Who Should Be the Person of the Century?

TIME's continuing series of special issues naming the 100 most influential people of the 20th century will culminate in December, when the magazine names a single figure as the Person of the Century. To help TIME's editors decide, we are asking a select group of people to tell us whom they would choose. Here is a first sampler of thought-provoking suggestions.

ADOLF HITLER It would be awful to see his face on TIME's last cover of the millennium, but I must conclude, with the greatest sadness and reluctance, that the person who had the most profound impact on the events of the 20th century was also the century's most evil person: Adolf Hitler. The century was filled with inspirational leaders who advanced its most powerful idea, freedom of the individual--people like the two Roosevelts, Churchill, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. But the poison unleashed by Hitler and his terrible contemporary Joseph Stalin survives. Not only must we still mourn, at century's end, the tens of millions who died as a result of their actions, but we can still see in many parts of the world, from Kosovo to Rwanda, murderous echoes of Hitler's theories and policies, promoted through methods of mass communication and propaganda invented by Joseph Goebbels. The essence of Hitlerism--racism, ethnic hatred, extreme nationalism, state-organized murder--is still alive, still causing millions of deaths. Freedom is the century's most powerful idea, but the struggle is far from over. --Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador-designate to the United Nations

BORN April 20, 1889, in Braunau, Austria 1933 Becomes Nazi dictator of Germany, proposes "Final Solution" to "the Jewish problem" 1939 Starts World War II 1945 Kills himself

MOHANDAS GANDHI is my choice for Person of the Century because he showed us a way out of the destructive side of our human nature. He demonstrated that we can force change and justice through moral acts of aggression instead of physical acts of aggression. Never has our species needed this wisdom more. --Steve Jobs, co-founder, Apple Computer Inc.

BORN Oct. 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India 1915-20 Begins his struggle for India's independence 1947 Helps end 190 years of British colonial rule in India 1948 Assassinated by a fanatic opposed to his tolerance of other religions

AND SOME OTHER INTRIGUING POSSIBILITIES

The young Chinese man who faced down a long row of tanks near Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989, personifies man's struggle for freedom in a direct and personal way. This unknown rebel is a symbol of the world's desire for freedom. Margret Hofmann Austin, Texas

TIME once named the computer as the Machine of the Year [Jan. 3, 1983]. Why not a Machine of the Century? The automobile or the airplane would qualify, having revolutionized transportation over the past 100 years. Karl Lintner Rambouillet, France

The most important person of the 20th century was Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, who sacrificed his life for the creation of a new nation. Iftikhar H. Sabir As, Norway