Playboy, which featured both centerfolds of naked "Playmates" and surprisingly in-depth articles, debuted in 1953, entering an America where sex was high on the list of taboo household subjects, women were heavily encouraged to marry young and forgo careers, and legal segregation was still alive and well.
Hefner was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1926. During World War II, Hefner wrote for a military newspaper for the U.S. Army. He later went on to earn his bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and earned a double minor in creative writing and art. He graduated from college in 1949.
The magazine tycoon worked at Esquire magazine until 1952, when he quit after being denied a raise. He then raised $8,000 from investors, including $1,000 from his mother, to pursue his own magazine idea. Hefner decided to feature a then-relatively unknown woman, Marilyn Monroe, in his magazine's first issue, using the photos from a 1949 nude calendar she had posed for.
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Hefner was 27 when the first issue of the magazine was published in 1953. Despite receiving heavy criticism for turning women into "sex objects," his magazine became famous for frequently featuring African-American models and writers. Besides being the man to prove that "sex sells," Hefner is credited with assisting the civil rights movement through Playboy (and the money he made from it). The magazine featured the most extensive interview Martin Luther King Jr. ever gave to the press.
The magazine prompted the creation of an entire brand. Playboy expanded not only into movie, cable and digital productions, but also resorts, casinos, clubs, and, of course, the Playboy Mansion, where Hefner spent his later years surrounded by, and on two occasions marrying, Playmates.
Playboy gave the phrases "girl next door" and "centerfold" the meaning and popularity they hold today, is credited in many ways with giving birth to pornography, and played a part in sparking a cultural revolution in the United States. In an interview with CNN Hefner said, "I would like to be remembered as somebody who has changed the world in some positive way, in a social, sexual sense, and I'd be very happy with that." Depending on who you ask: Mission accomplished.