Political Suicide : Missteps, Peccadilloes, Bad Calls, Backroom Hijinx,sordid Pasts, Rotten Breaks, and Just Plain Dumb Mistakes in the Annals of American Politics (9781681771175) by McHugh Erin

Author:McHugh, Erin
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
Published: 2015-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

BESS MYERSON

(1924–2014)

A Jewish Miss America? In the 1940s, it seemed improbable, if not impossible. And then to end up in New York City politics? Enough already!

Born in the Bronx as the daughter of Russian immigrants, Bess Myerson was a beautiful and brainy girl, with musical talent to boot, who attended New York’s fledgling High School of Music & Art and then went on to Hunter College. She helped support her family by teaching piano lessons and she did a little modeling on the side. Unbeknownst to her, Myerson’s sister Sylvia entered her in the 1945 Miss New York City contest. Myerson was initially annoyed, but she warmed up to the idea when she learned of the scholarship prize money. But she was far from a pageant pro; Myerson was such a neophyte that had to borrow a bathing suit to compete.

Myerson went all the way, ending her beauty pageant sweep by winning Miss America in 1945. Throughout her road to the crown, many tried to convince her to change her name; it was so obviously Jewish, they said. The 21-year-old stood her ground, however, proud of her heritage, and the pageant lost several anti-Semitic sponsors. Myerson later said, “It was the most important decision I ever made. It told me who I was, that I was first and foremost a Jew.” Myerson became a heroine, not just to young Jewish women, but to Jews everywhere. This was at the very end of World War II, and for her to speak out when the tragedies of the Holocaust were just coming to light was extraordinary.

The contest win turned out to be a mixed blessing. Myerson played the piano on the vaudeville circuit for a bit and made a little money, but she was shattered to encounter NO JEWS signs at hotels along the way. Then the Anti-Defamation League approached her about a series of lectures, and her life began to turn around. Soon a TV producer saw her speak and offered her a job on a game show. Her glamorous persona led her from being “The Lady in Mink” (an early version of Vanna White) on the game show The Big Payoff to substitute hosting on the Today show to obtaining perhaps her most famous role: as a decade-long panelist on I’ve Got a Secret.

In 1969, Myerson left the world of TV when New York mayor John V. Lindsay appointed her as the first commissioner of Department of Consumer Affairs. She was an early pioneer in consumer protection, chaired the campaign of New York’s future mayor, Edward I. Koch, and served on various presidential committees. She even vied, unsuccessfully, for a New York Senate seat. Miss America had finally become an important mover and shaker—and a really classy one at that. Until, that is, the juicy tabloid fodder that became known as the “Bess Mess” surfaced.

Divorced twice and squired by many, romance came Myerson’s way once more when she began dating married sewer contractor Andy Capasso. Myerson was, at the time, working as Mayor Koch’s commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

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