NOMINEE: Winston Churchill
NOMINATED BY: Benjamin Netanyahu, former Prime Minister of Israel
It is one of the 20th century's ironies that the most poignant tribute to Winston Churchill came from one of the most repugnant tyrants of our time. Toasting the British leader at Yalta in February 1945, Joseph Stalin said, "I can think of no other instance in history where the future of the world depended on the courage of one man." Without that one man, whose abhorrence of tyranny was matched by his contempt for its appeasers, the second half of the century would have become a Nazi-dominated nightmare. That the world witnessed instead the triumph of democracy, the defeat of totalitarianism (including the downfall of Stalin's own empire) and the emergence of new nations--not least the rebirth of Israel--must be attributed to Churchill's indomitable leadership and prophetic vision. -- Benjamin Netanyahu
Read the TIME 100 profile of Winston Churchill
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