A Letter From The Publisher: Jan. 2, 1961

TIME's editors have been choosing a Man of the Year—the man whose imprint was most prominent in the year's events—ever since 1927, when the first choice was Charles A. Lindbergh. At times, the Man of the Year has been a symbolic figure (the American fighting man in Korea, 1950; the Hungarian Freedom Fighter, 1956), a woman (Queen Elizabeth, 1952), or even a couple (Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kaishek, 1937). This year tradition takes a new twist: for the first time, the cover belongs to the Men of the Year—15 brilliant Americans, exemplars of...

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