Time after time

In 2022, the more things change the more they remain the same

- Bijoy Venugopal 

IN 1927, TIME MAGAZINE I initiated the tradition of announcing a 'Man Of The Year'. Men, predominantly white and from the First World, have dominated the cover ever since. Over the years, the list has starred newsmakers of all stripes, not without the exception of some notorious dramatis personae, including Adolf Hitler, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Josef Stalin and Richard Nixon were featured twice. To its credit, the magazine never said it was about a few good men.

Time's editors first picked a woman for the decoration in 1936, motivated more by the scandal surrounding her than for her achievements. Twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson was chosen because her marriage to King Edward VIII led to a constitutional crisis in Great Britain that ended with his abdication. In 1992, famously known as the 'Year of The Woman' for a record number of female lawmakers elected to the US Senate, Time deepened the irony by splashing newly elected President Bill Clinton on the cover.

The next time the president was featured, he had just been acquitted after the Lewinsky scandal, so he shared the honour with Ken Starr, the lawyer who had led impeachment proceedings against him.