Clinton Selected by Time as Its 1992 ‘Man of the Year’

President-elect Bill Clinton, stepping into office at what Time calls a “radically unstable moment in history,” is the magazine’s “Man of the Year” for 1992.

In an interview accompanying the cover story in Time’s Jan. 4 issue, Clinton cites global instability as one of his three main concerns as he prepares to take over the White House.

“We are seeing the flip side of the wonder of the end of the Cold War,” he said.

Clinton also said he hopes to avoid being “bogged down” in trying to fulfill the expectations voters hold for his Administration. And he said he hopes his daughter, Chelsea, can continue to lead a normal life after she moves into the White House.

The President-elect is the 66th recipient of Time’s annual accolade. The award was first presented to aviator Charles A. Lindbergh in 1927. Last year’s winner was CNN founder Ted Turner.

The award is given to the man or woman the magazine selects as having had the greatest impact on world events.

Time said of Clinton:

“The election has made the Arkansan the most powerful man in the world--and therefore the most important--at a radically unstable moment in history, with the Cold War ended, the world economy in trouble, and dangerous, heavily armed nationalisms rising around the globe.”

Clinton’s election positions him “to preside over one of . . . those moments when Americans dig out of their deepest problems by reimagining themselves.”

The magazine said Clinton’s wife, Hillary, joined him for its interview, and the President-elect “left no doubt that theirs would be a political partnership without precedent in U.S. history.”

Hillary Clinton was named one of several women of the year by Newsweek.