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Person of the Year

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Person of the Year is an annual issue of U.S. newsmagazine TIME that features a profile on the man, woman, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year."

Past Person of the Year covers (clockwise from upper-left): Charles Lindbergh, 1927; The American Fighting-Man, 1950; Ayatollah Khomeini, 1979; The Computer, 1982; Rudy Giuliani, 2001
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Past Person of the Year covers (clockwise from upper-left): Charles Lindbergh, 1927; The American Fighting-Man, 1950; Ayatollah Khomeini, 1979; The Computer, 1982; Rudy Giuliani, 2001

Contents

History

The tradition of selecting a Man of the Year began in 1927, when Time editors contemplated what they could write about during a slow news week. Primarily, they sought to remedy an editorial embarrassment from earlier that year when the magazine did not put aviator Charles Lindbergh on its cover following his historic trans-Atlantic flight. At the end of the year, they came up with the idea of a cover story about Charles Lindbergh being the "Man of the Year."

Since then, a person, group of people (either a team of select individuals or a demographic category), or in two special cases, an invention and the planet Earth, has been selected for a special issue at the end of every year. In 1999, the title was changed to Person of the Year. However, the only women to win the renamed award were those in 2002 who were recognized as "The Whistleblowers" and, jointly with Bill Gates and Bono, Melinda Gates in 2005. Four women were awarded the title when it was still Man of the Year: Corazon Aquino in 1986, Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, Soong Mei-ling in 1937 and Wallis Simpson in 1936. However women would also be included in several groups, namely Hungarian Freedom Fighter in 1956, U.S. scientists in 1960, Twenty-Five and Under in 1966, The Middle Americans in 1969, and of course, American Women in 1975.

Albert Einstein as Person of the Century
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Albert Einstein as Person of the Century

Since 1927, every President of the United States has been a Person of the Year at least once with the exceptions of Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Gerald Ford.  
	
The December 31, 1999 issue of TIME named Albert Einstein the Person of the Century.  Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mohandas Gandhi were chosen as runners-up.



Controversy


The title is frequently mistaken as being an honor. Many, including some members of the American media, continue to wrongly perpetuate the idea that the position of "Person of the Year" is a reward or prize, despite the magazine's frequent statements to the contrary. Part of the confusion stems from the fact that many admirable people have been given the title—perhaps the majority. Thus, journalists will frequently describe a new person of the year as having "joined the ranks" of past winners such as Martin Luther King. The fact that people such as Adolf Hitler have been granted the title as well is often less well-known. 



Bill and Melinda Gates on the cover of TIME, with U2 lead singer Bono, as Persons of the Year 2005.

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Bill and Melinda Gates on the cover of TIME, with U2 lead singer Bono, as Persons of the Year 2005.






There was a massive public backlash in the United States after Time named Ayatollah Khomeini as Man of the Year in 1979. Since then, Time has generally shied away from choosing controversial candidates. Time's Person of the Year 2001 — in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks — was New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. It was a somewhat controversial result; many thought that Giuliani was deserving, but many others thought that the rules of selection ("the individual or group of individuals who have had the biggest effect on the year's news") made the obvious choice Osama bin Laden. They cited previous choices such as Adolf Hitler to demonstrate that Person of the Year did not necessarily mean "best human being of the year." It is interesting to note that the issue which declared Rudolph Giuliani as Person of the Year included an article that mentioned Time's earlier decision to make Ayatollah Khomeini as Man of the Year in 1979 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 for Person of the Year and Hitler was a stronger candidate than Albert Einstein for Person of the Century, but they were not ultimately selected due to what the magazine described as their "negative" influence on history.


According to stories in respected newspapers, Time's editors anguished over the choice, reasonably fearing that selecting the al-Qaeda leader might offend readers and advertisers. Bin Laden had already appeared on its covers on October 1, November 12, and November 26. Many readers expressed dissatisfaction at the idea of seeing his face on the cover again. In the end, Giuliani's selection led some to criticize that Time had failed to uphold its own declared standards.


In recent years, the choices for Person of the Year have also been criticized for being too Americentric, which is a departure from the original tradition of recognizing foreign political leaders and thinkers. Until Bono received the title in 2005, Time had gone over a decade without recognizing a non-American individual.


The magazine's Time for Kids, targeted at grade school and junior high students, has recently begun selecting a "person of the year" independent of the main magazine's selection.  In 2005, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was named.



People of the Year




Charles Lindbergh was the first Man of the Year

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Charles Lindbergh was the first Man of the Year









1962 Man of the Year Pope John XXIII

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1962 Man of the Year Pope John XXIII












1987 Man of the Year Mikhail Gorbachev

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1987 Man of the Year Mikhail Gorbachev









Covers


Image:Time-magazine-cover-charles-lindberg.jpg|Charles Lindberg, 1927
Image:1101250420 400.jpg|Walter Chrysler, 1928
Image:Time Jan 6 1930.jpg|Owen Young, 1929
Image:1101301103 400.jpg|Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, 1930
Image:1933.jpg|Hugh S. Johnson, 1933
Image:Stalintime2.jpeg|Joseph Stalin, 1939
Image:Winstonchurchilltimemagazine.jpg|Winston Churchill, 1940
Image:American fighting man Time.jpg|The American Fighting Man, 1950
Image:Mossadegh_Time.jpg|Mohammed Mossadegh, 1951
Image:Time Jan 2 1956.jpg|Harlow Curtice, 1955
Image:Pope_John_XXIII.jpg|Pope John XXIII, 1962
Image:January 3, 1969 Time Magazine Cover.jpg|Apollo 8 crew, 1968
Image:Willy Brandt Time.jpg|Willy Brandt, 1970
Image:Faisal_time.jpg|Faisal bin Abdelaziz Al Saud, 1973
Image:Reagan-MOTY.jpg|Ronald Reagan, 1980
Image:Lech Walesa Time1.jpg|Lech Wałęsa, 1981
Image:1101850107 400.jpg|Peter Ueberroth, 1984
Image:Cory Aquino - Woman_of_the_Year.jpg|Cory Aquino, 1986
Image:TIME Gorbachev.jpg|Mikhail Gorbachev, 1987
Image:1101920106 400.jpg|Ted Turner, 1991
Image:Jeff bezos TIME person of the year 1999.jpg|Jeff Bezos, 1999
Image:1101011231 400.jpg|Rudolph Giuliani, 2001
Image:American soldier Time.jpg|The American soldier, 2003
Image:TIME cover Persons of the Year 2005.jpg|The Good Samaritans; Bono, Bill Gates , and Melinda Gates; 2005




See also



External links






















 





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