Why Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Won Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2009

Against contenders such as perpetual award-winner President Barack Obama and Apple Founder Steve Jobs, why did Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke win the title of Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2009?

In 1927, Time magazine began the tradition of choosing a person of the year. The criteria to be chosen as person of the year is most simply stated as the person that most affected our lives over the course of the year.

In some cases, that 'person' has been a thing such as 1982 winner "The Computer" or a group of people such as 1975 winner "American Women". Even "You" have won the title. The 2006 award went to You ". . . for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game. . ."

For the 2009 selection, names such as President Barack Obama, Steven Jobs, Senator Olympia Snowe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Usain Bolt and General Stanley McChrystal were under consideration. Other candidates included Iran Protestors and Somali Pirates.

Though Time's online poll showed the public selecting Iran Protestors in first place with a whopping 573,561 votes followed by Barack Obama with 111,848 votes, the judges chose otherwise. In 6^th place with only 63,250 of the poll vote, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was chosen by the judges for reasons the announcement article's sub heading sums up best: "The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker. Thank the man who runs the Federal Reserve, our mild-mannered economic overlord."

Throughout the year, Ben Bernanke was making headlines personally and professionally. One such example comes from August 2009. The Wall Street Journal reported on his reappointment by President Barack Obama August 25. The next day, Fox News reported the chairman had been one of hundreds of victims of an ID theft ring. Personally and professionally, the man was in the news constantly in relation to hundreds of articles about the economy.

In 2009, one of the biggest and most widely covered stories of the year was the economy of the United States - an economy that affects the entire globe. Ben Bernanke's role as Federal Reserve Chairman made his win of "Person of the Year" the most logical choice.

However, the man is more than a headline-maker and Federal Reserve chairman. He is also an author. He wrote "Inflation Targeting: lessons from the international experience" (1999) and "Essays on the great depression" (2000). His bio with the Federal Reserve website reveals that he has served in other roles with the Federal Reserve, was a professor at Princeton University and an associate professor at Stanford University.

The prior two years have also seen winners for the Person of the Year title selected from the political news sphere: Barack Obama (2008) and Vladimir Putin (2007).

Resources:

Who Will Be Person of the Year 2009? Time.

Person of the Year 2009. Time. December 16, 2009.

Time's Person of the Year: You. Lev Grossman. December 13, 2006.

Ben S. Bernanke. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: Board Members. Federal Reserve website. Last Update December 7, 2009.