Learson, Thomas Vincent

American computer business man, diplomat, and yacht sportsman




Thomas Vincent Learson (1912 – 1996) started to work for IBM in 1935 as a sales and marketing man. He became Vice President in 1954.
In 1961, Learson assembled a task force - the SPREAD committee - to provide a vision for the company's future direction in computing. SPREAD, an abbreviation for Systems Programming, Research, Engineering, And Development, proposed the visionary idea that all future IBM computers should run the same programs and use the same peripheral equipment (tapes, disks, printers). The resulting System/360, introduced in 1964, became instantly a success. Learson played a key management role in the development of System/360 and became known as father of the 360.
In 1966 he became IBM's President and from Jun 1971 through Jan 1973 the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

From 1975 to 1977 Vincent Learson was Ambassador at Large for the Law of the Sea Matters and Special Representative of the President for the Law of the Sea Conference, a multinational effort to establish international rules for maritime issues ranging from fishing rights to pollution.

Learson born in Boston, like his father who was a sea captain, became a sailor and soon a competitive yachtsman. He participated more than once in the Bermuda Race, a 635 nautical miles (1175 km) sailing yacht race from Newport, Rhode Island to the island of Bermuda which he won in 1966 with his Thunderbird. source: bermudarace.com

 

International Business Machines Corporation

Certificate for shares of $5, issued April 10, 1973 printed by Security-Columbian Banknote Company

facsimile signature of T. Vincent Learson in lower right corner

The IBM logo is not visibly printed but present as an embossed seal in the pale brown circle.

Watson Jr., Thomas John

American computer business man, diplomat, pilot and yacht sportsman

Thomas John Watson Jr. (1914–1993) joined IBM as a salesman in 1937. His father, Thomas John Watson Sr., was CEO of the company since 1924. During WW II Watson Jr. became a pilot in the U.S. Air Force flying to Russia and the Pacific. In the army he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. 

After the war, Watson Jr. was promoted Vice President of IBM in 1946. So far, the company was succesful with its electromechanical tabulators, calculators and accounting machines. IBM was pioneering with electromechanical one of a kind computers and with its first electronic calculators that were vacuum-tube based.
When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the U.S. Government told Watson Jr. they wanted large scientific computers for use in aircraft design, nuclear development and military manufacturing. Watson recognized the importance of digital electronics in information processing. Only a few months after he was elected President of the company, he informed IBM's shareholders on April 29 1952 that the company was developing the Defense Calculator. One year later, the company presented the machine to the public as the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine. The 701 became the company's first large-scale electronic computer manufactured in quantity.

International Business Machines Corporation 

Certificate for less than 100 shares, issued May 7, 1954, printed by American Bank Note Company 

The certificate bears Thomas John Watson Jr.'s facsimile signature as President of the company, see lower right corner.  

It is Watson's first signature version seen on IBM stocks, with both first and middle name represented by their initials.  

Soon IBM stocks will show a signature with his first name fully written. 

In 1956 Thomas John Watson Jr. succeeded his father as Chief Executive Officer. At that time IBM employed 72,500 people and had a gross income of almost $900 million. He was elected Chairman of the Board in May 1961. So far computers were designed either for business or for scientific purposes, not both. Customers could not upgrade their systems to a bigger one without having their software completely rewritten. Also, each product line required its own sales and support team: frustrating circumstances for customers. IBM set up the SPREAD task force to deal with this situation. SPREAD, an abbreviation for Systems Programming, Research, Engineering, And Development, proposed the visionary idea that all future IBM computers should run the same programs and use the same peripheral equipment (tapes, disks, printers). Existing customers would be forced to upgrade all their equipment. Watson not only gave the risky proposal the go-ahead but also approved over $5 billion over the following years for developing the new system. System/360, introduced in 1964, became instantly a huge success being used at universities, banks, airlines and government organizations. Several System/360s made NASA's Apollo 11 mission possible and processed the data transmitted by the spacecraft's onboard computer.

International Business Machines Corporation 

Certificate for less than 100 shares, issued, May 7 1957, printed by Security Banknote Company 

The certificate bears Thomas John Watson Jr.'s facsimile signature as President of the company, see lower right corner. 

It is Watson's second signature version seen on IBM stocks, with the first name fully written. 

Notice the appearance of two different versions of the IBM logo. 

The logo on top was introduced shortly after Watson's father, Thomas J. Watson Sr., became CEO in 1924. 

It includes the words "Business Machines" resembling a globe and girdled by the word "International." 

A simple 'IBM' three-letter logo was introduced in 1947 marking the company's transition to electronic computers. 

Watson Jr became CEO in 1956. The logo changed again, in a subtle way communicating that "changes would come in an overall continuity". 

The 'IBM' letters looked now more solid and balanced, see both lower corners. 

Thomas Watson Jr. received in 1964 from President Lyndon B. Johnson the Medal of Freedom. The medal is awarded for exceptionally praiseworthy contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

In 1971 Thomas John Watson Jr. left the company for health reasons. By then IBM counted over 270,000 employees and realized a gross revenue over $8 billion.  He remained a member of IBM's board of directors until 1984, with a timeout from 1979 to 1981.

The General Advisory Committee (GAC) on Arms Control and Disarmement was set up by President Kennedy to give advice to the President about America's nuclear defense policy. Under Jimmy Carter, Watson Jr. was GAC's Chairman in 1978 and 1979.  Subsequently, President Carter asked him to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from Oct 1979 to Jan 1981. When Soviet troops moved into Afghanistan, Carter summoned Watson back to the United States in January 1980.

International Business Machines Corporation 

100 shares of $5 each, dated 1 Sep 1966, printed by Security-Columbian Banknote Company 

Thomas John Watson Jr.'s facsimile signature as Chairman of the Board, see lower right corner 

This modern certificate breaks with the traditional design of borders printed along all sides. 

The share still has an IBM logo, however it is not visibly printed but embossed in the light green circle. 

Click image to enlarge 

Thomas J. Watson Jr. was also a yacht sportsman who participated in races. He traveled the Captain Cook route cruising the Pacific. In 1971 Watson Jr. sailed from Corner Brook, Newfoundland to Churchill, Manitoba and return. On his Palawan IV, custom designed by Sparkman & Stephens, Florida, and built by the German company Abeking & Rasmussen, he navigated in 1974 far up the northern coast of Greenland and reached 75°40' northern latitude, more than 500 miles above the Arctic Circle.  In 1986 he won the Cruising Club of America's Blue Water Medal for his remarkable sailing accomplishments. (Source: Cruising World, George M. Brengle, Jan-Feb 1987)

Vignettes, literally little works of printed art, depict all kinds of portraits, scenes and still lifes. 

They are used as an important anti-counterfeiting feature in security printing. 

This detail from the previous stock certificate is scanned at 1200 dots per inch. 

It shows Mercury, the Roman god of trade and commerce, travelling in space and looking at the map of the world. 

Notice how patterns of dots and lines create an optical illusion of form, shades an depth. 

Mercury's wrist measures only two millimeters. 

Watson Sr., Thomas John

American computer businessman



Thomas John Watson Sr. (1874 - 1956) became a sales apprentice with the National Cash Register Company (NCR) in 1896. There he worked his way up to General Sales Manager in 1903. In 1911 Watson introduced the slogan "THINK" by which he meant "to take everything into consideration .. and then act".

In 1914 Watson joins the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR, later IBM) as General Manager to become its President in 1915. Watson brought the slogan "THINK" with him. THINK signs were hung on the wall of every room in every building. Employees carried a THINK notebook in which to record ideas. IBM's monthly magazine Time was renamed 'Think'. The word was a part of IBM's corporate culture. Decades later IBM products like the ThinkPad laptop computers still honor the idea behind the slogan.

When Watson Sr. became CEO in 1924 he changed the company's name into International Business Machines (IBM). In 1928 he ordered the development of a standardized punched card for data processing machinery. Watson let two research teams work on it independently of one another. A card type with rectangular holes and 80 columns was chosen. It required new machinery that could work with the rectangular holes. The "IBM Computer Card" became the major medium for information storage and reporting for many decades. Punched cards were even used for U.S. Government savings bonds.

IBM Watson Think bronze medal, 1947

TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE IBM ORGANIZATION IN APPRECIATION 
OF THEIR LOYALTY, COOPERATION AND EFFORT ON BEHALF OF THE CORPORATION 
AND IN COMMEMORATION OF ITS THIRD OF A CENTURY OF PROGRESS 1914 - 1947 

signature of Watson as President, THINK slogan at the bottom

The medal was crafted by Carl Paul Jennewein (CJP monogram on the obverse) 
and struck by the Medallic Art Company of New York. 

Carl Paul Jennewein (1890–1978) was a German-born American muralist, sculptor and medal artist. 
In 1916 he received the Rome Prize by the American Academy in Rome, Italy. 

Among his sculptural works are the pediment for the Philadelphia Museum of Art and 
the bronze doors at the Rockefeller Center in New York.

In 1937, Watson was elected president of the International Chamber of Commerce. The ICC is a business organization with member companies worldwide from every sector. It promotes international trade and responsible business conduct. At the 1937 ICC congress in Berlin Watson stated the conference keynote to be "World Peace Through World Trade". During the congress, he was honored with the Order of the German Eagle medal. The award was given to leading foreigners who were considered sympathetic to Nazi Germany. Watson received it for the help that IBM's German subsidiary DEHOMAG provided to the Nazi regime with the tabulation of census data (such as the location of Jews). Allegedly he believed that the medal was in recognition of his efforts in promoting global commerce and peace.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Watson Sr. to United States Commissioner General to the 1937 International Exposition in Paris.

At the end of 1937 Howard Aiken, a doctoral student at Harvard, presented to IBM the concept of a programmable, automatic computing device.  In 1939, Watson agreed to finance the building of Aiken’s Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator. This electromechanical computer became known as the Harvard Mark I.

When World War II broke out and DEHOMAG came under full control of the Nazi government, Thomas Watson Sr. returned his medal. He also introduced the "1% doctrine" for war profits : IBM would not receive more than 1% profit from the sales of equipment to the US Government. IBM calculation machines played an important role in data processing tasks for the Allies. John von Neumann used the Harvard Mark I computer for atomic bomb calculations in the Manhattan project. In 1944 Watson orders the design for a bigger computer, the IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC).

In May 1956, shortly before Thomas Watson dies, Thomas Watson Jr. succeeds his father.

This IBM stock certificate for 100 shares is printed by the American Bank Note Company. 

The printed signature of Thomas Watson Sr. is located in the lower right corner.

The share was issued in 1954 when IBM delivered the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC), 

considered as the first supercomputer, to the U.S. Navy.

Cary, Frank Taylor

American computer businessman




Short after serving the Army in World War II, Frank Taylor Cary (1920- 2006) joined IBM in 1948 as a marketing representative. By 1964 Cary became President of IBM's Data Processing Division and from 1973 through 1981 the company's Chief Executive Officer. He started in 1981 an independent business unit which would bring the IBM Personal Computer to the market.

Cary joined Rev. Leon Sullivan in 1975 to engage top American corporate leaders for an effort to end apartheid in South Africa. The meeting led to the creation of the Sullivan Principles, a code of conduct for companies operating in South Africa. The principles demanded the equal treatment of employees regardless of their race both within and outside of the workplace. In 1985 Cary headed the 12-member committee of Secretary of State George P. Shultz which advised him on policy toward South Africa. (source The New York Times, Dec 1, 1985)
Cary was a also member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group, a yearly private conference of people of the European and North American political elite, authorities from industry, finance, academia, and the media.

This 1978 IBM certificate for "less than 100 shares" is printed by the American Bank Note Company. 

It contains a special anti-counterfeiting feature.

The pale brown rectangle printed below the serial number - left side - contains a latent image.

When the certificate is tilted and viewed against light falling at a shallow angle the word 'IBM' is revealed.