Time's Person of the Year began as a fix for a missed cover
In 1927 Time embarrassed itself by failing to put Charles Lindbergh on its cover after his transatlantic flight. Facing slow news days before New Year, the editors found a way to make amends: name him Man of the Year. The tradition that followed has since honoured dictators, astronauts, a computer and the planet itself.
The rule is influence, for better or for worse, not admiration. That is why the list includes Adolf Hitler in 1938, Joseph Stalin twice and Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The Khomeini choice, coming during the Iran hostage crisis, triggered subscription cancellations, and editors have since been wary of picks that are unpopular in America. In 2001 the logic of influence pointed to Osama bin Laden, but the magazine chose New York mayor Rudy Giuliani as the face of the national response.
The honour has never been limited to individuals. The crew of Apollo 8 shared it in 1968, Cold War rivals Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov were paired in 1983, and in 1993 two sets of peace negotiators shared the cover. Groups such as the Ebola Fighters and the Protester have been chosen, and in 2006 the title went to You. The Endangered Earth was named Planet of the Year in 1988.
Only four women won individually before the title turned gender-neutral in 1999: Wallis Simpson, Queen Elizabeth II, Corazon Aquino, and Soong Mei-ling, who shared the 1937 edition with her husband Chiang Kai-shek. Jeff Bezos was the first Person of the Year. Later honourees include Angela Merkel, Greta Thunberg and Taylor Swift. In 2020 Time published 89 new covers of women to pair with a century of male choices.
Nearly every American president has held the title, apart from Coolidge, Hoover and Ford. Franklin Roosevelt is the only person chosen three times, and Dwight Eisenhower won it in 1944 as a general, long before his election. At the end of 1999 Time named Albert Einstein Person of the Century, with Roosevelt and Gandhi as runners-up, and went back through the millennium choosing figures such as Genghis Khan, Gutenberg and Isaac Newton for earlier centuries.
Source: Time Person of the Year
