CBS Photo Division · Public domain

In 1945, Bess Myerson became the first Jewish Miss America, a title that in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust was widely read as an affirmation of the Jewish place in American life. She parlayed the platform into a long career as a television personality and then a career in public service, serving as a New York City commissioner and on presidential commissions from the 1960s through the 1980s, and running unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate. Her public career ended in the late 1980s when she was indicted on bribery and conspiracy charges; she was acquitted after a widely covered trial.