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Thomas John Watson

Thomas Watson, pictured in 1917
Born February 17, 1874 (1874-02-17)
Campbell, New York, U.S.
Died June 19, 1956
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation Business
Spouse Jeanette M. Events 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt. 1600 - Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive at Campo de' Fiori Year 1874 ( MDCCCLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Campbell is a Town in Steuben County, New York, United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 1179 - The Norwegian Battle of Kalvskinnet outside Nidaros. Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The City of New York New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A business (also called firm or an enterprise) is a legally recognized organizational entity designed to provide goods and/or services to Kittredge (m. April 17, 1913)
Children Thomas J. Watson, Jr.
Jane Watson
Helen Watson
Arthur K. Events 69 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor. Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Thomas John Watson Jr ( January 14 1914 &ndash December 31 1993) was the president of IBM from 1952 to 1971 and the eldest son of Watson
Parents George Marshall Watson and Mary Keller Watson

Thomas John Watson, Sr. (February 17, 1874 – June 19, 1956) was the American president of International Business Machines (IBM), who oversaw that company's growth into an international force from the 1920s to the 1950s. Events 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt. 1600 - Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive at Campo de' Fiori Year 1874 ( MDCCCLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1179 - The Norwegian Battle of Kalvskinnet outside Nidaros. Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology Watson developed IBM's effective management style and turned it into one of the most effective selling organizations yet seen, based largely around punched card tabulating machines. See also Unit record equipment The tabulating machine was a machine designed to assist in Tabulations. A leading self-made industrialist,[1] he was one of the richest men of his time and was called the world's greatest salesman when he died in 1956.

Contents

Early life and career

Born on February 17, 1874, he was very much the country boy. Events 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt. 1600 - Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive at Campo de' Fiori Year 1874 ( MDCCCLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common His father owned a modest lumber business located in Painted Post, 20 miles west of Elmira in northwestern New York State. Painted Post is a Village in Steuben County, New York, United States. He himself as a child was something of a loner. An asthmatic, he was remembered as being shy at social gatherings.

Having given up his first job — teaching — after just one day, he took a year's course in accounting and business at the local Miller School of Commerce; finishing in May 1892. His second job as a $6 a week bookkeeper was almost as brief as his first, giving way to a career as a peddler. He joined a traveling salesman, George Cornwell, peddling organs and pianos around the farms, for the local hardware store (William Bronsons). When Cornwell left, he continued alone, earning the sum of $10 per week. It was only after two years of this life that he realized he would be earning $70 per week if he were on a commission. The impact of his indignation on making this discovery was such that he upped stakes and moved from his familiar surroundings to the relative metropolis of Buffalo. Buffalo (ˈbʌfəloʊ is the second largest city in New York State.

Watson then spent a very brief period selling sewing machines for Wheeler and Wilcox. According to Tom Watson Jr. , in his autobiography, "One day my dad went into a roadside saloon to celebrate a sale and had too much to drink. When the bar closed, he found that his entire rig — horse, buggy, and samples — had been stolen. Wheeler and Wilcox fired him and dunned him for the lost property. Word got around, of course, and it took Dad more than a year to find another steady job. " As Tom Jr. went on to say "This anecdote never made it into IBM lore, which is too bad, because it would have helped explain Father to the tens of thousands of people who had to follow his rules. "

In the meantime, Watson once more set out on the road selling. In this case, his partner was C B Barron, a showman renowned for his disreputable conduct; which Watson, as a lifelong Methodist, deplored. Methodism is a movement within Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations Jointly they peddled shares of the Buffalo Building and Loan. They were soon very successful, and with his proceeds Watson set up a butchers shop as an investment. Unfortunately, true to form, Barron absconded with the commission and the loan funds, leaving Watson with no money, no investment (he lost the shop as a result), and no job. Thus for the second, but not the last time, he was fired. [1]

NCR

Watson had a newly-acquired NCR cash register in his butcher shop, for which he had to arrange new repayments. NCR Corporation ( is a technology company specializing in products for the retail and financial sectors On visiting NCR, he was determined to join the company, and, after a number of abortive attempts, he finally succeeded. Led by John Patterson, NCR was then one of the leading selling organizations, and John J. John Henry Patterson ( December_13, 1844- May_7, 1922 was an industrialist and founder of the National Cash Register Company. Range, its Buffalo branch manager, became almost a father figure for Watson and was a model for his sales and management style. Certainly in later years, in a 1952 interview, he claimed he learned more from Range than anyone else. But at first, he was a poor salesman, until Range took him personally in hand. Then he became the most successful salesman in the East, earning $100 per week. In 1899, at the age of 25, Watson was rewarded with the NCR agency for Rochester, one of NCR's smaller branches. As an agent, he got 35% commission. As a result of these techniques, which largely revolved around knocking the main competitor (Hallwood), in four years Watson made Rochester effectively an NCR monopoly. As a reward he was called to the NCR head office in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.. Dayton is a city in southwestern Ohio, United States. It is the County seat and largest city of Montgomery County. Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads The United States of America —commonly referred to as the [1]

Antitrust affair

Watson's role in the scheme of things then was to knock out the competition in the used cash register market. It was made less legal by the chosen means. Using funds allegedly supplied by NCR, he set up what was ostensibly a completely independent organization, Watson's Cash Register and Second Hand Exchange, in Manhattan. Undercutting the competition, for he had no need to make a profit (having effectively limitless funds from NCR), he gradually monopolized the business; until he was able to buy out the competitors, which he promptly did. He then moved on to Philadelphia and after that progressed across the country, repeating the operation and covertly establishing another near monopoly for NCR, in the second-hand business, to match that already established in the new machine market.

In 1908, when the second-hand business was merged into the regular sales offices, Watson became assistant sales manager; moving up to become sales manager in 1910 with a further role — working along with NCR's engineers — in new product development.

In terms of the questionable second-hand business, Watson later claimed that he didn't appreciate the implications of what he was doing, and indeed it is quite possible that he was so immersed in the work that he failed to understand the full depth of Patterson's machinations. Nevertheless, it was a clear, indeed blatant, breach of the anti‑trust legislation; though until that time such legislation had, in the spirit of the age, been more honored in the breach rather than by adherence. Perhaps he was unlucky, but along with 30 other NCR managers (including Patterson) on February 22, 1912 he was indicted in an anti‑trust suit instigated by managers previously. Events 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting

In the six months before his trial, he met his wife to be, Jeanette Kittredge. He married her just two weeks after the trial finished on February 13, 1913; he having been found guilty and sentenced to a $5,000 fine plus a year in Miami County jail. Events 1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The jail sentence was unexpected, previously only fines had been imposed; and the sentence was appealed. [1] Charges against Patterson were eventually dismissed because of his efforts to manage the Great Dayton Flood of 1913. The Great Dayton Flood of 1913 flooded Dayton Ohio, and the surrounding area with water from the Great Miami River, causing the greatest natural disaster in

Head of IBM

Watson joined the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) on May 1, 1914. The Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR was incorporated on June 15 1911 in Endicott New York a few miles west of Binghamton Events 305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor. Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year When Watson took over as general manager, the company had fewer than 400 employees. In 1924, he renamed the company International Business Machines. International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology Watson built IBM into such a powerful force that the federal government filed a civil antitrust suit against them in 1952. IBM owned and leased more than 90 percent of all tabulating machines in the United States at the time.

Throughout his life, Watson maintained a deep interest in international relations. He was known as President Roosevelt's un-official Ambassador in NY and often entertained foreign statesman. In 1937, he was elected president of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and at that year's biennial congress in Berlin stated the conference keynote to be World Peace Through World Trade. The International Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit private international organization that works to promote and support global trade and Globalization. [2] That phrase became the slogan of both the ICC and IBM. [3] He was one of the most prominent businessmen in the Democratic Party. Watson served as a trustee of Columbia University, where he engineered the selection of Dwight D. Eisenhower as president. Columbia University is a private University in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general

Watson personally approved and spearheaded IBM's strategic technological relationship with the Third Reich. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers [4] In this relationship, IBM helped make Nazi Germany more efficient; as it did its enemies England, Soviet Russia, and the United States of America, where IBM did substantial business as well. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German In 1937, Watson received the Eagle with Star medal from Germany for the help that IBM subsidiary Dehomag (Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH) and its punchcard machines provided the Nazi regime for tabulating census data. Dehomag was a German business effectively a franchisee and subcompany of IBM.

After the outbreak of The Second World War, Watson returned the medal, and the German government tried to take ownership of the Dehomag operation, but it in fact, the Third Reich was unable to make the punch cards in Germany and so unable to execute the Holocaust without the support of the NY office of IBM. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as [5]

In the same time, IBM became more deeply involved in the war effort for the United States of America, focusing on producing large quantities of data processing equipment for the military and experimenting with analog computers. An analog computer (spelt analogue in British English is a form of Computer that uses continuous physical phenomena such as electrical mechanical His son Tom Watson Jr. joined the Air Force where he would ferry General Follet Bradley, who was in charge of all Lend-Lease equipment supplied to the Soviet Union from the United States. Lend-Lease (Public Law 77-11 was the name of the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Watson also developed the 1% doctrine for war profits which mandated that IBM receive no more than 1% profit from the sales of military equipment to U. S. Government. [6] Watson has been one of the few CEO's to develop such a policy.

Watson worked with other local leaders to create a college in the Binghamton area, where IBM had major plants. Binghamton, known as The Parlor City is a City located in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. In 1946, IBM provided land and funding for Triple Cities College, an extension of Syracuse University. Syracuse University (SU is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York. Later it became known as Harpur College, and eventually became part of Binghamton University. The State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY Binghamton or Binghamton University is one of the four university centers in New York State’s system of Its School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is named the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, although the IBM plant in the neighboring city of Endicott has long since closed its doors. Endicott is a Village in Broome County, New York, United States.

After World War II, Watson began work to further the extent of IBM's influence abroad and in 1949, the year he stepped down, created the IBM World Trade Corporation in order to control IBM's foreign business.

Watson was named chairman emeritus of IBM in 1956. A month before his death, Watson handed over the reins of the company to his oldest son, Thomas J. Watson, Jr.

Personal

Watson married Jeanette Kittredge, from a prominent Dayton, Ohio railroad family, on April 17, 1913. Thomas John Watson Jr ( January 14 1914 &ndash December 31 1993) was the president of IBM from 1952 to 1971 and the eldest son of Dayton is a city in southwestern Ohio, United States. It is the County seat and largest city of Montgomery County. Events 69 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor. Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common They had two sons and two daughters.

  1. Thomas J. Watson, Jr., succeeded his father as IBM chairman and later served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union under Jimmy Carter. Thomas John Watson Jr ( January 14 1914 &ndash December 31 1993) was the president of IBM from 1952 to 1971 and the eldest son of The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr (born October 1 1924 was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981 and the recipient of the 2002
  2. Jeanette Watson Irwin married businessman John N. Irwin, later Ambassador to France
  3. Helen Watson Buckner became an important philanthropist in New York City. John Nichol Irwin (born December 25, 1847 in Butler County, Ohio died December 22, 1905 in Hot Springs,
  4. Arthur K. Watson served as president of IBM World Trade Corporation and later as Ambassador to France. Arthur K Watson served as president of IBM World Trade Corporation and United States Ambassador to France

As a Democrat (after his criminal indictment by the Taft Administration) Watson was an ardent supporter of Roosevelt. He was considered Roosevelt's strongest supporter in the business community.

The US Supreme Court, in 1936, upheld the lower court decision that IBM, together with Remington, should cease its practice of requiring its customers to buy their cards from it alone. In the event it made little difference because IBM was the only effective supplier to the market; and profits continued undiminished. [1][7] As a powerful trustee of Columbia University (June 6, 1933 – death), Watson played the central role in convincing Dwight D. Eisenhower to become president of the school. Columbia University is a private University in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Events 1508 - Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general

In the 1940s, Watson was on the national executive board of the Boy Scouts of America and served for a time as International Scout Commissioner. The Boy Scouts of America ( BSA) is the largest youth organization in the United States with over five million E. Urner Goodman recounts that the elderly Watson attended an International Scout Commissioners' meeting in Switzerland, where the IBM founder asked not to be put on a pedestal. Edward Urner Goodman (May 15 1891 – March 13 1980 more familiarly E Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Before the conference was over, Goodman relates, Watson "… sat by that campfire, in Scout uniform, 'chewing the fat' like the rest of the boys". [8] He received the Silver Buffalo Award in 1944. The Silver Buffalo Award is the national-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. Watson's son Thomas Jr. later served as National president of the Boy Scouts of America from 1964–1968. The national president of the Boy Scouts of America is the leading volunteer of the Executive Board of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Watson was chairman of the Elmira College Centennial Committee in 1955 and gave Watson Hall, primarily a music and mathematics academic building. Elmira College is a Coeducational private Liberal arts college located in Elmira, in New York State's Southern Tier

Interred in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York is the resting place of numerous famous figures including Washington Irving, whose story " The For other uses see Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow, is a village in the Town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester

Famous misquote

Although Watson is well known for his alleged 1943 statement: "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers," there is no evidence he ever made it. The author Kevin Maney tried to find the origin of the quote, but has been unable to locate any speeches or documents of Watson's that contain this, nor are the words present in any contemporary articles about IBM. The earliest known citation is from 1986 on Usenet in the signature of a poster from Convex Computer Corporation as "I think there is a world market for about five computers" — Remark attributed to Thomas J. Usenet, a Portmanteau of "user" and "network" is a world-wide distributed Internet discussion system Watson (Chairman of the Board of International Business Machines), 1943. Another early article source (May 15, 1985) is a column by Neil Morgan, a San Diego Evening Tribune writer who wrote: 'Forrest Shumway, chairman of The Signal Cos. Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) , doesn't make predictions. His role model is Tom Watson, then IBM chairman, who said in 1958: "I think there is a world market for about five computers. "'. However one of the very first quotes can be found in a book "The Experts Speak" written by Christopher Cerf and Victor S. Navasky in 1984. But Cerf and Navasky just quote from a book written by Morgan and Langford, "Facts and Fallacies". However all these early quotes are questioned by Eric Weiss, an Editor of the Annals of the History of Computing in ACS letters in 1985. [9]

However, in 1985 the story was discussed on Usenet (in net. misc), without Watson's name being attached. The original discussion has not survived, but an explanation has; it attributes a very similar quote to the Cambridge mathematician Professor Douglas Hartree, around 1951:

I went to see Professor Douglas Hartree, who had built the first differential analyzers in England and had more experience in using these very specialized computers than anyone else. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the Douglas Rayner Hartree PhD, FRS ( March 27, 1897 – February 12, 1958) was an English Mathematician He told me that, in his opinion, all the calculations that would ever be needed in this country could be done on the three digital computers which were then being built — one in Cambridge, one in Teddington, and one in Manchester. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL is the national Measurement standards laboratory for the United Kingdom, based at Bushy Park in Teddington No one else, he said, would ever need machines of their own, or would be able to afford to buy them.
(quotation from an article by Lord Bowden; American Scientist vol 58 (1970) pp 43–53); cited on Usenet. Bertram Vivian Bowden Baron Bowden ( January 18, 1910 - July 28, 1989) was an English Scientist and Educationist [10]

The misquote is itself often misquoted, with fifty computers instead of five.

Interestingly, since the quote is typically used to demonstrate the fallacy of predictions, if Watson did make such as prediction in 1943, then, as Gordon Bell pointed out in his ACM 50 years celebration keynote, it would have held true for some ten years. [11]

Famous quote

"THINK". Watson summarized the IBM philosophy with a motto consisting of one word. A biographical article in 1940 noted that "This word is on the most conspicuous wall of every room in every IBM building. Each employee carries a THINK notebook in which to record inspirations. The company stationery, matches, scratch pads all bear the inscription, THINK. A monthly magazine called Think is distributed to the employees. "[12] One might suppose this would be the inspiration behind naming IBM's very successful line of notebook computers, ThinkPads. A laptop computer, also known as a notebook computer, is a small Personal computer designed for mobile use. ThinkPad is a brand of portable Laptop and Notebook Personal computers originally designed manufactured and sold by IBM.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e Founding IBM
  2. ^ Ridgeway, George L. The Jeannette K Watson Fellowship is a competitive academic grant made each year to fifteen undergraduates nominated by 10 affiliated New York City colleges which provides successive summer The Thomas J Watson Fellowship is a grant that enables graduating seniors to pursue a year of independent study outside the United States Thomas J Watson Research Center is the headquarters for the IBM Research Division (1938). Merchants of Peace: Twenty Years of Business Diplomacy Through the International Chamber of Commerce 1919-1938. Columbia University Press.  
  3. ^ Belden, Thomas; Belden, Marva (1962). The Lengthening Shadow: The Life of Thomas J. Watson. Little, Brown and Company.  
  4. ^ Black, Edwin (2001). IBM and the Holocaust. Crown Publishers.  
  5. ^ Black, Edwin (2001). IBM and the Holocaust. Crown Publishers.  
  6. ^ IBM Archives: 1940s. IBM. Retrieved on 2007-07-30. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off
  7. ^
  8. ^ Goodman, E. Urner (1965). The Building of a Life. St. Augustine, Fla. : Standard Printing.  
  9. ^ Authors
  10. ^ http://groups-beta.google.com/group/net.misc/msg/00c91c2cc0896b77
  11. ^ Predictions require some history
  12. ^ Current Biography 1940, p. 846

References

External links

Preceded by
None		 CEOs of IBM
1914 – 1956		 Succeeded by
Thomas J. Watson, Jr.
International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology Thomas John Watson Jr ( January 14 1914 &ndash December 31 1993) was the president of IBM from 1952 to 1971 and the eldest son of
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