Thomas john watson biography

American businessman (–)

For his son, see Thomas J. Watson Jr.

For other people named Thomas Watson, see Thomas Watson (disambiguation).

Thomas John Watson Sr. (February 17, – June 19, ) was an American businessman who was the chairman and CEO of IBM. He oversaw the company's growth into an international force from to Watson developed IBM's management style and corporate culture from John Henry Patterson's training at NCR. He turned the company into a highly effective selling organization, based largely on punched cardtabulating machines.

Watson authorized providing Hitler's Third Reich with data processing solutions and involved IBM in cooperation with Nazi Germany throughout the s and until the end of World War II, profiting from both the German and American war efforts. A leading self-made industrialist, he was one of the richest men of his time when he died in

Early life and career

Thomas J. Watson was born in Campbell, New York, in the state's Southern Tier region, the fifth child and only son of Thomas and Jane Fulton White Watson. His four older siblings were Jennie, Effie, Loua, and Emma. His father farmed and owned a modest lumber business located near Painted Post, a few miles west of Corning. Thomas worked on the family farm in East Campbell and attended the District School Number Five in the late s. As Watson entered his teen years he attended Addison Academy in nearby Addison.

Having given up his first job—teaching—after just one day, Watson too

American businessman and diplomat (–)

For his father, the founder of IBM, see Thomas J. Watson.

For other people named Thomas Watson, see Thomas Watson (disambiguation).

Thomas John Watson Jr. (January 14, – December 31, ) was an American businessman, diplomat, Army Air Forces pilot, and philanthropist. The son of IBM Corporation founder Thomas J. Watson, he was the second IBM president (–71), the 11th national president of the Boy Scouts of America (–68), and the 16th United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (–81). He received many honors during his lifetime, including being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Lyndon B. Johnson in Fortune called him "the greatest capitalist in history" and Time listed him as one of " most influential people of the 20th century".

Early life

Thomas Watson Jr. was born on January 14, , just before his father, Thomas J. Watson, was dismissed from his job at cash register company NCR – an act which subsequently drove Watson Sr., to the foundation of the largest and most profitable digital computer manufacturer in the world, IBM Corporation. Two sisters followed Thomas Jr., Jane and Helen, before a final child, Arthur Kittredge Watson, was born.

Watson Jr. was raised in the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey.

Both sons were immersed in IBM from a very early age. He was taken on plant inspections – his first memory of such a visit (to the Dayton, Ohio factory) was at the age of five – and business tours to Europe and made appearances at annual gatherings for the company's elite sales representatives, the IBM Hundred Per Cent Club, even before he was old enough to attend school.

At home his father's discipline was erratic and often harsh. Around the time he was thirteen, Watson suffered from clinical depression.

Talking to a reporter in , Watson described his relationship with his father; "My father and I h

Thomas John Watson, Sr.

Having begun his career at National Cash Register in Dayton, Ohio (–), where he learned about punch cards and worked his way up to general sales manager. In he became CEO of Computing Tabulating Recording Company, a firm that specialized in selling measurement devices for businesses. In , he changed the name to International Business Machines, a big name for a small company, but he built the company to live up to its name. IBM garnered 20% of the punch-card market by , and in the s began investing in research into computers. He handed over the business to his son, Thomas Watson, Jr., in the early s. Though the computer threatened to cannibalize his core business, Watson's son pursued the computer market and made IBM synonymous with the beginnings of the computer industry.