Every year in December, Time Magazine announces who they have declared the Person of the Year. According to Time, this title goes to the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year. In light of this criteria, Time has had some controversial picks to say the least.
In 2023, Person of the Year was Taylor Swift. As I am sure no one can forget, Swift started her iconic “Eras Tour,” released two albums and broke record after record. In my mind, she embodies Person of the Year in the most positive way. She is an ultra-famous superstar followed by superfluous controversy and news outlets that are addicted to running stories about her.
Like I said, though, not all of the Person of the Year picks have been awesome, perfect blonde women who sing poetry. In fact, some of the most memorable picks are people who I believe should not be celebrated at all.
The Person of the Year of 1938 was none other than Adolf Hitler. The following year it was Joseph Stalin, who was named again in 1942, and even Vladimir Putin was named in 2007. These people are indisputably awful; why would they be named Person of the Year? But I admit, readers have to consider the criteria from an editorial point of view rather than an emotional one.
All of these men are big names in classic real-world “bad guys.” Hitler, Stalin and Putin, should not be celebrated for anything they did to earn their place as Person of the Year, but they objectively were the biggest names in news those years. They were constantly being reported on for the things they were doing, not unlike Swift was in 2023.
I have been known to call the Time’s Person of the Year “my Roman Empire,” because it is something I think about a lot — specifically the controversial picks, like Hitler and Stalin. Time also loves to nominate former or current presidents for Person of the Year.
Richard Nixon was named twice, first in 1971 and then again in 1972 alongside Henry Kissinger. Nixon had a famously crazy run as president. In 1971 he was trying to combat increasing inflation, as Republicans do, and he ended up freezing wages and prices and ended dollar convertibility. This was called the Nixon Shock. He was also the first president to open a dialogue with China. His bestie (national security assistant) Kissinger was also involved in his foreign policy; however, Nixon is best known for his involvement in Watergate.
OK, history lesson over. One of the more recent Presidental Person of the Year recipients was Donald Trump in 2016. Editorially, this makes so much sense. In 2016, Trump was making the transition from businessman to presidential candidate and then shockingly to president-elect. Trump is probably one of the most controversial American politicians to ever exist; he continues to push the limits of free speech, and I believe that public opinion of him is more divided than that of any other president.
2016 was the year that I started investigating the history of Time’s Person of the Year. Starting in 1927, Time had a “Man of the Year” award, and it was not until 1998 that they made the official switch to Person of the Year. However, within those 70 years, they had multiple Women of the Year, a Machine of the Year and a Planet of the Year.
My personal favorite Person of the Year has got to be Swift. Not only is she an amazing artist, but she is, notably, the only entertainer to be given this title. When Time listed her accomplishments in bullet point format, it filled two pages. Swift is so spectacular, and if you have not yet read the 2023 Time Person of the Year profile on her, I would highly encourage you to do so.
