A half-century or so later, in 2017, finalists didn’t dither or demur in answering judges’ questions about the Paris climate accords, the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally, and Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia. 1 national topic of the moment, a pageant official walked the new queen right out of the room.
The 2023 contest was viewable on a pay-to-watch streaming site.įor years, Miss A’s image was preserved so unsullied by real-world controversy that in the mid-1960s, as Frank DeFord wrote in his book “There She Is,” when an interviewer brought up race, the No. This coronation of the model American girl was once America’s highest-rated TV show, carried live in prime time to tens of millions on a major network - 85 million in 1960.
Start at the top, with the waning of Miss America’s profile, from a 1921 Atlantic City beauty “revue” to gin up business after Labor Day, to its glory days, to today.
