The Miss USA/Universe
sister pageants move to Miami Beach, Florida, where CBS begins to televise them.
1960
Corrine Huff makes history when she wins the
Miss Iowa-USA title and becomes the first
black woman to win a state title and compete
in a major national pageant, the Miss USA
Pageant.
1960
The first international pageant for children
is staged in Miami, Florida--"Little Miss
Universe." The contest is discontinued in
1966.
1961
The "Little Miss America Pageant" contest is
started in New Jersey, affiliated with
Palisades Amusement Park.
1961
The Miss Teenage America Pageant is founded
as a program to honor young women’s
achievement and judges contestants' grades
and achievement. The scholarship pageant has
no swimsuit competition. Diane Cox, of
Virginia, beats out 95 contestants for the
national title. CBS acquires the rights to
televise the event.
1961
By happenstance, Nancy Fleming, Miss America
1961, is visiting the hometown of astronaut,
Alan Shepard, on the day he becomes the
first American in space. She is invited to
watch the historic and dangerous Freedom
7 space launch with Shepard's nervous
parents.
1962
Miss Haiti 1962 becomes the first black
woman to make the semifinals at the Miss
Universe Pageant.
1963
Diane
Sawyer, representing Kentucky,
is chosen as America’s Junior Miss.
She
later attends Wellesley College, works as a press aide to President Nixon, and becomes anchor of PrimeTime Live and one of the highest paid female anchors in
television history.
1963
Donna Axum, Miss America 1964, is attending a conference in Dallas, Texas when the
shocking news arrives that President Kennedy
has been assassinated only miles away.
1965
Miss USA/Universe contests separate into two televised pageants, Miss USA and Miss
Universe, beginning a tradition that would
become one of the highest rated television
specials in the world. Apasra Hongsakula, Miss Thailand, and Sue
Downey, Miss Ohio, win the Miss Universe and
Miss USA titles, respectively.
1965
The
America’s Junior Miss Pageant is
televised for the first time.
Late
1960s
Miss Americas travel to Vietnam to entertain
servicemen with Bob Hope. The tradition
continues through the early 1970s.
1967
The Miss Universe Pageant ends its ban on
hairpieces and falls, allowing contestants
to wear them for competition. Falsies
remained grounds for disqualification.
1967
Sylvia Hitchcock, Miss USA, is named Miss
Universe 1967, the first American to capture
the coveted title in seven years. Although a
native of Florida (Miami), Sylvia wins the
national title as Miss Alabama (where she
attends college). Miss Florida, Cheryl Ann
Patton, assumes the Miss USA title.
1968
The Women's Liberation Front protests the
Miss America Pageant as FBI anti-riot squads
have them under surveillance. The picketers
toss symbols of the beauty culture in a
"freedom trash can." Protesters infiltrate
Convention Hall during the pageant creating
a commotion that is audible during the
telecast.
1968
Pageant chairman, Albert Marks, attempts to
dump the song There She Is, but after
a public uproar, the decision is reversed.
1968
First Miss Black America Pageant is held in
Atlantic City as a protest against the
absence of black women in the Miss America
Pageant.
