Time Person of the Year

For other uses, see Person of the Year.

File:Time Cover Hungarian Patriot Man of the Year Jan. 7, 1957.jpg

Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1956: the "Hungarian freedom fighter", was in response to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

Person of the Year (called Man of the Year until 1999) is an annual issue of the United States news magazine Time that features and profiles a person, group, idea or object that "for better or for worse...has done the most to influence the events of the year".

Background

The tradition of selecting a "Man of the Year" began in 1927, with Time editors contemplating news makers of the year. The idea was also an attempt to remedy the editorial embarrassment earlier that year of not having aviator Charles Lindbergh on its cover following his historic trans-Atlantic flight. By the end of the year, it was decided that a cover story featuring Lindbergh as the Man of the Year would serve both purposes.

Since then, individual people, classes of people, the computer ("Machine of the Year" in 1982), and "Endangered Earth" ("Planet of the Year" in 1988) have all been selected for the special year-end issue. Despite the magazine's frequent statements to the contrary, the designation is often regarded as an honor, and spoken of as an award or prize, simply based on many previous selections of admirable people. However, Time magazine points out that controversial figures such as Adolf Hitler (1938), Joseph Stalin (1939 and 1942), Nikita Khrushchev (1957) and Ayatollah Khomeini (1979) have also been granted the title for their impacts.

In 1999, the title was changed to Person of the Year. Women who have been selected for recognition after the renaming include "The Whistleblowers" (Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley and Sherron Watkins in 2002), Melinda Gates (jointly with Bill Gates and Bono, in 2005), and Angela Merkel in 2015. Prior to 1999, four women were granted the title as individuals, as "Woman of the Year"—Wallis Simpson (1936), Soong Mei-ling (1937), Queen Elizabeth II (1952) and Corazon Aquino (1986). "American Women" were recognized as a group in 1975. Other classes of people recognized comprise both men and women, such as "Hungarian Freedom Fighters" (1956), "U.S. Scientists" (1960), "The Inheritors" (1966), "The Middle Americans" (1969), "The American Soldier" (2003), "You" (2006), "The Protester" (2011) represented on the cover by a woman, and "Ebola fighters" (2014).

Since the list began, every serving President of the United States has been a Person of the Year at least once with the exceptions of Calvin Coolidge, in office at time of the first issue, Herbert Hoover, the next U.S. president, and Gerald Ford. Most were named Person of the Year either the year they were elected or while they were in office; the only one to be given the title before being elected is Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1944 as Supreme Commander of the Allied Invasion Force, eight years before his election. He subsequently received the title again in 1959, while in office. Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only person to have received the title three times, first as President-elect (1932) and later as the incumbent President (1934 and 1941).

The last issue of 1989 named Mikhail Gorbachev as "Man of the Decade". The December 31, 1999 issue of Time named Albert Einstein the "Person of the Century". Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi were chosen as runners-up.

As a result of the public backlash it received from the United States for naming the Khomeini as Man of the Year in 1979, Time has shied away from using figures who are controversial in the United States due to commercial reasons. Time's Person of the Year 2001, immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks, was New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, although the stated rules of selection, the individual or group of individuals who have had the biggest effect on the year's news, made Osama bin Laden a more likely choice. The issue that declared Giuliani the Person of the Year included an article that mentioned Time's earlier decision to select the Ayatollah Khomeini and the 1999 rejection of Hitler as "Person of the Century". The article seemed to imply that Osama bin Laden was a stronger candidate than Giuliani, as Adolf Hitler was a stronger candidate than Albert Einstein. The selections were ultimately based on what the magazine describes as who they believed had a stronger influence on history and who represented either the year or the century the most. According to Time, Rudolph Giuliani was selected for symbolizing the American response to the September 11th attacks, and Albert Einstein selected for representing a century of scientific exploration and wonder.

Filmmaker Michael Moore claims that director Mel Gibson cost him the opportunity to be Person of the Year alongside Gibson in 2004. Moore's controversial political documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 became the highest-grossing documentary of all time the same year Gibson's The Passion of the Christ became a box-office success and also caused significant controversy. Moore said in an interview "I got a call right after the '04 election from an editor from Time Magazine. He said,' Time Magazine has picked you and Mel Gibson to be Time's Person of the Year to put on the cover, Right and Left, Mel and Mike. The only thing you have to do is pose for a picture with each other. And do an interview together.' I said 'OK.' They call Mel up, he agrees. They set the date and time in LA. I'm to fly there. He's flying from Australia. Something happens when he gets home... Next thing, Mel calls up and says, 'I'm not doing it. I've thought it over and it is not the right thing to do.' So they put Bush on the cover."

Another controversial choice was the 2006 selection of "You", representing most if not all people for advancing the information age by using the Internet (via e.g. blogs, YouTube, MySpace and Wikipedia).

Time magazine also holds online poll for the readers to vote for who they believe to be the Person of the Year. While many mistakenly believe the winner of the poll to be the Person of the Year, the title, as mentioned above, is decided by the editors of Time. In the first online poll held in 1998, wrestler and activist Mick Foley won with over 50% of votes. Foley was removed from the poll, and the title was given to Clinton and Starr, which led to the outrage from the fans of Foley who mistakenly believed the winner of the poll would be the winner of the title. In 2006, the poll winner by a wide margin was Hugo Chávez, with 35% of the votes. The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came in second. Time again ignored those results, not mentioning them in the announcement of the Person of the Year. Time continues to annually run an online poll for the "People's Choice", but stresses the decision on who the magazine recognizes is made independently of this poll by the magazine's editors.

Persons of the Year

Year	Image	Choice	Country	Lifetime	Notes
1927		Charles Lindbergh	United States	1902–1974	In 1927, Lindbergh became the first person to fly a plane solo non-stop across the Atlantic, from New York to Paris.
1928		Walter Chrysler	United States	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1929		Owen D. Young	United States	1874–1962	Young chaired a committee which authored 1929's Young Plan, a program for settlement of German reparations after World War I.
1930		Mahatma Gandhi	India	1869–1948	Gandhi was the leader of the Indian independence movement. In 1930, he led the Salt Satyagraha, a 240-mile march to protest the imposition of taxes on salt by the British Raj.
1931		Pierre Laval	France	1883–1945	Laval was first elected Prime Minister of France in 1931. Blocked internationally backed loan package to Creditanstalt, leading to its failure.
1932		Franklin D. Roosevelt	United States	1882–1945	Roosevelt won the 1932 US Presidential election by a landslide, defeating the incumbent, Herbert Hoover.
1933		Hugh S. Johnson	United States	1882–1942	In 1933, Johnson was appointed director of the National Recovery Administration, tasked by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to bring industry, labor and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices.
1934		Franklin D. Roosevelt	United States	1882–1945	Roosevelt was President of the United States from 1933 to 1945.
1935		Haile Selassie I	Ethiopia	1892–1975	Selassie was Emperor of Ethiopia in 1935, when Italian forces invaded Ethiopia, starting the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.
1936		Wallis Simpson	United States	1896–1986	In 1936, Simpson's relationship with King Edward VIII led the king to abdicate his thrones in order to marry her.
1937		Chiang Kai-shek	China	1887–1975	Chiang was Premier of the Republic of China at the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.
		Soong Mei-ling	China	1898–2003	Soong was wife of Chiang Kai-shek from 1927 until his death in 1975.
1938		Adolf Hitler	Germany	1889–1945	As German Chancellor, Hitler oversaw the unification of Germany with Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938, after the Anschluss and Munich Agreement respectively.
1939		Joseph Stalin	Soviet Union	1878–1953	In 1939, Stalin was General Secretary of the Communist Party and de facto leader of the Soviet Union. He oversaw the signing of a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany before invading eastern Poland.
1940		Winston Churchill	United Kingdom	1874–1965	Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation and the Battle of Britain.
1941		Franklin D. Roosevelt	United States	1882–1945	Roosevelt was President of the United States in 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor, declaration of war against Japan and resulting entry of the United States into World War II. The editors had already chosen Dumbo as their "Mammal of the Year" before the Pearl Harbor attack, but quickly changed it to Roosevelt afterward (and before it was published).".
1942		Joseph Stalin	Soviet Union	1878–1953	By 1942, Stalin was Premier of the Soviet Union, overseeing the Battle of Stalingrad (1942–1943).
1943		George Marshall	United States	1880–1959	As United States Army Chief of Staff in 1943, General Marshall was instrumental in organizing US actions in World War II.
1944		Dwight D. Eisenhower	United States	1890–1969	General Eisenhower was Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during 1944's Operation Overlord.
1945		Harry S. Truman	United States	1884–1972	Truman became President of the United States after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, authorizing the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1946		James F. Byrnes	United States	1879–1972	In 1946, Byrnes was United States Secretary of State during the Iran crisis of 1946, taking an increasingly hardline position in opposition to Stalin. His speech, "Restatement of Policy on Germany", set the tone of future US policy, repudiating the Morgenthau Plan economic policies and giving Germans hope for the future.
1947		George Marshall	United States	1880–1959	Appointed United States Secretary of State in 1947, Marshall was the architect of the Marshall Plan.
1948		Harry S. Truman	United States	1884–1972	Truman was elected in his own right as President of the United States in 1948, considered to be the greatest election upset in American history.
1949		Winston Churchill	United Kingdom	1874–1965	Proclaimed as the "Man of the half-century", by 1949 Churchill was Leader of the Opposition.
1950		The American fighting-man	United States		Representing U.S. troops involved in the Korean War (1950–1953).
1951		Mohammad Mossadegh	Iran	1882–1967	In 1951, Mossadegh was elected as Prime Minister of Iran, responsible for the Abadan Crisis
1952		Elizabeth II	Commonwealth realms	1926–	In 1952, Elizabeth acceded to the thrones of United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ceylon, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa following the death of her father, King George VI
1953		Konrad Adenauer	West Germany	1876–1967	In 1953, Adenauer was re-elected as Chancellor of Germany.
1954		John Foster Dulles	United States	1888–1959	As United States Secretary of State in 1954, Dulles was architect of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.
1955		Harlow Curtice	United States	1893–1962	Curtice was President of General Motors (GM) from 1953 to 1958. In 1955, GM sold five million vehicles and became the first corporation to earn US$1 billion in a single year.
1956		The Hungarian freedom fighter	Hungary		Representing Hungarian revolutionaries involved in the failed 1956 uprising.
1957		Nikita Khrushchev	Soviet Union	1894–1971	In 1957, Krushchev consolidated his leadership of the Soviet Union, surviving a plot to dismiss him by members of the Presidium, and leading the Soviet Union into the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik 1.
1958		Charles de Gaulle	France	1890–1970	De Gaulle was appointed Prime Minister of France in May 1958 and, following the collapse of the Fourth Republic and establishment of the Fifth Republic, was then elected President of France in December.
1959		Dwight D. Eisenhower	United States	1890–1969	Eisenhower was President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.
1960		U.S. Scientists	United States		Represented by George Beadle, Charles Draper, John Enders, Donald A. Glaser, Joshua Lederberg, Willard Libby, Linus Pauling, Edward Purcell, Isidor Rabi, Emilio Segrè, William Shockley, Edward Teller, Charles Townes, James Van Allen and Robert Woodward.
1961		John F. Kennedy	United States	1917–1963	Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the United States in 1961, ordering the failed invasion of Cuba by U.S.-trained Cuban exiles.
1962		Pope John XXIII	Vatican City Italy	1881–1963	John XXIII was head of the Roman Catholic Church from 1958 to 1963. In 1962, he volunteered as a mediator in the Cuban Missile Crisis, gaining praise from both sides.
1963		Martin Luther King, Jr.	United States	1929–1968	An African-American civil rights leader, King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.
1964		Lyndon B. Johnson	United States	1908–1973	Johnson was elected in his own right as President of the United States in 1964, before securing the passage of the Civil Rights Act, declaring a War on Poverty and escalating U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
1965		William Westmoreland	United States	1914–2005	General Westmoreland was commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
1966		The Inheritor	United States		Representing a generation of American men and women, aged 25 and under.
1967		Lyndon B. Johnson	United States	1908–1973	Johnson was President of the United States from 1963 to 1969.
1968		The Apollo 8 astronauts	United States		In 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 (William Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell) became the first humans to travel beyond low Earth orbit, orbiting the Moon and paving the way for the first manned Moon landings in 1969.
1969		The Middle Americans	United States		Also referred to as the silent majority.
1970		Willy Brandt	West Germany	1913–1992	As Chancellor of Germany, Brandt was acknowledged for "seeking to bring about a fresh relationship between East and West" through his "bold approach to the Soviet Union and the East Bloc".
1971		Richard Nixon	United States	1913–1994	Nixon was President of the United States from 1969 to 1974.
1972		Richard Nixon	United States	1913–1994	As President of the United States, Nixon visited China in 1972, the first U.S. President to do so. Nixon later secured the SALT I pact with the Soviet Union before being re-elected in one of the largest landslide election victories in American history
		Henry Kissinger	United States	1923–	Kissinger, as Nixon's National Security Advisor, travelled with the President to China in 1972.
1973		John Sirica	United States	1904–1992	In 1973, as Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Sirica ordered President Nixon to turn over Watergate-related recordings of White House conversations.
1974	80px	King Faisal	Saudi Arabia	1906–1975	Faisal, King of Saudi Arabia, was acknowledged in the wake of the oil crisis of 1973–1974, caused by Saudi Arabia withdrawing its oil from world markets in protest at Western support for Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
1975		American women	United States		Represented by Susan Brownmiller, Kathleen Byerly, Alison Cheek, Jill Conway, Betty Ford, Ella Grasso, Carla Hills, Barbara Jordan, Billie Jean King, Carol Sutton, Susie Sharp, and Addie Wyatt.
1976		Jimmy Carter	United States	1924–	In 1976, Carter was elected President of the United States.
1977		Anwar Sadat	Egypt	1918–1981	Sadat, as President of Egypt, traveled to Israel in 1977—the first Arab leader to do so—to discuss normalization of Egypt-Israel relations.
1978		Deng Xiaoping	China	1904–1997	Deng overthrew Hua Guofeng to assume de facto control over China in 1978, as Paramount Leader.
1979		Ayatollah Khomeini	Iran	1902–1989	Khomeini led the 1979 Iranian Revolution, establishing himself as Supreme Leader.
1980		Ronald Reagan	United States	1911–2004	Reagan was elected President of the United States in 1980.
1981		Lech Wałęsa	Poland	1943–	Leader of the Polish Solidarity trade union and architect of the Gdańsk Agreement until his arrest and the imposition of martial law in December 1981.
1982		The Computer	Global		Machine of the Year
1983		Ronald Reagan	United States	1911–2004	In 1983, as President of the United States, Reagan ordered the Invasion of Grenada and championed the Strategic Defense Initiative.
		Yuri Andropov	Soviet Union	1914–1984	Andropov, as Soviet leader, was a strong critic of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Andropov was hospitalized in August 1983 and died in 1984.
1984		Peter Ueberroth	United States	1937–	Ueberroth orchestrated the organization of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which involved a Soviet-led boycott.
1985		Deng Xiaoping	China	1904–1997	As Paramount Leader of China, Deng was acknowledged for "sweeping economic reforms that have challenged Marxist orthodoxies".
1986		Corazon C. Aquino	Philippines	1933–2009	Aquino was a prominent figure in 1986's People Power Revolution, being elected President of the Philippines.
1987		Mikhail Gorbachev	Soviet Union	1931–	As leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev oversaw Perestroika political reforms in 1987.
1988		The Endangered Earth	Global		Planet of the Year
1989		Mikhail Gorbachev	Soviet Union	1931–	Acknowledged as "Man of the Decade". Gorbachev, as Soviet leader, oversaw 1989's first free Soviet elections before the fragmentation of the Eastern Bloc.
1990		George H. W. Bush	United States	1924–	As President of the United States, Bush oversaw U.S. involvement in the Gulf War (1990–1991).
1991		Ted Turner	United States	1938–	Founder of CNN.
1992		Bill Clinton	United States	1946–	Clinton was elected President of the United States in 1992.
1993		The Peacemakers	State of Palestine South Africa Israel		Represented by Yasser Arafat, F. W. de Klerk, Nelson Mandela and Yitzhak Rabin. De Klerk, as State President of South Africa, oversaw Mandela's release from prison in 1990. The pair worked together to end the Apartheid system. Arafat, as President of the Palestinian National Authority, and Rabin, as Prime Minister of Israel, signed the 1993 Oslo Accord, the first face-to-face agreement between Palestinian and Israeli authorities.
1994		Pope John Paul II	Vatican City Poland	1920–2005	Head of the Roman Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005.
1995		Newt Gingrich	United States	1943–	Leader of the "Republican Revolution", a Republican party election landslide, which led to Gingrich being elected Speaker of the House.
1996		David Ho	Taiwan United States	1952–	Ho, a scientist, pioneered much AIDS research.
1997		Andrew Grove	Hungary United States	1936–	In 1997, Grove was Chairman and CEO of Intel, recognized as a pioneer in the semiconductor industry.
1998		Bill Clinton	United States	1946–	As President of the United States, Clinton was impeached in 1998 following the Lewinsky scandal. The Senate acquitted him of the charges.
		Ken Starr	United States	1946–	Starr, a lawyer investigating various figures within the Clinton administration, published his Starr Report in 1998, opening the door for the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
1999		Jeffrey P. Bezos	United States	1964–	Bezos is founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
2000		George W. Bush	United States	1946–	In 2000, Bush was elected President of the United States.
2001		Rudolph Giuliani	United States	1944–	Giuliani was Mayor of New York City at the time of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
2002		The Whistleblowers	United States		Represented by Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley and Sherron Watkins. In 2001, Watkins uncovered accounting irregularities in the financial reports of Enron, testifying before Congressional committees the following year. In 2002, Cooper exposed a $3.8 billion fraud at WorldCom. At the time, this was the largest incident of accounting fraud in U.S. history. In 2002, Rowley, an FBI agent, gave testimony about the FBI's mishandling of information related to the September 11 attacks of 2001.
2003		The American soldier	United States		Representing U.S. forces around the world, especially in the Iraq War (2003–2011).
2004		George W. Bush	United States	1946–	In 2004, Bush was re-elected President of the United States, overseeing U.S. involvement in the Iraq War.
2005		The Good Samaritans	Ireland United States		Represented by Bono, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates. Bono, philanthropist and member of the rock band U2, helped to organise the 2005 Live 8 concerts. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and then-richest person in the world, and his wife Melinda, founded the philanthropic Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
2006		You	Global		Represented by the individual content creator on the World Wide Web.
2007		Vladimir Putin	Russia	1952–	In 2007, Putin was serving as President of Russia.
2008	80px	Barack Obama	United States	1961–	In 2008, Obama was elected President of the United States, becoming the first African-American U.S. President in January 2009.
2009		Ben Bernanke	United States	1953–	Chairman of the Federal Reserve during the Financial crisis of 2007–08.
2010		Mark Zuckerberg	United States	1984–	Founder of social-networking website Facebook.
2011	80px	The Protester	Global		Representing many global protest movements — for example, the Arab Spring, the Indignants Movement, Tea Party movement and Occupy Movement — as well as protests in Greece, India, Russia and Chile, among others.
2012		Barack Obama	United States	1961–	In 2012, Obama was re-elected President of the United States.
2013		Pope Francis	Vatican City Argentina	1936–	Elected head of the Roman Catholic Church in 2013, following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
2014		Ebola fighters	Global		"Ebola fighters" refers to health care workers who helped stop the spread of ebola virus disease during the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, including not only to doctors and nurses, but also ambulance attendants, burial parties, etc. Represented on the covers by Dr. Jerry Brown, the medical director at the Eternal Love Winning Africa Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, Dr. Kent Brantly, a physician with Samaritan's Purse and the first American to be infected in the 2014 outbreak, Ella Watson-Stryker, a health promoter for Doctors Without Borders who is originally from the United States, Foday Gallah, an ambulance supervisor and Ebola survivor from Monrovia, Liberia, and Salome Karmah, a trainee nurse and counselor from Liberia whose parents died of Ebola, as well as others mentioned in the article itself.
2015		Angela Merkel	Germany	1954–	Chancellor of Germany since 2005, recognized for leadership in the Greek debt crisis and European migrant crisis.

See also

• Canadian Newsmaker of the Year (Time), the magazine's equivalent for Canadians only
• Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People

External links

• TIME's Person of the Year: All 84!—slideshow by Life magazine