TIME'S choice for Man of the Year has, as a rule, been a well-known, easily recognizable, sometimes symbolic figure. Charles Lindbergh was our first choice 46 years ago; since then, villains and heroes, from Hitler to Martin Luther King Jr., have been singled out for dominating the news of the year and for leaving an indelible mark -- for good or for ill -- on history.

The man on this week's cover was largely unknown outside Washington, D.C., legal circles until last January, when the "Watergate Seven" defendants appeared in his courtroom. Says Senior Editor Jason McManus, who has edited most of this year's Nation stories dealing with Watergate: "By putting pressure on the defendants in that trial to tell the truth, Judge Sirica set in motion the tumultuous events of the year. His determination had vast implications for the country and the presidency, and a much needed and vital impact on the legal profession."

Correspondent David Beckwith, a member of our Washington Bureau since 1972, did the major reporting for the story. One of a handful of Washington-based journalists with a law degree, Beckwith regularly covers the Supreme Court and the Justice Department for TIME. The assignment led him to Sirica's courtroom a year ago, and from there to a close association with the judge. "Sirica has always been accessible to newsmen," Beckwith says, "but he has a highly developed sense of decorum, and is well respected by the press for his discretion." Beckwith spent hours with the judge: in his chambers, in his car and in his den at home. Says Beckwith, who graduated from the University of Texas Law School in 1971, "My legal background helped me to appreciate the technical complexity of the issues handled by Judge Sirica through the year."

For Associate Editor Ed Magnuson, this week's is his 15th cover story dealing with Watergate."By now," he says, "I'm addicted." Nation Picture Researcher Alice Rose George assembled photos of the cast of 43 characters that accompanies the story, and Reporter-Researcher Robert Goldstein, who has also been working on Watergate all year, interviewed a number of prominent lawyers and historians. He, along with several other TIME editors and correspondents, met the judge at a dinner in Washington not long ago. By this time, Sirica had been told he was being considered for Man of the Year. "If this is in recognition of the nation's judiciary," he told the group, "then it's an honor for all of us."

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