Miss USA 1953
Myrna Hansen, Miss USA 1953, in 1957
Date	July 16, 1953
Presenters	Bob Russell
Venue	Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California
Entrants	43
Placements	20
Debuts	Iowa Maryland Miami, Florida Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Nebraska New Hampshire West Virginia Wyoming
Withdrawals	Delaware Florida Georgia Kansas New Mexico Oregon Tennessee
Winner	Myrna Hansen  Illinois
Congeniality	Jeanne Vaughn Thompson  Louisiana
← 1952 1954 →

Miss USA 1953 was the 2nd Miss USA pageant, held on July 16, 1953 at Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California. Myrna Hansen of Illinois, won the competition and was crowned by outgoing titleholder, the first Miss USA, Jackie Loughery of New York. Hansen was 1st runner-up to Christiane Martel of France at Miss Universe 1953.

Placements

Special awards

Delegates

State/City	Name	Hometown	Age	Placement	Special Awards	Notes
Alabama	Doris Edwards	Birmingham		2nd Runner-up
Arizona	Eleanor Ruth Cross	Chandler
Arkansas	Jackie Stucker
California	Marcella Roulette	Los Angeles		Top 20
Colorado	Jeanie Carroll			Top 20
Connecticut	Beverlee Burlant	Hartford
Idaho	Patricia Carter
Illinois	Myrna Hansen	Chicago	17	Winner		1st Runner-up at Miss Universe 1953
Indiana	Edith Krumme
Iowa	Marilyn Shonka	Sioux City		Top 20
Kentucky	Mary Stice			Top 20
Louisiana	Jeanne Thompson	Baton Rouge		Top 20	Miss Congeniality	Only woman to ever compete at Miss USA twice. Previously Miss Louisiana USA 1952 1st Runner-up at Miss USA 1952 Previously Miss Louisiana 1951
Maine	Jackie Lee	Cape Neddick	22	Top 20
Maryland	Diane Gale Durham	Silver Spring
Massachusetts	Joan Daly	Somerville
Miami Beach, FL	Kay Duggar			Top 20
Michigan	Jo Ann Page
Minnesota	Mary Ann Papke	Minneapolis		Top 20
Mississippi	Jessie Morgan	Newton				Previously Miss Mississippi 1951 Top 15 at Miss America 1952
Missouri	Donna Gardner
Montana	Billie Jean Tyrell
Myrtle Beach, SC	Mary Kemp Griffin			1st Runner-up		Later represented the USA at Miss World 1953 5th runner-up at Miss World 1953
Nebraska	Berneta Nelson			Top 20
Nevada	Earlene Whitt	Las Vegas		Top 20
New Hampshire	Muriel Roy
New Jersey	Susan Ruth Harris	Haddonfield
New York	Reta Knapp	New York City		Top 20
North Carolina	Libby Walker	Wilton
North Dakota	Marilyn Caufield
Ohio	Eleanore Mack	Bellaire	20	Top 20
Oklahoma	Barbara Bond	Oklahoma City
Pennsylvania	Jeri Bauer	Philadelphia		Top 20
Rhode Island	Barbara Rose Deigman	Providence
South Carolina	Susan Anthony Day			Top 20
South Dakota	Kathleen Herman
Texas	Joan Bradshaw	Houston	17	Top 20
Utah	Shauna Wood	Salt Lake City	23	4th Runner-up
Vermont	Kathleen Marie Eugenia Surrel	Brooklyn, NY	22
Virginia	Dorothy Lee Bailey	Norfolk
Washington	Nancy Petraborg			3rd Runner-up
West Virginia	Fay Higley
Wisconsin	Jacque Kimmel	Milwaukee	24
Wyoming	Nancy Rogers	Cheyenne

Historical significance

• Illinois wins competition for the first time. Also becoming in the 2nd state who does it for the first time.
• Myrtle Beach, SC earns the 1st runner-up position for the first time.
• Alabama earns the 2nd runner-up position for the first time.
• Washington earns the 3rd runner-up position for the first time.
• Utah earns the 4th runner-up position for the first time.
• States that placed in semifinals the previous year were Louisiana, Minnesota and New York. All of them made their second consecutive placement.
• Alabama placed for the first time.
• California placed for the first time.
• Colorado placed for the first time.
• Illinois placed for the first time.
• Iowa placed for the first time.
• Kentucky placed for the first time.
• Maine placed for the first time.
• Miami Beach, FL placed for the first time.
• Myrtle Beach, SC placed for the first time.
• Nebraska placed for the first time.
• Nevada placed for the first time.
• Ohio placed for the first time.
• Pennsylvania placed for the first time.
• South Carolina placed for the first time.
• Texas placed for the first time.
• Utah placed for the first time.
• Washington placed for the first time.

Panel of judges

• Jeff Chandler
• Rhonda Fleming
• Arlene Dahl
• Constance Moore