Miss America 1984, the 59th Miss America

Miss America

The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

, pageant, was from on the Boardwalk Hall

Boardwalk Hall

Boardwalk Hall, formally known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is an arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States...

 in Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...

 on September 17, 1983 on NBC Network

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

.

Placements

	Contestant
Miss America 1984 - A	Vanessa Williams Vanessa L. Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...  (Miss New York Miss New York The Miss New York competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New York in the Miss America pageant. Miss New York has twice won the Miss America Crown. Also, when city representatives were common at the national pageant, Bess Myerson won as Miss New York City in... ) (resigned)
Miss America 1984 - B	Suzette Charles Suzette Charles Suzette Charles is an American singer and entertainer.-Career:Born in Mays Landing, she represented New Jersey in the 1983 Miss America pageant held in Atlantic City, New Jersey...  (Miss New Jersey Miss New Jersey .The Miss New Jersey competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New Jersey in the Miss America pageant.Two Miss New Jersey winners have gone on to become Miss America titleholders: Bette Cooper and Suzette Charles... )
2nd runner-up	Pam Battles (Miss Alabama Miss Alabama The Miss Alabama competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the U.S. state of Alabama in the Miss America pageant.Miss Alabamas have performed strongly at the Miss America pageant, particularly in the early 21st century, when the state produced their third Miss America, a first... )
3rd runner-up	Wanda Geddie (Miss Mississippi Miss Mississippi :For the state pageant affiliated with Miss USA, see Miss Mississippi USAMiss Mississippi is a scholarship pageant and a preliminary of Miss America. The contest began in 1934, has been held in Vicksburg since 1958, and provides more money than any other scholarship pageant in the Miss America... )
4th runner-up	Pamela Rigas (Miss Ohio Miss Ohio The Miss Ohio Scholarship Program selects the representative for the U.S. state of Ohio to compete for the title of Miss America... )
Top 10	Kim Boyce (Miss Florida Miss Florida The Miss Florida competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Florida in the Miss America pageant. Florida has twice won the Miss America crown.-Winners:* Assumed the crown after Miss Florida won Miss America... ) Lynn Thompson (Miss Kentucky Miss Kentucky The Miss Kentucky competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Kentucky in the Miss America pageant. Kentucky has once won the Miss America crown.- Winners :... ) Barbara Webster (Miss Missouri Miss Missouri The Miss Missouri competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Missouri in the Miss America pageant.-History:From 1935 to 1970, the Miss Missouri pageant was held in a number of locations, including St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield.In 1970, the pageant was held... ) Kristin Lowenberg (Miss Nebraska Miss Nebraska The Miss Nebraska competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Nebraska in the Miss America pageant.- Winners :* Competed in Miss America pageant as Miss Omaha- External links :*... ) Dana Rogers (Miss Texas Miss Texas The Miss Texas competition was founded in 1936 as a scholarship contest for young women. The winner represents Texas in the Miss America pageant; three winners have gone on to be crowned Miss America .... )

Preliminary Awards

	Contestant
Preliminary Swimsuit	Wanda Geddie (Miss Mississippi Miss Mississippi :For the state pageant affiliated with Miss USA, see Miss Mississippi USAMiss Mississippi is a scholarship pageant and a preliminary of Miss America. The contest began in 1934, has been held in Vicksburg since 1958, and provides more money than any other scholarship pageant in the Miss America... ) Vanessa Williams Vanessa L. Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...  (Miss New York Miss New York The Miss New York competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New York in the Miss America pageant. Miss New York has twice won the Miss America Crown. Also, when city representatives were common at the national pageant, Bess Myerson won as Miss New York City in... ) Pamela Rigas (Miss Ohio Miss Ohio The Miss Ohio Scholarship Program selects the representative for the U.S. state of Ohio to compete for the title of Miss America... )
Preliminary Talent	Barbara Webster (Miss Missouri Miss Missouri The Miss Missouri competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Missouri in the Miss America pageant.-History:From 1935 to 1970, the Miss Missouri pageant was held in a number of locations, including St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield.In 1970, the pageant was held... ) Suzette Charles Suzette Charles Suzette Charles is an American singer and entertainer.-Career:Born in Mays Landing, she represented New Jersey in the 1983 Miss America pageant held in Atlantic City, New Jersey...  (Miss New Jersey Miss New Jersey .The Miss New Jersey competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New Jersey in the Miss America pageant.Two Miss New Jersey winners have gone on to become Miss America titleholders: Bette Cooper and Suzette Charles... ) Vanessa Williams Vanessa L. Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...  (Miss New York Miss New York The Miss New York competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New York in the Miss America pageant. Miss New York has twice won the Miss America Crown. Also, when city representatives were common at the national pageant, Bess Myerson won as Miss New York City in... )

Controversy

The crowing of Williams made her the first-ever African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 Miss America. For the first time in pageant history, a reigning Miss America was the target of death threats and angry racist hate mail.

Ten months into her reign as Miss America, she received an anonymous phone call stating that nude photos of her taken by a photographer prior to her pageant days had surfaced. Williams believed the photographs were private and had been destroyed; she claims she never signed a release permitting the photos to be used.

The photos dated back to 1982, when she worked as an assistant and makeup artist for Mount Kisco, N.Y. photographer Tom Chiapel. According to Williams, Chiapel advised her that he wanted to try a "new concept of silhouettes with two models." He photographed Williams and another woman in several nude poses. The photographs depicted mild overtones of simulated lesbian sex

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

, which was quite controversial for its time.

Bob Guccione

Bob Guccione

Bob Guccione was the founder and publisher of the adult magazine Penthouse. He resigned from his publisher position in November 2003.-Early life:...

, the publisher of Penthouse

Penthouse (magazine)

Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...

, announced that his magazine would publish the photos in their September 1984 issue, and paid Chiapel for the rights to them without Williams' consent. After days of media frenzy and sponsors threatening to pull out of the upcoming 1985 pageant, Williams felt pressured by Miss America Pageant officials to resign, and did so in a press conference on July 23, 1984. The title subsequently went to first-runner up Suzette Charles

Suzette Charles

Suzette Charles is an American singer and entertainer.-Career:Born in Mays Landing, she represented New Jersey in the 1983 Miss America pageant held in Atlantic City, New Jersey...

, who is also African-American. In early September 1984, Vanessa filed an unheralded $500 million lawsuit against Chiapel and Guccione. According to a Williams family representative, she eventually dropped the suit to avoid further legal battles choosing to move on with her life. Vanessa is quoted as saying "the best revenge is success."

Although she resigned from fulfilling the duties of a current Miss America, she was allowed to keep the bejeweled crown and scholarship money and is officially recognized by the Miss America Organization today as "Miss America 1984 - A" and Suzette Charles as "Miss America 1984 - B."