Thomas Watson and Thomas Watson Jr.
Thomas Watson (1874-1956) and Thomas Watson Jr. (1914-1993)
Thomas J. Watson served as chairman and CEO of IBM for many years and turned over leadership of IBM to his son Thomas J. Watson, Jr. before he died. Watson Sr. developed IBM’s distinctive management style and corporate culture. He turned the company into a highly effective selling organization based on the punched card tabulating machine. Watson was hired as general manager of Computing Tabulating Recording Company in 1914, and in 1924 renamed it International Business Machines. Watson built IBM into such a dominant company that the federal government filed an anti-trust suit against it. He had a deep interest in international relations both diplomatic and business-wise. During World War II IBM produced large quantities of data processing equipment for the military and experimented with the analog computer.
Thomas J. Watson, Jr., succeeded his father as second president and CEO of IBM. At an early age he was immersed in IBM. He promoted the research and development structure in IBM in 1949 which eventually produced the UNIVAC computer that in the 1980s was acknowledged decades ahead of all other mainframe computers. During World War II, he was a bomber pilot and pilot to General Follett Bradley, director of the “lend-lease” program, flying him to Russia where Watson Jr. learned the Russian language. He was appointed ambassador to Russia by President Jimmy Carter, serving from 1979 to 1981. President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. Watson Jr. was called “the greatest capitalist in history” and named among 100 of the most influential people of the 20th century.
