Winston Churchill: 1940, 1949

Said TIME in naming him its Man of the Year for 1940, "Winston Churchill is described as the 'savior of his country.' He best personified the kind of leadership Britain needed during World War II — a larger-than-life figure who pronounced dreams of victory when all seemed lost.

As an English statesman, author and prime minister, it would be his masterful speeches that dominate his legacy. Serving as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1939 to 1940, he offered all of himself in his words 'blood, toil, tears, and sweat.'" He rallied his countrymen in their resolve against the Nazis by saying, "For a thousand years, men will still say: 'This was their finest hour.'

Researched by Joan Levinstein, the Time Inc. Research Center

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