Time Magazine Debuts… March 3, 1923

Time Magazine was published for the first time on March 3, 1923, featuring retired Speaker of the House, Joseph G. Cannon on the front cover. Created by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, Time was the first weekly news magazine in the United States. The magazine was originally going to be called ‘Facts’, but the owners wanted to emphasize a measure of ‘brevity’, making the magazine both fun and important. Their theory was that ‘A busy man should be able to read it in an hour’. On February 28, 1938, to commemorate the magazine's 15th anniversary, a reprint of Issue No. 1 including all of the original articles and advertisements, was included with the week’s issue. In 2009, the magazine sold 3.4 million copies. There has been a slight decline in readership, most likely due to online applications but in 2010 Time was still selling roughly 79,000 copies of its printed version per week.