The first Miss America
The crowning of 16-year-old Margaret Gorman
Alex Q. Arbuckle
1922
In 1921, one 16-year-old Margaret Gorman, a high school junior in Washington, D.C., submitted a snap of herself to a popularity contest in the Washington Herald. Of about a thousand entries, she was selected as one of six finalists. That summer, she and the other five contestants toured the city, culminating in Margaret being awarded the title of “Miss Washington, D.C.” The prize: a place of honor at the Second Annual Atlantic City Pageant, where Margaret would be entered into the new “Inter-City Beauty” contest. Under scrutiny by judges and spectators, and peppered with questions, Gorman wooed the crowd and took the top amateur prize, then the coveted grand prize: the "Golden Mermaid" trophy.After another year back at school, Margaret returned to Atlantic City to defend her title — but the Washington Herald had already held another contest and named a new "Miss Washington, D.C."Pageant officials were flummoxed on what title to give Gorman. The ones she had acquired the previous year — “Inter-City Beauty, Amateur,” and “The Most Beautiful Bathing Girl in America” — didn’t exactly roll off the tongue.So they decided to call her “Miss America.”Her reign was brief. No sooner had the title been invented than she lost it to one Mary Campbell. Margaret married in 1925 and continued to live in the D.C. area. Though her opinion of the Miss America pageant would sour in later years — she called them “cheap” for failing to reimburse her $1,500 in expenses for a 1960 Atlantic City reunion — she still kept her sea green chiffon and sequined dress from 1922 tucked away in her closet.
Congratulations. Don't get stuck up. - Telegram from a friend of Margaret Gorman
I never cared to be Miss America. It wasn't my idea. I am so bored by it all. I really want to forget the whole thing. - MARGARET GORMAN
