The rise of Big Blue

In 1890s – Thomas J. Watson, Sr. - a young tree farmer from the town of Erwin, NY - eventually left farming – took accounting and business courses at the Miller School of Commerce in Elmira, NY and became a traveling salesman.

In 1896 – Watson Sr. – became a sales apprentice to an NCR (National Cash Register) branch manager in Buffalo, NY – John J. Range.

John Range became a model for Watson Sr. in his sales and management style - that he became the most successful salesman in the East coast – earning $100 per week.

From 1908 until 1911 - during his time in NCR – Watson Sr. made NCR a monopoly in Rochester, NY. Watson’s main job is to knock out the competition in the cash register business. However in 1912 he was indicted in an anti-trust law suit

Watson Sr. then joined the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) in 1914. Watson Sr. took over as general manager of the company with $9 million in revenues.

In 1924 – he renamed CTR to IBM. IBM became a dominant company during that era – that a federal antitrust law suit was filed in 1952.

During WWII – IBM became more involve in the war for the United States. – IBM was producing large numbers of data processing equipment and experimenting with analog computers for the US military.

Watson Sr. eldest son – Thomas J. Watson Jr - joined the United States Army Air Corps where he became a bomber pilot. But he was soon hand-picked to become the assistant and personal pilot for General Follet Bradley, who was in charge of all Lend-Lease equipment supplied to the Soviet Union from the United States.

After World War II, Watson began work to further the extent of IBM's influence abroad and in 1949, the year he stepped down, created the IBM World Trade Corporation in order to control IBM's foreign business.^{[citation needed]}

Watson was named chairman emeritus of IBM in 1956. A month before his death, Watson handed over the reins of the company to his oldest son, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Thomas Watson Sr. was interred in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.[1]

Figure above is: Thomas J. Watson, Sr., circa 1920s

IBM Supercomputer - September 2009

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[1] Thomas J. Watson; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Watson