A Celebration in TIME

By BRUCE HALLETT/PRESIDENT

How better to mark TIME's 75th Anniversary than by celebrating the leaders who have shaped this century and whose legacies will help shape the next? At a party last week in New York City, we asked some of TIME's cover subjects to talk about the people who had most influenced them. These speakers included President Clinton, author Toni Morrison, director Steven Spielberg, actress Mary Tyler Moore, statesman Mikhail Gorbachev, scientist James Watson and entrepreneur Bill Gates. Other notables toasted their heroes, including some of the 84 cover subjects who attended (for a list, see page 20). It was a fascinating convergence of extraordinary people. "President Clinton and I have been trying to meet each other," noted Gorbachev. "It never worked out. TIME magazine made it possible." We were happy to oblige.