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American Morning

Spirit of America: Katie Harman Crowned Miss America 2001

Aired September 27, 2001 - 09:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Since September 11th, almost every major event across the country was canceled or rescheduled, and one of the first events to remain on track was the Miss America Pageant, which was held over the weekend in Atlantic City. And this weekend, Katie Harman was crowned the new Miss America. And yesterday, she joined USO officials in visiting the World Trade Center site.

Good morning. Congratulations.

KATIE HARMAN, MISS AMERICA: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: What a complex time for you to have become Miss America?

HARMAN: Yes.

ZAHN: That had to in some way subtract from the joy of what you had won.

HARMAN: Oh, really, it added to it.

ZAHN: It did.

HARMAN: Absolutely. When the Miss America organization and the other contestants, when we all got together on Wednesday after this tragedy had occurred, and we re-evaluated our role, our position in the United States and whether we should have this pageant, we all agreed that the Miss America pageant and the organization could replace what was lost, we could restore some normalcy, and it really happened. We were so pleased to hear such a positive response from people saying, we need Miss America at this time, we love seeing this tradition back. It's such a part of what we are, and people love that.

ZAHN: And yet the pageant was so atraditional in so many ways. Were you even aware of the FBI agents who there to protect you all? I don't know if there was obvious threat, or there were just concerned about the large number of people gathered to the pageant.

HARMAN: They were. Actually they canceled the traditional "Show Me Your Shoes" parade. And we had what they did in the 30s, which was the "Rolling Chair" parade, in the ballroom of the Atlantic City convention center, the new "Boardwalk Hall" is what they call it.

ZAHN: Were you scared? HARMAN: Yes, we were scared, very scared, especially me being from Portland, Oregon, being 3,000 miles away from parents. I become a normal human being at that time, the day after, the day of the tragedy, because I was away from my family, I was away from everything.

ZAHN: It had to be distracting for all of you, who had trained so hard to win something, to not be able to walk by a newspaper headline without picking up the newspaper and wanting to learn more.

HARMAN: We had to re-evaluate our roles. Really what helped me to go on and really give myself that motivation to continue was the realization that Miss America is someone who is going to be extremely important in this year, and I decided that along with my platform issue of providing support for terminal breast cancer patients, I can kind of parallel that with what is going on with citizens in the United States right now.

ZAHN: And one of your first official duties was of course to travel down to what is alternately called "ground zero," "the pile," to visit with rescue workers. Describe us how people reacted to you, and then tell us what you saw.

HARMAN: It was such say humbling experience to go up a to rescue worker, those who had been working 10, 12, 24-hour shifts. and have them look me in the eye and say, it is so good to see you here, can I have your autograph? They had me sign dollar bills. I couldn't believe it, their helmets, their suits even. The most sobering thing was having someone who was working in the morgue hand me a body ID tag, and sign this body ID tag. But to see the joy in their eyes after the despair of looking at this pile of rubble and the 6,000-plus bodies that were still there in this pile and have them look at Miss America and say, we need you, we're so glad to see you here, changed my entire perspective.

ZAHN: Tried to share with audience how different when there. No picture can actually capture the horror that -- what will forever stay seared into your memory?

HARMAN: Just the look in the eyes of the rescue workers of despair, but really of hope at the same time. Every time I asked them, how are you doing? Are you doing OK? Have you lost hope? They said, no, absolutely not, I've lost my brother, I've lost 10 men from the shift that I worked in, but I'm going to continue going on. They bravery, their pride, astonishing. That look, though, I'll never forget that.

ZAHN: I know. I won't either. As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, I wish you good luck in your continued fight to bring greater awareness to woman out there about the importance of early detection and mammograms. Is that what you're going to focus in on this year?

HARMAN: That will be component to it. Really, I'm trying to make sure that there are more supportive services in place for those who are terminal, making sure that there are financial and more emotional terms of treatment, rather than just physical, making sure there's a more holistic approach to treatment for these patients.

ZAHN: Well. that is much needed, and I think that all of America needs to see more of you. Katie Harman, again, congratulations, and appreciate you dropping by during a very busy schedule, a schedule that's not going to change much I think in the year to come.

Thank you again.

HARMAN: Thank you.

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