Person of the Year 2007

No one knew better than the former Secretary-General of the U.N. how brutal presidential campaigns can be. In 1986, four years after Waldheim's U.N. stint, the onetime German-army lieutenant made a bid to lead his native Austria, and the press released documents indicating that he had, contrary to his claims, been aware of and perhaps involved in war crimes, including the deportation of Jews to death camps during World War II. Waldheim, for decades the charming, erudite diplomat, denied knowledge of the atrocities, then said he was protecting his family, then insisted the heart of the scandal was a conspiracy to defame Austria. He garnered sympathy at first and won the presidency. But in 1987 he became the first leader of a friendly nation to be barred from entering the U.S., and later he faded from the world stage a pariah.