest “where the best ‘Specimen’ gets the blue ribbon”. Additional complaints were against that Specimen’s roles as a cheerleader for the hated war in Vietnam and as a means of female “mind control. ”

While many in Internet comment forums beg for this competition to be retired, the organization is now heeding the criticism in a success-oriented format dubbed “Miss America 2. 0. ” 2. 0, as seen in the telecast of Miss America 2019, implies the removal of the runway, the evening gown competition, and the reference to any of the contestants as “Miss Blank, ” whether that is on their no-longer-glittery sashes or when judges are referring to them directly. Of course, the swimsuit competition, a point of contention for groups as irreconcilable as devout Christians and bra-burning feminists, was also removed. This decision has resulted in a splintering of the community of volunteers and former Miss Americas who have upheld the organization for decades.

On Megyn Kelly Today, Heather Whitestone McCallum and Suzette Charles, Miss Americas 1995 and 1984, expressed their outrage against recently appointed chairman Gretchen Carlson for exacting these changes and dissimulating their urgency. Conflict and infighting continue to boil as states’ licenses are revoked after marked opposition to the new leadership.

Conclusion

As no satisfying compromise is near being met, it is difficult to anticipate how Miss America will continue, or if it will at all. The only certainty is that Miss America has evolved in its ninety-seven years. Today we reviewed this evolution, discussing Miss America’s humble beginnings, the controversy that has surrounded the organization, and what the more socially-conscious Miss America looks like today.

Regardless of if these changes were welcome or not, they happened. They have the power to either revitalize this pageant for many more decades, or to issue its final blow before oblivion. It is plausible that in our lifetime we could witness the demise of an institution that is emblematic of nearly a century of American culture. As Nia Franklin was crowned Miss America 2019, that song of my childhood did not play, and there were no proclamations of her being anyone’s ideal. Our new Miss America instead stares precariously in the face of two options: gracefully redeem the organization as she plays her part of a strong, intelligent Miss America 2. 0, or watch the organization fade.