What’s more American than a beauty queen?
Miss Atomic Bomb, 1957
Lee A. Merlin was crowned Miss Atomic Bomb, coinciding with Operation Plumbbob, a super-controversial series of nuclear bomb tests in the Nevada desert.
Don English / Las Vegas News Bureau / Las Vegas Sun
Catfish Queen, 1954
Gail Hooper from Memphis was selected "Miss National Catfish Queen," holding a 56-pound catfish at the Hotel New Yorker.
Al Pucci / New York Daily News / Getty Images
Sweater Queen, 1952
The 1952 Sweater Queen, Jeanne Davis of Alabama, won the annual Sweater Queen Contest sponsored by the Wool Bureau and National Knitted Outerwear Foundation.
Hank Olen / New York Daily News / Getty Images
Laugh Queen, 1961
Kathleen Townsend from Minneapolis was chosen in 1961 as the official Laugh Queen, a title dedicated to the promotion of a national sense of humor.
Tom Watson / New York Daily News / Getty Images