Letters: Dec. 31, 1999

READERS' CHOICE

"The Person of the Century should be someone who held true to his beliefs and was prepared to fight for them." PAULA MOUNTAIN-AGAR York, England

This has been the century in which the voices of ordinary people were widely heard for the first time, the century of mass suffrage but also the century of mass suffering. Ordinary people died in the trenches, in a deadly influenza epidemic, went hungry in the Great Depression, brought Adolf Hitler to power and died in the death camps. The Person of the Century should be the common man, the unsung hero who encompasses all our strivings and failings, our successes and disasters, our greatness and pettiness. He is us. ALBERT GOMPERTS Antwerp

In 1950 TIME named Winston Churchill "Man of the Half-Century," saying "he launched the lifeboats" that saved liberty. You cited Churchill's unmatched career: 50 years of international prominence, the only person to hold high office in both World Wars, the only one to write of his experiences in language that will live as long as words are read. As the first person to proclaim publicly the Soviet threat, Churchill became the architect of the century's great triumph over it. The twin victories over two great evils are this century's dominating achievements. Great movements still in progress--civil rights, gender equality, democratization, market capitalism--would be impossible, or at least retarded, in fascist or Marxist societies. It is beyond imagination what life would be like today had Churchill not lived, acted, written and spoken as he did. RICHARD M. LANGWORTH PRESIDENT Churchill Center Washington

The entrepreneur is the person of the Century. We are entering our longest peaceful period of economic expansion since World War II. Entrepreneurs have created tens of millions of jobs for the world through their innovation and hard work. MURIEL SIEBERT, CEO Muriel Siebert & Co. Inc. New York City

The chief architect of the victory of World War II was Winston Churchill. The only Allied leader with military experience in the field as well as experience in government, he was also a superb communicator. Perhaps his finest contribution was his matchless power as a speaker, e.g., his stunning statement at Fulton, Mo., about "the Iron Curtain" that Joseph Stalin was dropping across Eastern Europe, and the unforgettable, even more crucial speech he made before the expected Nazi invasion of Britain: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." CHARLTON HESTON Beverly Hills, Calif.

Black people came out of the 19th century fleeing the shackles of slavery. They entered the 20th century to face discrimination, stereotyping, more domination and a sense of uncertainty. They go into the 21st century with the mother continent of Africa as turmoil stricken as ever. But blacks have the conviction that the battle must go on. The black is the Person of the Century with a tale of struggle and survival yet to be matched in the course of human history. YAHAYA MAIBE London