In May 1956, four years after becoming IBM's president, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., succeeded his father as chief executive officer.
When the son first assumed command a half-century ago, IBM employed 72,500 people worldwide and produced $892 million in revenue. When he resigned as board chairman 15 years later, IBM had grown to more than 270,000 employees and revenue of $8.274 billion. In that same 15-year period, the company's net income after taxes had risen from $87 million to $1.079 billion.
The man who led that growth was born in 1914, the year his father became president of a small firm that would later become International Business Machines Corporation. Tom Watson, Jr., died on December 31, 1993, shortly before his 80th birthday.
During his uncommon life, Tom Watson, Jr.:
- Transformed IBM from a medium-sized member of the top 100 U.S. businesses into one of the largest industrial corporations in the world.
- Built IBM into a divisionalized and professionally-managed high technology enterprise.
- Recognized the potential of electronics in information handling and drove IBM's transition from punched card tabulators and clocks to transistors and integrated circuits.
- Pushed the development of the IBM 701 and IBM System/360 -- two landmark developments in the history of the computer.
- Abolished the hourly wage in IBM, introduced tuition loans and pioneered matching grants for charities.
- Advocated federal aid for the poor, better national health care and nuclear disarmament.
- Served his nation in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and as the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1979-1981.
- Loved life as a seasoned yachtsman, a superb skier and a passionate pilot of everything from gliders and helicopters to biplanes and jets.
Watson with the classic IBM System/360.Fortune called him the "most successful
capitalist who ever lived." Computerworld
named him one of the 25 people "who changed the
world." And France's Le Monde said that
"he made the company into a formidable technological
... engine, and gave IBM its international dimension."
In the end, though, what matters most about Tom Watson, Jr., is that his character and convictions formed indelible impressions on thousands of IBM employees around the world -- from the board room to the branch office -- and even on people who had joined the company long after he had left it. His legendary reputation and achievements live on in IBM, and his legacy will continue to influence future leaders for generations.
To learn more about this extraordinary man, please visit the Thomas J. Watson, Jr., Reference Room.