In 1927, TIME magazine instituted its annual tradition of "Man of the Year," where it devotes a cover story to the individual (or sometimes, a group, such as "U.S. Scientists" in 1960 or "American Women" in 1985) who had the most influence on events in the world in the prior year. In 1982, it took the controversial step of naming "The Computer" as the Man of the Year and, in 2006, the even more controversial yet arguably wimpy step of designating "You" for that honor, on the theory that almost everyone advanced the Information Age by using the internet.
Actually, the use of the term "honor" in the preceding paragraph may be a little problematic, as a person could have a profound influence on events and win the title while still being a rapscallion (such as Hitler in 1938 and Stalin in 1939).
Since 1999, the official designation of the recipient has been "Person of the Year."
The tradition was instituted originally as a way to mitigate the embarrassment suffered by TIME for its 1927 failure to run a cover story initially on Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic. Establishing "Man of the Year" and then appointing Lindbergh as the first recipient helped compensate for this otherwise sizable PR gaffe.
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