Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The Wall Street Journal - September 13, 1996
Alexandra Peers, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Since 1989, to add heft to the tiara, the Miss America Pageant has required contestants to champion a "personal platform." That has usually meant coming out against illiteracy and for veterans, with an occasional "adopt a grandparent" plea thrown in for good measure.
But this year's contestants -- many of whom sport "Friends" haircuts and plan to sing -- are grappling with social Armageddon. In addition to seeing swimsuits and spangled evening gowns tomorrow night, viewers will watch contestants offer opinions on suicide prevention, grief counseling, child abduction and attention deficit disorder. The platform of Janet Reasons, of Port Orchard, Wash., is "Building Pride Inside: Women in Prison."
Why the long faces? Weighty wins. No more waving from motorcades. In recent years, even personal appearances for pageant sponsors have become "an extremely tiny part of the job," says Leonard Horn, president and chief executive of the Miss America Organization. Instead, the winner delivers speeches on her platform topic on behalf of like-minded charities, corporations and government groups.
Miss America 1993, Leanza Cornett, logged 20,000 miles a month speaking on "AIDS Awareness" and advocating condom use. Heather Whitestone, the first deaf Miss America, was booked solid through 1995 with her platform "Anything is Possible." (The women get to keep their speaking fees.) The reigning Miss America, 24-year-old Shawntel Smith, tackles the downsizing of corporate America in speeches that advocate job-training programs and warn that "Americans are falling further and further behind."
Not every contestant this year has picked a weighty topic. The platform of Misty Marriah Esplin of Preston, Idaho, is "The Dangers and Delights of Music." Miss California, Lyndsay Kahler, whose state has won six out of the past 70 pageants, defends music education in the schools.
And Miss South Carolina, Angela Michelle Hughes, wants to teach chldren "the power of self-esteem." She'll also tap dance.
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