Miss USA 1956
Miss USA 1956 Carol Morris
Date	July 18, 1956
Presenters	Bob Russell
Venue	Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California
Entrants	43
Winner	Carol Morris Iowa
← 1955 1957 →

Miss USA 1956 was the 5th Miss USA pageant, held on July 18, 1956, at Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California. From the 43 contestants Miss Iowa USA, Carol Morris, won the competition and later became Miss Universe. She became the first contestant from Iowa to win the Miss USA competition. She was crowned by Miss USA 1955, Carlene King Johnson of Vermont.

One of the runners-up, Charlene Holt of Maryland, became an actress, appearing on television series and in films including El Dorado with John Wayne.

Placements

Delegates

State/City	Name	Hometown	Age	Placement	Special Awards	Notes
Arizona	Maija Bertulson	Tucson
Arkansas	Nancy McCollum			2nd runner-up
California	Shirlee Witty	Los Angeles
Colorado	Karen Keeler			Top 15
Connecticut	Dorothy Bailey	Hartford
Delaware	Sandra McCabe	Selbyville
District of Columbia	Joanne Holler
Florida	Kim Meyer
Georgia	Mary Ruff
Illinois	Muriel Blair	Chicago	23
Indiana	Beverly Mattox
Iowa	Carol Morris	Ottumwa	19	Winner		Previously Miss Iowa 1954 Miss Universe 1956
Louisiana	Cecile Morris	Baton Rouge
Maryland	Charlene Holt	Annapolis	28	Top 15
Massachusetts	Elaine Murphy	Weston
Miami Beach, FL	Beverly Rogers
Michigan	Barbara Sias			Top 15
Minnesota	Marilyn Johnson	Minneapolis
Missouri	Carol Thrower
Nebraska	Shari Lewis			3rd runner-up
Nevada	Marley Sanderson	Las Vegas
New Hampshire	Rita Leclerc	Berlin	21
New Jersey	Delores Winfield	Cranford	21	Top 15
New Mexico	Jackie Brown	Albuquerque
New York	Kay Douglas	New York City
North Carolina	Shirley Bagwell	Raleigh	18	Top 15
North Dakota	Mary Harroun
Ohio	Eleanor Wood	Canton	18	Top 15
Oregon	Maralyn Turner			Top 15
Pennsylvania	Serena Kifer	Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA	Miriam Uniman
Rhode Island	Sandra Vozella	Point Judith
South Carolina	Betty Cherry	Columbia		1st runner-up		Later Miss World United States 1956 1st runner-up at Miss World 1956
St. Louis, MO	Diana Stopke
Tennessee	Stella Wilson	Memphis	22	Top 15
Texas	Jo Dodson	Houston		4th runner-up
Vermont	Delores Wettack	Westminster
Virginia	Audra Stark	Virginia Beach
Washington	June Svedin			Top 15
West Virginia	Janet Cardi
Wisconsin	Priscilla Perkins	Milwaukee	23
Wyoming	Marilyn Scott	Cheyenne

Historical significance

• Iowa wins competition for the first time. Also becoming in the 5th state who does it for the first time. Incidentally, Morris went on to become the second woman from the USA to win the Miss Universe title in 1956.
• South Carolina earns the 1st runner-up position for the second time. The last time it placed this was in 1953. Also this reaches the highest placement since Miriam Stevenson won in 1954. Incidentally, Stevenson went on to become the first woman from the USA to win the Miss Universe title in 1954.
• Arkansas earns the 2nd runner-up position for the first time.
• Nebraska earns the 3rd runner-up position for the first time.
• Texas earns the 4th runner-up position for the first time.
• States that placed in semifinals the previous year were Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.
• Nebraska, South Carolina and Texas placed for the fourth consecutive year.
• Arkansas placed for the third consecutive year.
• Colorado and Washington made their second consecutive placement.
• Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey and Ohio last placed in 1954.
• Utah last placed in 1953.
• Michigan and Tennessee last placed in 1952.
• North Carolina and Oregon placed for the first time.
• New York City, and Wisconsin break an ongoing streak of placements since 1954.
• California and Illinois break an ongoing streak of placements since 1953.
• New York breaks an ongoing streak of placements since 1952.