Thomas J. Watson
Thomas J. Watson was born in Campbell, New York, United States on February 17th, 1874 and is the Entrepreneur. At the age of 82, Thomas J. Watson biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 82 years old, Thomas J. Watson physical status not available right now. We will update Thomas J. Watson's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.
Thomas John Watson Sr. (February 17, 1874-56) was an American businessman.
He served as the chairman and CEO of International Business Machines (IBM).
He steered the company's growth into a multinational power from 1914 to 1956.
Watson inherited IBM's leadership style and corporate culture from John Henry Patterson's time at NCR.
He converted the company into a highly profitable selling company, largely thanks to punched card tabulating machines.
When he died in 1956, he was dubbed the world's best salesman, and he was a renowned self-made industrialist.
Personal life
Watson married Jeanette Kittredge, from a prominent Dayton, Ohio railroad family, on April 17, 1913. They had two sons and two daughters.
Watson, a Democrat (after his criminal prosecution by the Taft Administration), was an ardent supporter of Roosevelt. He was one of the most prominent businessmen in the Democratic Party. He was regarded as Roosevelt's greatest promoter in the business world.
Watson, a respected trustee of Columbia University from June 6, 1933 to his death, was a scholar of the University of Columbia University. Eisenhower engineered the selection of Dwight D. Eisenhower as the university's president, and he was instrumental in persuading Eisenhower to become president of the university. In addition, he served as a trustee of Lafayette College and is the namesake of Watson Hall, a campus residence hall.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that IBM, along with Remington Rand, should stop demanding that its customers buy their punch cards from it alone. IBM was the only reliable manufacturer to the industry, so sales remained unaffected.
Adolf Hitler gave Watson the Order of the German Eagle in 1937. Watson was also president of the International Chamber of Commerce in 1937; the medal was given while the ICC was meeting in Germany that year.
He earned an honorary degree in Doctor of Business Science from Oglethorpe University in 1939.
Watson served as an international Scout commissioner for a brief time in the 1940s and was on the national executive board of the Boy Scouts of America. The elderly Watson appears at an international Scout commissioners' meeting in Switzerland, where the IBM founder refused to be put on a pedestal. E. Urner Goodman recalls that the Watsons did not stand on a pedestal. Watson 'chewing the fat' like the rest of the boys' before the conference ended,' Goodman relates. In 1944, he received the Silver Buffalo Award. Thomas Jr., his uncle, served as the national president of the Boy Scouts of America from 1964 to 1968. He was also inducted into the Steuben County (NY) Hall of Fame. Watson continued to own and enjoy the family farm on which he was born throughout his life. He and his wife donated it, as well as a one million dollars, to the Methodist Church for use as a retreat and conference center in 1955. In memory of his parents, Watson Homestead was named after him. Watson Homestead went solo in 1995 and now serves as a conference and retreat center. Watson's one-room school is now on the grounds.
Watson Hall, primarily a music and mathematics academic building, was chairman of the Elmira College centennial committee in 1955.
Watson was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1960) and the American Philosophical Society (1984).
In 1990, he was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.
Early life and career
Thomas J. Watson was born in Campbell, New York, 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, in the Southern Tier region of New York. Thomas worked on the family farm in East Campbell, New York and attended the District School Number Five in the late 1870s. As Watson entered his teen years he attended Addison Academy In Addison, New York.
Having given up his first job—teaching—after just one day, Watson took a year's course in accounting and business at the Miller School of Commerce in Elmira, New York. He left the school in 1891, taking a job at $6 a week as bookkeeper for Clarence Risley's Market in Painted Post. One year later he joined a traveling salesman, George Cornwell, peddling organs and pianos around the farms for William Bronson's local hardware store, Watson's first sales job. When Cornwell left, Watson continued alone, earning $10 per week. After two years of this life, he realized he would be earning $70 per week if he were on a commission. His indignation on making this discovery was such that he quit and moved from his familiar surroundings to the relative metropolis of Buffalo.
Watson then spent a very brief period selling sewing machines for Wheeler and Wilson. According to son, Tom Watson, Jr.'s, autobiography:
Watson would later enforce strict rules at IBM against alcohol consumption, even off the job. According to Tom Jr.:
Watson's next job was peddling shares of the Buffalo Building and Loan Company for a huckster named C. B. Barron, a showman renowned for his disreputable conduct, which Watson deplored. Barron absconded with the commission and the loan funds. Next Watson opened a butcher shop in Buffalo, which soon failed, leaving Watson with no money, no investment, and no job.