Tamron Hall
Time Persons of the Year 1999-2013
A look at Time magazine's Person of the Year covers from the past decade reveals an eclectic mix that reflects shifting times.
2013: Pope Francis
A look at the Time magazine Person of the Year covers from the past decade reveals an eclectic mix: choices have ranged from presidents to whistleblowers, even "You." This year Pope Francis took the title.
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2012: Barack Obama
President Barack Obama was TIME magazine’s iconic Person of the Year in 2012. “He’s basically the beneficiary and the author of a kind of a New America, a new demographic," TIME managing editor Rick Stengel said.
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2011: The Protester
Symbolizing a worldwide wave of dissent that swept from the Arab Spring to Athens, the Occupy Wall Street movement to anti-autocracy demonstrators in the streets of Moscow, The Protester summarized a year of turmoil.
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2010: Mark Zuckerberg
More than half a billion people on the planet live in a world created by Mark Zuckerberg. The good news is, their friends all live there too. Zuckerberg founded the social networking site Facebook in his college dorm in 2004, but 2010 was the year that Facebook reached critical mass, both in sheer quantity of users and in its presence all over the web.
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2009: Ben Bernanke
After weathering one of the worst financial storms in U.S. history, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, won 2009's title because of his influence on the world's most important economy.
“He was the great scholar of the Depression who saw another depression coming, and did everything he could to stop it,” said Time's managing editor, Richard Stengel.
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2008: Barack Obama
A look at Time magazine's Person of the Year covers over the past decade reveals an eclectic mix reflecting the temper of the times: Choices have ranged from presidents to whistleblowers to "You."
In 2008, Time's editors chose the man who had just won a historic election: Barack Obama.
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2007: Vladimir Putin
In 2007, Time editors chose "the man who tamed Russia," President Vladimir Putin. The issue included an interview with Putin about corruption, religion and the war in Iraq.
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2006: "You"
Time's 2006 Person of the Year was one of its most controversial choices: "You." The computer-screen cover was meant to stress the increasing importance of the World Wide Web and its users, "citizens of the new digital democracy."
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2005: Bill Gates, Bono, Melinda Gates
Three faces made it onto the 2005 Persons of the Year cover: Good Samaritans Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates were cited for their global efforts "to end poverty, disease and indifference."
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2004: George W. Bush
In 2004, American voters returned George W. Bush to the White House for a second term. Time magazine acknowledged the event by returning Bush to Person of the Year status, which he had previously attained in 2000.
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2003: The American Soldier
2003 was the year the U.S. invaded Iraq, and that December, Saddam Hussein was captured. Those events were key in Time's decision to honor the American soldier as the Person of the Year.
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2002: The Whistleblowers
In a year when corporate scandals dominated the headlines, three women made it to the Persons of the Year cover: Cynthia Cooper, who exposed phony bookkeeping at WorldCom; Coleen Rowley, whose office tried to call the FBI's attention to Zacarias Moussaoui, lated indicted as a Sept. 11 co-conspirator; and Sherron Watkins, who warned of improper accounting at Enron.
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2001: Rudy Giuliani
As the mayor of New York City during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack that changed America forever, Rudy Guiliani stood tall as an inspirational leader. Time called him “America’s homeland security boss” and a “gutsy decision-maker.”
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2000: George W. Bush
The election that made “pregnant chads” and “recount” part of Americans’ household conversations ended bitterly, with George W. Bush winning the presidency without the popular vote. With his promise to unite the country as the 43rd president, Bush also won the title of Time's Person of the Year.
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1999: Jeff Bezos
It’s easy to forget that there was life before online shopping. At the end of the millennium, it was Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, who ushered in the future of retail. Time selected him Person of the Year in 1999, and at 35, he was the fourth-youngest to ever receive the honor.
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