I want to revisit this gem from 2006...
"On January 2, 1939, Time Magazine published its annual Man of the Year issue. For the year 1938, Time had chosen Adolf Hitler as the man who "for better or worse" (as Time founder Henry Luce expressed it) had most influenced events of the preceding year. The cover picture featured Hitler playing "his hymn of hate in a desecrated cathedral while victims dangle on a St. Catherine's wheel and the Nazi hierarchy looks on." This picture was drawn by Baron Rudolph Charles von Ripper, a German Catholic who had fled Hitler's Germany."
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http://www.scrapbookpages.com/DachauMemorial/TimeCover.html
Read the link, there is the exact text of the article from the article published on January 2nd, 1939. Hitler was already known as a threat and dangerous man at that time. He wasn't selected as "Man of the Year" for good reasons. he was chosen because his existence altered the global landscape incredibly during the year of 1938.