This the week's issue marks the choice of TIME's 51st Man of the Year--the idividual who, in our editor's judgment, has had the most impact, for good or ill, on the course of events over the past twelve months. We usually keep that selection a secret until our year-end issue goes to press, but there could be litle surprise about 1977's choice. Indeed, the world's press watched as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat helicoptered to the Pyramids on the edge of the desert and joined Photographer David Hume Kennerly to pose for the formal portrait that opens TIME's story. Close to 1,000 newsmen who were camped at the nearby Mena House Hotel to cover the peace talks watched our Man of the Year come and go. "After Sadat's journey to Jerusalem in November, our choice was all but inevitable," says World Editor John Elson, who oversaw the Man of the Year section.

Many staffers contributed to this project. The main story was written by Lance Morrow, who already has to his credit three Man of the Year covers (The Middle Americas, 1969; Kissinger and Nixon, 1972; American Women, 1975). Much of the reporting was done by Cairo Bureau Chief Wilton Wynn, who has known Sadat since 1953. In his 1959 biography of Gamal Abel Nasser, Wynn picked Sadat as "one of the most remarkable members" of Egypt's then emerging leadership. For this week's story, Wynn talked with Sadat, his wife Jihan, and many Egyptians who know Sadat well, including two prominent journalists who were in prison with Sadat during World War II.

Chief of Correspondents Murray Gart joined Wynn for an exclusive interview, in which Sadat revealed for the first time the background of events that led to his memorable decision. The profile of the Egyptian President's personal, private side was written by National Political Correspondent Robert Ajemaian, who spent many hours with Sadat. The story on Egypt's culture and economy was reported by Correspondent William Stewart and written by Gerald Clarke. Two other figures made major writing contributions to the section: Anwar Sadat and Henry Kissinger, Senior World Reporter-Researcher Ursula Nadasdy de Gallo and Susan Reed, who has a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies, researched the Man of the Year Stories.

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