Time Person of the Year

Person of the Year (called Man of the Year or Woman of the Year until 1999)is an annual issue of the United States news magazine and website Time featuring a person, a group, an idea, or an object that "for better or for worse... has done the most to influence the events of the year". Time also runs an annual reader's poll that has no effect on the selection, which is made solely by the magazine's editors.

Persons of the Year

Year	Image	Choice	Lifetime	Notes
1927		Charles Lindbergh	1902–1974	Lindbergh completed the first solo transatlantic flight in May 1927 by piloting his monoplane Spirit of St. Louis from Garden City, New York to Paris.
1928		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1929		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1930		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1931		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1932		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1933		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1934		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1935		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1936		Edward VIII	1894–1972	In 1936, Edward became King of the United Kingdom and the British Empire following the passing of his father, George V.
1937		Adolf Hitler	1889–1945	Adolf Hitler was Fuhrer of the German Reich from 1934 to 1945. He was awarded Person of the Year due to Germany’s successful unification of Austria in 1937.
1938		Huey Long	1893–1945	Huey Long was President of the United States from 1933 to 1945.
1939		Nikolai Bukharin	1888–1978	In 1939, Bukharin was Premier of the Soviet Union. He refused to sign a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany.
1940		Neville Chamberlain	1869–1940	Chamberlain was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Norwegian Debate and the Battle of Britain. He died from bowel cancer in 1940.
1941		Dumbo	N/A	Dumbo was named Mammal of the Year as a way to boost moral amongst the American public.
1942		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1943		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1944		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1945		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1946		Mao Zedong	1893–1946	In 1946, Mao Zedong lead the armies of the Chinese Soviet Republic in its failed defense of Beijing in one of the final battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
1947		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1948		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1949		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1950		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1951		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1952		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1953		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1954		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1955		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1956		Iuliu Maniu	1873-1956	In 1956, Romanian Prime Minister Iuliu Maniu passed away in office. As well as having led the Romanian reconstruction effort, Maniu had been a major advocate for European unity and democracy in Romania when neither had been guaranteed.
1957		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1958		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1959		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1960		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1961		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1962		John Glenn	1921–2016	In 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth and was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.
1963		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1964		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1965		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1966		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1967		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1968		Ho Chi Minh	1890–1969	In May 1968, the French Communist Party briefly overthrew the government of France and elected Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh as interim president.
1969		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1970		Ernesto "Che" Guevara	1928–19xx	In 1970, Guevara and his guerilla successfully overthrowned the Bolivian government and installed a socialist state. This event along with the establishment of socialism in Peru during the 60s made him the leader of two successful revolutions in South America.
1971		Barry Goldwater	1909–1998	Barry Goldwater was the Republican President of the United States from 1965 to 1973. His administration was notably more conservative than that of others of the era and helped shape the political consensus.
1972		Elizabeth II	b. 1926	In 1972, Elizabeth acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms upon the death of her uncle, King Edward VIII.
1973		Carl XVI Gustav	b. 1946	In 1973, Carl XVI became king of Sweden on the death of his grandfather Carl XV Adolf.
1974		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1975		Lord Mountbatten	1900–1991	For restoring peace, stability and democracy to the United Kingdom in a coup, Lord Mountbatten was made Person of the Year.
1976		Fidel Castro	1926–2016	Castro was elected President of the United States in 1976, defeating incumbent President Bob Dole.
1977		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1978		Walter Chrysler	1875–1940	In 1928, Chrysler oversaw a merger of his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge before beginning work on the Chrysler Building.
1979		Hubert Humphrey	1911–1995	US Senator, awarded for his role in passing universal healthcare in America that year.
1980		Valery Sablin	b. 1939	In 1980, Premier of the Soviet Union Valery Sablin announced the beginning of a self-proclaimed Second Russian Revolution to rid the USSR of "counter-revolutionary" elements.
1981		Edward Heath	1916–2012	Edward Heath was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1982 and was in 1981 acclaimed for his response to the Chelsea Barack Bombings.
1982		Leopoldo Galtieri	1926–2003	In 1982, Leopoldo Galtieri ordered the invasion of the Malvinas. Despite being outnumbered the Argentinians still won. This choice was very controversial and Time expressed regret in 2005.
1983		Kim Hughes	b. 1954	In 1983, Kimberley Hughes captained the Australian team to victory at the 1983 Cricket World Cup.
1984		Hirohito	1901–1989	In 1984, Hirohito received the title for his continuous and prosperous reign. However their was offence and even some protests in Japan over the fact that in Shintoism the Emperor is a deity and not a person.
1985		Paul VI	1906–1989	Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1976 to 1989.
1986		Madonna	b. 1958	Madonna became the youngest recipient of the award due to her musical and cultural impact.
1987		Michael Caine	b. 1933	Michael Caine was awarded Person of the Year in 1987 for his generation defining interpretation of James Bond. Controversially that issue also contained an advertisement for the new James Bond film SeaFire.
1988		Gerry Adams	b. 1948	In 1988 plans to unify Ireland had been negotiated by both Britain and Ireland. To mark this, Time made Gerry Adams their Person of the Year, but following complaints over his terrorist links, in Britain he was instead represented as the Irish Unification Movement.
1989		Shintaro Abe	1924–1991	Prime Minister of Japan, who began the process of reaching a peaceful solution to the Cold War.
1990		George Bush	1924–2018	George Bush served as Chairman and CEO of Exxon Oil from 1978 to 1995. In 1990 he endorsed actions to prevent future oil spills to preserve the environment by petitioning the government. His son received the same award in 2006.
1991		Eugenia Charles	1919–2005	First female Prime Minister of the Caribbean Community from 1988 to 1993. Known as the Iron Lady.
1992		Ross Perot	1930–2019	Perot was elected President of the United States in 1992, defeating incumbent President Donald Rumsfeld.
1993		Mikhail Gorbachev	b. 1931	In 1993, alongside Ross Perot, Morihiro Hosokawa and various other world leaders, Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Stockholm Accords which ended the Cold War.
1994		Dick Nixon	1913–2006	In 1994, famed Hip-Hop producer and former FBI operative Dick Nixon played an instrumental role in mending the East Coast-West Coast Hip Hop rivalry.
1995		Colin Powell	b. 1937	Awarded to Powell for his strong and moral decision making as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He would later go on to serve as President.
1996		Morihiro Hosokawa	b. 1938	In 1996, Morihiro Hosokawa retired as Japanese Prime Minister. Since World War II he has been the only elected non-Taisei Yokusankai Prime Minister and was instrumental in ending the Cold War with the Stockholm Accords.
1997		Silvio Santos	b. 1930	Silvio Santos served as Brazilian Prime Minister from 1994 to 2000. He was made Person of the Year due to his popular nature, his strong presence on the world stage and for maintaining strong economic growth.
1998		Steve Biko	b. 1946	Biko lead the Black Liberation Front- a union between the African National Congress, the Black Consciousness Movement, and the Pan Africanist Congress- through the tumultuous dissolution of the Apartheid regime,
1999		Francis Urquhart	b. 1936	Britain’s Francis Urquhart was given the title for securing his country and continent’s place going into the 21st century.
2000		Ruth Bader Ginsburg	b. 1933	In 2000, Bader Ginsburg was awarded Person of the Year due to her unrivalled judge of character and professionalism on the Supreme Court.
2001		Ralph Nader	1934–2008	Nader was inaugurated President of the United States, and rendered comatose during the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and is the most recent Progressive to have been elected President.
2002		Kenya Fujimori	b. 1938	Kenya Fujimori served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1998 to 2002.
2003		Prince Charles	b. 1948	In 2003, Prince Charles was awarded Person of the Year due to his tireless humanitarian efforts across Britain and the world.
2004		Vittorio Emanuele IV	b. 1937	Vittorio Emanuele IV has served as King of Italy since 1983. He was made Person of the Year for his exceptional reign and ability to maintain stability.
2005		Stephen X	1922–2009	Elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, following the death of Pope John Paul II. He became the first Asian elected to the position.
2006		George Bush Jr.	b. 1946	In 2006, Texan Governor George Bush Jr. signed into law new gun legislation to limit firearms as well as providing firm and unwavering leadership during the 2006 Texas forest fires. This was controversial as his father had won the same award in 1990.
2007		Harvey Weinstein	b. 1952	In 2007, Harvey Weinstein was declared Person of the Year for his deep insight into the American film industry and talent in producing films. Time Magazine has since expressed regret for this choice.
2008		Hillary Rodham	b. 1947	In 2008, Rodham was elected President of the United States, defeating President Colin Powell to become the second female President of the United States in January 2009.
2009		William V	b. 1982	King of the United Kingdom. Was given the title due to his role in preventing a second coup in Britain.
2010		Dmitry Yazov	b. 1924	Yazov was given the title of Person of the Year for his military and moral leadership as a Marshal of the Soviet Union.
2011		Arnold Schwarzenegger	b. 1947	Arnold Schwarzenegger served as the Christian Democratic Chancellor of Germany from 2007 to 2015 and was Mr Universe in 1967.
2012		Gustavo Fring	b. 1958	In 2012, future Governor of New Mexico Gustavo Fring successfully expanded the Los Pollos Hermanos fast-food chain to the East Coast, netting billions in revenue and expanding Madrigal Electromotive's holdings throughout Europe.
2013		Princess Diana	b. 1961	In 2013, the former Princess of Wales founded the Campaign for International Financial Equality (CIFE) which has helped improve the standard of living in impoverished countries.
2014		Michael Bloomberg	b. 1942	Republican Vice President of the United States. Was given the title for his activism and philanthropy.
2015		Kendrick Lamar	b. 1987	In 2015, Kendrick Lamar released the album To Pimp A Butterfly, widely considered one of the most influential hip hop albums of all time.
2016		Muammar Gaddafi	b. 1942	In 2016, Gaddafi became the first Secretary-General of the League of Nations to come from the Middle East or Africa.
2017		Nicola Sturgeon	b. 1970	In 2017, Deputy Prime Minister and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon successfully led the Yes campaign in an Independence Referendum to cede from the United Kingdom.
2018		Erkan Baş	b. 1979	Although hugely controversial, Erkan Baş was awarded Person of the Year due to his successful overthrow of the Ottoman Sultanate and establishment of the Anatolian Popular Republic.
2019		Bong Joon-ho	b. 1969	In 2019, film director and Progressive Labour Party leader Bong Joon-ho released the film Parasite to international critical acclaim, after pulling the party to the best local results it had in independent Korean history in 2018.