2000s
2006: You
Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world.

2005: Bono, Melinda and Bill Gates
For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow

2004: George W. Bush
For reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon style

2003: The American Soldier
The face of America, its might and good will, in a region unused to democracy

2002: The Whistleblowers
Women who blew the whistle on Worldcom, Enron and the FBI

2001: Rudolph Giuliani
New York mayor leads with his heart after 9/11 attacks

2000: George W. Bush
41's son elected President in the most controversial fashion

1990s
1999: Jeff Bezos
Amazon.com founder changed face of business

1998: Bill Clinton/Kenneth Starr
President, independent counselor waged public battle

1997: Andy Grove
Intel CEO helps led digital revolution

1996: David Ho
AIDS researcher pioneered treatment for deadly disease

1995: Newt Gingrich
Speaker of the House spearheaded G.O.P.'s sweeping congressional victory

1994: John Paul II
Pope traveled the globe to express his conservative views

1993: The Peacemakers
Mandela, De Klerk, Rabin and Arafat found ways to break out from prisons of war

1992: Bill Clinton
Wonder boy from Hope, Ark., broke 12 years of G.O.P. control of White House

1991: Ted Turner
His Cable News Network revolutionized news coverage

1990: George Bush
President acted decisively abroad; waffles at home

1980s
1989: Mikhail Gorbachev
"Man of the Decade" became patron of change

1988: The Endangered Earth
Jumpstarted a new era of environmental activism

1987: Mikhail Gorbachev
Shattered Soviet lethargy

1986: Corazon Aquino
Led peaceful revolution that ended Marcos years in Philippines

1985: Deng Xiaoping
Reshaped China by embracing free-market reforms

1984: Peter Ueberroth
Married Big Business to the Olympics with profitable L.A. Games

1983: Ronald Reagan/Yuri Andropov
Deadlock failed to de-escalate cold war missile race

1982: The Computer
TIME anticipated a revolution

1981: Lech Walesa
Solidarity leader struck first blows against Kremlin's empire

1980: Ronald Reagan
Americas leaned right, and The Great Communicator was born

1970s
1979: Ayatullah Khomeini
Rarely has so improbable a leader shaken the world

1978: Teng Hsiao-p'ing
Brought stability to China, long racked by extremism

1977: Anwar Sadat
Dared greatly with surprise peace gambit and trip to Israel

1976: Jimmy Carter
Played outsider status into successful run for White House

1975: U.S. Women
Refusing to play second-fiddle, women asserted their equality

1974: King Faisal
Saudi led OPEC price hikes that roiled world markets

1973: Judge Sirica
Broke Watergate open by pursuing truth in the White House

1972: Nixon/Kissinger
Master diplomats talked detente with U.S.S.R., visited Mao

1971: Richard Nixon
Opened China's door, devalued dollar, quelled antiwar protest

1970: Willy Brandt
West German tried to bring about enlarged, united Western Europe

1960s
1969: Middle Class
Their silent but newly felt presence began to shape course of nation

1968: U.S. Astronauts
Led the way as race to moon enters final lap

1967: Lyndon Johnson
Vietnam turned him from architect of social reform into embattled leader

1966: Young People
They shook up society, trusted no one over 30

1965: Gen. William Westmoreland
Oversaw struggling U.S. grunts in Vietnam

1964: Lyndon Johnson
President began to forge his Great Society

1963: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Led civil rights cause by arming troops with dreams and oratory

1962: Pope John XXIII
Opened the windows of his age-old Church, sparks revolution

1961: John F. Kennedy
Won battle for White House against Richard Nixon in squeaker

1960: U.S. Scientists
Scored inpressive gains while struggling to keep pace with Soviets

1950s
1959: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Rallied NATO allies by facing up to high-flying Khrushchev

1958: Charles De Gaulle
Crisis in Algeria brought WWII hero back to power in France

1957: Nikita Khrushchev
Scored an immense propaganda victory over U.S. with launch of Sputnik

1956: Hungarian Patriot
Launched first revolt behind Soviet's "Iron Curtain"

1955: Harlow H. Curtice
Helped steer U.S. into new age of wide-open affluence

1954: John Foster Dulles
Secretary of State brought "brinksmanship" to cold war lexicon

1953: Konrad Adenauer
Forced war-shattered West Germany to face the future

1952: Queen Elizabeth II
Her coronation ushered in a new era for Britain

1951: Mohammed Mossadegh
Rallied short-lived anti-Western government in Iran

1950: G.I. Joe
Marched into history as cold war heats up in Korea

1940s
1949: Winston Churchill
Named Man of the Half-Century

1948: Harry S. Truman
"Gave 'em hell" with stunning victory over Tom Dewey

1947: George Marshall
Secretary of State oversaw visionary Marshall Plan

1946: James F. Byrnes
First Secretary of State to face the cold war

1945: Harry Truman
Answered critics and proved his mettle

1944: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Rolled back Germans after leading Allies into France

1943: Gen. George Marshall
Oversaw vast war effort on two fronts

1942: Joseph Stalin
The U.S.'s new ally in war against Hitler

1941: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Faced two potent foes after preparing reluctant U.S. for battle

1940: Winston Churchill
Britain stood firm against Hitler, who conquered five nations

1930s
1939: Joseph Stalin
Paved the way for Hitler's war by signing secret pact with old enemy

1938: Adolf Hitler
His figure strode over Europe with all the swagger of a conqueror

1937: Gen. and Mme. Chang Kai-Shek
Japan's invasion of China imperiled them as "Man and Woman of the Year"

1936: Wallis Simpson
Shook the British crown with her new husband, once King Edward VIII

1935: Haile Selassie
Ethiopia's king fought an incursion by Italy's strongman, Mussolini

1934: Franklin D. Roosevelt
The President battles the Depression

1933: Hugh Johnson
National Recovery Administrator works tirelessly to revive America's economy

1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Takes over as President for nation facing economic calamity

1931: Pierre Laval
His energy and vision restored France to the center of world events

1930: Mohandas Gandhi
The pacifist mobilizes India to pursue its independence

1920s
1929: Owen Young
U.S. businessman chaired second post-war Reparations Conference

1928: Walter Chrysler
Rocked Detroit by buying Dodge and unveiling a new line, Plymouth

1927: Charles Lindbergh
His solo New York-Paris flight made him a legend

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