Time magazine has depicted US President-elect Joe Biden and his Vice-president, Kamala Harris, as the two made history on November 7 when they beat Donald Trump in a bitter election that put him in a small club of presidents who served only one term.
Harris on that day became the country's first female, first Black, and first South Asian vice president-elect.
"For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of pision, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME's 2020 Person of the Year," wrote Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal.
Time magazine's tradition of singling out an especially influential person started in 1927, launching as Man of the Year.
The name was later changed to Person of the Year, which is bestowed on an inpidual, a group, a movement, or an idea that had the most influence in the past year.
In 2006, Time named "You" as Person of the Year to recognize the millions of people who contribute to the content on the internet.
Not everyone who made the cut wielded positive influence. Adolf Hitler, for example, was Man of the Year in 1938. In 2019, Time picked young climate activist, Greta Thunberg.
The shortlist unveiled earlier Thursday was a clear reflection of the year's most dramatic events. Biden, Trump, Frontline Health Care Workers, and Dr. Fauci, and the Movement for Racial Justice were all major characters in a tumultuous year that included a deadly pandemic, social unrest over racial injustices, and a contentious election.
NBA star LeBron James was named Athlete of the Year and Korean pop group BTS was Entertainer of the Year, both of which were revealed on NBC's "Today" show Thursday morning.
The Person of the Year was introduced in a special prime time broadcast on the network, marking the first time that NBC has partnered with the magazine's Emmy-winning Time Studios on coverage of this scale for Person of the Year.
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