The 100th anniversary would have been celebrated this fall with the crowning of Miss America 2021.)ĭuring World War II, when many other long-standing events paused-like the National Spelling Bee and the Olympics-Miss America soldiered on, and in the process became a symbol of patriotism and ideal womanhood. (Slaughter later instituted the practice of “post-dating” the crown, so the woman crowned each September earned the title of Miss America for the following year. By 1935 the pageant was back for good, with a new leader at the helm, 29-year-old Lenora Slaughter, who was determined to make the contest a model of respectability. In 1928, they voted to discontinue the event-but the gap in the late 1920s and early 1930s had nothing to do with the Depression, as is often assumed, and everything to do with morality. Some of the very Atlantic City businessmen who supported the event at first, as a way to raise the City’s tourist profile, now saw it as hurting the reputation that it had worked to expand. But that year, some women’s and religious groups took umbrage with the pageant, claiming it damaged and exploited young women. The event quickly exploded in popularity by 1927 almost 100 competitors were vying for the title. The first “Miss America” was selected from a group of eight bathing suit-clad contestants on Sept.
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