Editing Thomas J. Watson (section)

==Personal life==
Watson married Jeanette Kittredge, from a prominent [[Dayton, Ohio]], railroad family, on April 17, 1913. They had two sons and two daughters.

# [[Thomas Watson Jr.]] succeeded his father as IBM chairman and later served as ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]] under [[Jimmy Carter]]
# Jeanette Watson Irwin married businessman [[John N. Irwin II]], later ambassador to France
# [[Helen Watson Buckner]] became an important philanthropist in New York City
# [[Arthur K. Watson]] served as president of IBM World Trade Corporation and later, as ambassador to France

As a Democrat (after his criminal indictment by the [[William Howard Taft|Taft]] Administration), Watson was an ardent supporter of Roosevelt. He was one of the most prominent businessmen in the Democratic Party. He was considered Roosevelt's strongest supporter in the business community.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=STEBENNE |first=DAVID L. |date=2005 |title=Thomas J. Watson and the Business-Government Relationship, 1933—1956 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23700215 |journal=Enterprise & Society |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=45–75 |doi=10.1093/es/khi002 |jstor=23700215 |issn=1467-2227}}</ref>[[File:Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Gravesite.JPG|thumb|The gravesite of Thomas J. Watson Sr.]]

Watson served as a powerful trustee of [[Columbia University]] from June 6, 1933, until his death. He engineered the selection of [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] as its president and played the central role in convincing Eisenhower to become president of the university. Additionally, he served as a trustee of [[Lafayette College]] and is the namesake of [[Watson Hall]], a campus residence hall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcall.com/1986/04/05/lafayette-honors-foremost-benefactors/|title=Lafayette Honors Foremost Benefactors|access-date=4 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="skillman">{{cite book|last1=Skillman|first1=David Bishop|title=The Biography of a College: Being the History of the First Century of the Life of Lafayette College|date=1932|publisher=Lafayette College|location=Easton, Pennsylvania}}</ref>

In 1936 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that IBM, together with Remington Rand, should cease its practice of requiring its customers to buy their punch cards from it alone. The ruling made little difference because IBM was the only effective supplier to the market, and profits continued undiminished.<ref name="observatory" />

In 1937, Watson was awarded the [[Order of the German Eagle]] by [[Adolf Hitler]]. Watson was also president of the [[International Chamber of Commerce]] in 1937; the medal was awarded while the ICC was meeting in Germany that year.<ref>Geoffrey G. Jones, Adrian Brown, "Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany", [[Harvard Business School]] Case 9-807-133, October 2008</ref>

In 1939, he received an honorary degree in Doctor of Commercial Science from [[Oglethorpe University]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Honorary Degrees Awarded by Oglethorpe University|publisher=Oglethorpe University|url=http://www.oglethorpe.edu/about_us/history/honorary_degrees.asp|access-date=22 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319104000/http://www.oglethorpe.edu/about_us/history/honorary_degrees.asp|archive-date=March 19, 2015}}</ref>

In the 1940s, Watson was on the national executive board of the [[Boy Scouts of America]] and served for a time as an international Scout commissioner. [[E. Urner Goodman]] recounts that the elderly Watson attended an international Scout commissioners' meeting in [[Switzerland]], where the IBM founder asked not to be put on a pedestal. Before the conference was over, Goodman relates, Watson "...&nbsp;sat by that campfire, in Scout uniform, 'chewing the fat' like the rest of the boys".<ref>{{cite book|last=Goodman|first=E. Urner|title=The Building of a Life|publisher=Standard Printing|location=St. Augustine, FL|year=1965}}</ref> He received the [[Silver Buffalo Award]] in 1944. His son, Thomas Jr., later served as [[national president of the Boy Scouts of America|national president]] of the Boy Scouts from 1964 to 1968. He was also inducted into the [[Steuben County, New York]] Hall of Fame. Throughout his life Watson continued to own and enjoy the family farm on which he was born. In 1955 he and his wife gave it, along with one million dollars, to the Methodist Church for use as a retreat and conference center, to be named Watson Homestead in memory of his parents.  Watson Homestead became independent of the church in 1995, and continues as a conference and retreat center. The one-room school that Watson attended as a child is still on the grounds.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.watsonhomestead.com/our-history|title=History}}</ref>

Watson was chairman of the [[Elmira College]] centennial committee in 1955 and donated Watson Hall, primarily a music and mathematics academic building.

Watson was a member of both the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1960) and the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1984).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas John Watson |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/thomas-john-watson |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Thomas+J.+Watson&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

He was posthumously inducted into the [[Junior Achievement]] [[U.S. Business Hall of Fame]] in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ja.org/hof/year.asp|title=Laureates Inducted in 1990|work=[[U.S. Business Hall of Fame]]|publisher=[[Junior Achievement|Junior Achievement USA]]|access-date=January 28, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125093521/http://www.ja.org/hof/year.asp|archive-date=January 25, 2012}}</ref>