dr. martin luther king, junior. among others on the list, presidents theodore roosevelt and ronald reagan, winston churchill and margaret thatcher, pope john paul ii and israel's first prime minister davidhitler and mao. "time" went on to name the last century's three greatest people. >> the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. >> osgood: runner up for franklin d. roosevelt and muhammad gandhi who led india's campaign against british colonialism. >> it is complete independence that we want. >> ghandi inspired among many others, nelson mandela who praised him in an essay for "time." growth ghandi and i suffered colonial oppression, and both of us mobilized our respected peoples against government, is that violated our freedoms. when it came to choosing the greatest figure of the 20th century, "time" looked beyond politics to choose albert einstein, the scientist who derived the equation e equals mc squared. a choice defended by walter isaacson. >> he said politics is for the moment and equation is for eternity. >> osgood: today nelson mandela finds himself of the greats of the last century. the honor roll for this century is still quite open. >> osgood: up next -- ♪ if you could re