A Farewell From the Editor

By Jim Kelly

This is my last issue as managing editor of TIME. When I began the job in January 2001, I had no special agenda. I did hope to explore subjects that might not be obvious from the week's headlines but that were critical for our future. In my first few months, we ran covers on aids in Africa, global warming and life along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Then September 11 happened.

We do not get to pick the times we live in; all we can do during times of great tumult is work at making sense of what is happening around us. I have always thought of Time's readers as a community -- a community of citizens who may have their political differences but who are intensely curious and who believe in reporting that is deep and insightful and honest about the subject at hand. Time's mandate is to make sense of the world for its readers, and its trustworthiness is its most valuable asset.

Reading Daniel Okrent's fine collection of his columns for the New York Times, Public Editor #1, I came across this quote from Daniel Patrick Moynihan: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." Time values smart, sharp and divergent opinion, but of paramount importance is that the reader can depend on Time's reporting. You might have disagreed with our interpretation of the facts, but we tried very hard to get the facts right.

I oversaw about 275 covers. Looking at them the other day, I kept being drawn to those that not only captured a historic moment but also sparked a conversation among our readers. Below are links to some of the covers, in chronological order, that have special meaning for me.

In this week's magazine, you will find a masthead listing my wonderful colleagues on both the business and editorial sides of Time. A predecessor of mine once told me that in weeks of great tumult, sometimes the smartest thing a managing editor could do, if he was lucky enough to be surrounded by talented and committed journalists, was to get out of their way.

I got out of their way.

--Jim Kelly

AIDS In Africa (February 12, 2001)

Global Warming (April 9, 2001)

Amexica: The U.S.-Mexico Border (June 11, 2001)

9/11 (September 14, 2001)

One Nation Indivisible (September 24, 2001)

Osama bin Laden (October 1, 2001)

George Harrison (December 10, 2001)

Rudolph Giuliani, Person of the Year (December 31, 2001)

The Catholic Church Dilemma (April 1, 2002)

Autism (May 6, 2002)

The Bombshell Memo (June 3, 2002)

Understanding Anxiety (June 10, 2002)

The Secret History: Nine Moths Before 9/11 (August 12, 2001)

How to Save the Earth (August 26, 2002)

The Whistleblowers, Persons of the Year (December 30, 2002)

Columbia Disaster (February 10, 2003)

Do You Want This War? (March 3, 2003)

Gulf War II (March 31, 2003)

How to Build a Better Democrat (May 19, 2003)

Ahhnold!? (August 18, 2003)

Johnny Cash: 1932-2003 (September 22, 2003)

Mission Not Accomplished (October 6, 2003)

The War Over the Leak (October 13, 2003)

We Got Him (December 22, 2003)

Person of the Year: The American Soldier (December 29, 2003)

What Kind of President Would John Kerry Be? (February 9, 2004)

Iraq: How Did it Come to This? (May 17, 2004)

Ronald Reagan: 1911-2004 (June 14, 2004)

The Struggle Within Islam (September 13, 2004)

The Tragedy of Sudan (October 4, 2004)

George W. Bush, Person of the Year (December 27, 2004)

Tsunami (January 10, 2005)

Pope John Paul II, 1920-2005 (April 11, 2005)

Inside the Wire at Gitmo (June 20, 2005)

An American Tragedy (September 12, 2005)

The Battle Over Gay Teens (October 10, 2005)

The Good Samaritans, Persons of the Year (December 26, 2005)

Global Warming: Be Worried. Be Very Worried. (April 3, 2006)

Haditha (June 12, 2006)

The Death of al-Zarqawi (June 19, 2006)