Ben Bernanke
No, it's not man of the year, Tiger Woods, and although Obama would have been another choice, Ben Bernanke is Time's Person of the Year 2009. Stanley McChrystal and Nancy Pelosi were runners'-up. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, was named Time magazine's 2009 Person of the Year on Wednesday, December 16th.
Bernanke, 56, a former Princeton University professor, helped shape the U.S. economy. "The recession was the story of the year. Without Ben Bernanke ... it would have been a lot worse," Time managing editor Richard Stengel said.
Time Magazine says of Bernanke, "He's shy. He doesn't do the D.C. dinner-party circuit; he prefers to eat at home with his wife, who still makes him do the dishes and take out the trash. Then they do crosswords or read. Because Ben Bernanke is a nerd."
Last year's Person of the Year was Barack Obama. The 2007 winner was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Starting with Charles Lindbergh in 1927, past winners have been Bono, Bill Gates, and Melinda Gates, Rudolph Giuliani, presidents, humanitarians, rebels and communists.
Surprisingly, Adolf Hitler won the Person of the Year Award in 1938, and Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin won twice, once in 1939, and again in 1942.
George W. Bush and Winston Churchill each won Man of the Year twice, as did Harry S. Truman, George Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.
American Women won the award in 1975, and was represented by Susan Brownmiller, Kathleen Byerly, Alison Cheek, Jill Conway, Betty Ford, Ella Grasso, Carla Hills, Barbara Jordan, Billie Jean King, Carol Sutton, Susie Sharp, and Addie Wyatt.
"The Computer" won Machine of the Year in 1982, and was the first non-human chosen for abstract choice.
Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a man, woman, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year."
Sources: Reuters Limited; usatoday.com; wikipedia
Photo Credit: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at The Economic Club of Washington, Monday, Dec. 7, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Comments
did get the 2008 award and it was previously called Man of the Year, but that does not go to people in sports
It seems odd that the "Man of the Year" that "saved" our economy was the same person that was ruining it for the previous 4 years. It also seems odd that the editor of the year in pictures didn't find out about the millions of people marching in the streets (including 1-2 million at a single march in Washington) protesting the Marxist takeover of the United States. But the thing that I find the most odd is how these rags stay in business.
Ben Bernanke as "Man of the Year?" Now I'm certain the world has gone insane.
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