President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris have both been named Time’s “Person of the Year” or, in this case, “People.” This is the first time that an incoming vice president has been named a Person of the Year.
What We Know:
- This years’ Time Magazine Person of the Year is President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris. The duo defeated Donald Trump and Mike Pence in the November election, and in doing so, Harris is set to become the first female, first Black, and the first Indian-American vice president. Biden, the Pennsylvania born US Senator, served as vice president under President Barack Obama.
- The Person of the Year is traditionally not an award, but a marker of the most significant historical figure as decided by TIME’s editors. Last year’s Person of the Year was Greta Thunberg, the teen climate activist from Sweden. Selecting a president-elect for Person of the Year is a nearly nine-decade-old tradition at the magazine. The first president-elect named Person of the Year (then “Man of the Year”) was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1932, for his New Deal plan to bring America out of the Great Depression.
- The issue released on December 21st will feature the team on the cover. Selected over other finalists, including Trump, other individuals included racial justice figures, frontline health workers, and Dr. Anthony Fauci. The Editor-in-Chief, Edward Felsenthal, stated, “Biden and Harris were recognized “for changing the American story” and “for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division.”
- According to PBS, every elected president has been named Person of the Year at some point during their term. Still, this year added the vice president to the honor because of their incredibly historic win, stated Felsenthal in a package introducing the winners.
- In an interview with Time Magazine, Biden spoke on the mortality of the country. “I’m convinced the American public is looking for the possibilities that are available out there,” Biden said. “They know we’re so much better than this. When I ran, I said, ‘This is about who we are as a nation, who we’re going to be, what we want to be.’ And the American people stepped up.”
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are both honored to be selected, and we will see what these next fours will bring for them and our country itself.