Person of the year

New York – Who but him? After the tragedy of September 11th, Mayor Giuliani, who on December 31st will give the place of first citizen of New York to Michael Bloomberg, has become the most popular man in America and the one who was the symbol of the Big Apple for the whole world. We have seen it everywhere: in hospitals, in operational centers, on the scene of the disaster, by families. It was he who a few hours after the collapse of the towers, standing on the ruins, visibly shaken, announced to New Yorkers: “there will be more victims than we can bear”. And at the same time he asked everyone to stay calm, and not lose hope of finding survivors under the rubble. “A rock,” the New York Post called it, the man who better than anyone else summed up at that moment the pain of the city but also his will to not bow down, not to be put on his knees by terrorism. So who could he be the man of the year of Times? The executive director of the magazine, which has been awarding the prestigious award each year since 1935, confided that Osama bin Laden was among the finalists, because “person of the year” means the one who has most marked events, for better or for worse. But in the end the choice of Bin Laden had seemed inappropriate. And Giuliani triumphed. In fact, no one had expected so much humanity, so much participation, so much sensitivity in a mayor who was not particularly known for these qualities before. Rather because of his inclemency towards tramps, homeless, drunkards and criminals, who had ruthlessly dislodged from Manhattan. The acclaimed principle of “zero tolerance” had an unexpected success, so much so that he had made Giuliani an interlocutor sought by the mayors of other metropolises. The tragedy of the Twin Towers had suddenly brought to the surface his most hidden human sides, his vulnerability, of which the New Yorkers had had some hint only when the mayor announced he was sick, of a prostate cancer, and had spoken of his struggle to survive, announcing that he retired from the electoral competition. Yesterday, in an interview with the BBC, Giuliani said he expected a new terrorist attack on the city. “I expect another attack and I try to understand as far as I can where it will happen, if we are prepared and if we are doing everything, we can deal with it,” said the outgoing mayor.

December 24 2001