Thomas John Watson, Jr. (January 14, 1914 – December 31, 1993) was the oldest son of Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM.
Watson Jr. claimed in his autobiography that as a child he had a "strange defect in his vision" that made written words appear to fall off the page when he tried to read them. Although not recognized at the time, this description matches a common form of dyslexia. As a result Watson struggled in school, and he acknowledged that Brown University reluctantly admitted him as a favor to his father. He obtained a business degree in 1937.
After graduating Watson became a salesman for IBM, but he had little interest in the job. The critical turning point in Watson's life was his service as a pilot in the Army Air Force during World War II. Piloting came easily to him and for the first time he had confidence in his abilities. Toward the end of his service Watson worked for Maj. Gen. Follett Bradley, who suggested that he should try to follow his father at IBM.
Watson became president of IBM in 1956. Up to this time IBM was dedicated to electromechanical punch card systems; Watson Sr. had repeatedly rejected electronic computers as overpriced and unreliable. Watson Jr. took the company in a new direction, hiring electrical engineers by the hundreds and putting them to work designing mainframe computers. In the early 1960s he oversaw the System/360 project, which produced an entire line of computers that ran the same software and used the same peripherals. Since the 360 line was incompatible with IBM's previous products, it represented an enormous risk for the company. Despite delays in shipment, the products were well-received following their launch in 1964 and what Fortune Magazine called "IBM's $5 Billion Gamble" paid off.
Because of this success, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 awarded Thomas J. Watson Jr. the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award a U.S. President can bestow on a civilian.
Watson left IBM in 1971 on his doctor's advice after having a heart attack. After recovering, he was appointed by Jimmy Carter to be Ambassador to the Soviet Union, serving from October 29, 1979 to January 15, 1981.
Watson had homes in Greenwich, Connecticut, North Haven, Maine, and Stowe, Vermont.
References
- Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Thomas J. Watson Jr.
- Watson, Thomas J. Jr., with Petre, Peter (1990). Father, Son, and Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond. Bantam Books. ISBN 0553070118.