Thomas J. Watson
The IBM chairman who built a global tech giant while navigating controversial ties to Nazi Germany.
The original uploader was Paul C. Lasewicz at English Wikipedia. · via Wikipedia: Thomas J. Watson · CC BY-SA 3.0
Thomas John Watson Sr. was an American businessman who served as chairman and CEO of IBM from 1914 to 1956.[1] From 1914 until his death in 1956, Watson guided IBM's expansion into a worldwide enterprise and was counted among the wealthiest individuals of his era.[1][2] The corporate culture and management approach at IBM were shaped by Watson drawing on methods he learned from John Henry Patterson while at NCR; he transformed the business into a formidable sales organization centered on punched card tabulating machines.[3]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Thomas John Watson
- Born
- 17 February 1874
- Birthplace
- Campbell, New York, U.S.
- Died
- 19 June 1956
- Place of death
- Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
- Occupation
- Chairman and CEO of IBM 1914–1956
- Spouse
- Jeanette M. Kittredge (1913)
- Children
- 4, including Thomas Watson Jr. and Arthur K. Watson
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
He left school in 1891 and worked as a bookkeeper, then as a traveling salesman peddling organs and pianos.[4] Watson was fired from that job after his horse, buggy, and samples were stolen while he was drunk in a saloon.[5] In November 1896 he was hired as a sales apprentice at NCR, where he became the most successful salesman in the East under the guidance of branch manager John J. Range.[4][6] He renamed the company to International Business Machines in 1924 and built it into a dominant company that owned over 90 percent of all tabulating machines in the United States.[7][8]
Watson's father operated a farm and a small lumber business; during the late 1870s, Watson worked on the family farm and went to District School Number Five.[9] After two years he resigned and relocated to Buffalo, where for a short time he sold sewing machines for Wheeler and Wilson.[4][5]
What the cited sources add
The Maney biography notes that Watson's father farmed and owned a lumber business near Painted Post, and that Watson attended the District School Number Five in the late 1870s.[10][9] The biography also describes Watson's work as a traveling salesman for William Bronson's hardware store, first with George Cornwell and then alone earning $10 per week.[10][4] Maney's book records that Watson realized he would earn $70 per week on commission, quit in indignation, and moved to Buffalo.[10][4] The Belden biography notes that Watson had a lasting fascination with international affairs, viewing them through both diplomatic and commercial lenses.[11][12]
References
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Thomas J. Watson Sr. Is Dead. I.B.M. Board Chairman Was 82", The New York Times, June 20, 1956; . IBM. Retrieved January 28, 2012. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Friedman, "Hitler's Willing Executives", May 21, 2001; "Founding IBM" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Belden (1962) pp. 105–106 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Maney, "The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM", John Wiley and Sons, 2003 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Watson Jr., "Father, Son & Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond", Bantam Books, 1990 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Maney, "The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM", John Wiley and Sons, 2003; "Founding IBM" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: NCR Corporation#Expansion; "IBM Archives: 1910s", IBM, January 23, 2003 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "IBM Archives: 1956", IBM, January 23, 2003 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Maney, "The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM", John Wiley and Sons, 2003; William E. Krattinger, "National Register of Historic Places Registration: District School Number Five", New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, November 2000; Maney, "The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM", John Wiley and Sons, 2003 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9780471414636 ("The Maverick and His Machine"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
- Belden, "The Lengthening Shadow: The Life of Thomas J. Watson", Little, Brown and Company, 1962. facts only, no text reused. archive.org
- Wikipedia, "Thomas J. Watson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ridgeway, "Merchants of Peace: Twenty Years of Business Diplomacy Through the International Chamber of Commerce 1919–1938", Columbia University Press, 1938; Belden, "The Lengthening Shadow: The Life of Thomas J. Watson", Little, Brown and Company, 1962 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Thomas J. Watson (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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