Miss America 1945, the 19th

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

pageant, was held at

Boardwalk Hall Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, formerly known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is a multi-purpose arena in Atlantic City in Atlantic County, New Jersey. It was Atlantic City's primary convention center until the opening of the Atlanti ...

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

on September 8, 1945. Two days prior to the actual selection and coronation, the night of the talent competition, the Army Air Force Veterans voted the eventual winner, Miss

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(

Bess Myerson Bess Myerson (July 16, 1924 – December 14, 2014) was an American politician, model and television actress who in 1945 became the first Miss America who was also Jewish. Her achievement, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, was seen as an af ...

) as their favorite beauty queen.

Overview

Bess Myerson was the first

Jewish-American American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora J ...

and the first

Miss New York The Miss New York scholarship competition selects the representative for the state of New York in the Miss America scholarship competition. In the fall of 2018, the Miss America Organization terminated the Miss New York organization's license ...

(competing as Miss New York City, a competition organized by a local radio station) to win the Miss America Pageant as Miss America 1945. As the only Jewish contestant, Myerson was encouraged by the pageant directors to change her name to "Bess Meredith" or "Beth Merrick" but she refused. After winning the title (and as a Jewish Miss America), Myerson received few endorsements and later recalled that "I couldn't even stay in certain hotels ..there would be signs that read no coloreds, no Jews, no dogs. I felt so rejected. Here I was chosen to represent American womanhood and then America treated me like this." She thus cut short her Miss America tour and instead traveled with the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

. In this capacity, she spoke against discrimination in a talk entitled, "You Can't Be Beautiful and Hate."

Results

Placements

Awards

Preliminary awards

Other awards

Delegates

The Miss America 1945 delegates were:

References

External links

Miss America 1945
-

Organization *

Miss America 1945, Bess Myerson Dies At The Age Of 90
-

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

, January 5, 2015. {{Miss America

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

1945 in the United States 1945 in New Jersey September 1945 events in the United States Events in Atlantic City, New Jersey