Arthur K. Watson (April 23, 1919 – July 26, 1974) served as president of IBM World Trade Corporation and United States Ambassador to France.
Family
He was born in Summit, New Jersey. His father, Thomas J. Watson, was president of International Business Machines (IBM), who oversaw that company's growth into an international force from the 1920s to the 1950s.
His brother Thomas J. Watson, Jr. was the president of IBM from 1952 to 1971 and United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
Arthur K. Watson served as U.S. Ambassador to France and chairman of the IBM World Trade Corporation.
In the late 1940s, Watson -- known as Dick by his friends and colleagues -- assisted his father, IBM's president Thomas J. Watson, Sr., in the incorporation and organization of the IBM World Trade Corporation -- the subsidiary which handled IBM's business outside the United States. As president and later board chairman of the IBM World Trade Corporation, Dick Watson expanded its operations throughout the world. During his 21 years of leadership, he spent a large part of his time traveling abroad, often accompanied by his family. He established numerous new country operations, selected managers and guided the expansion of the international businesses.
When he began in IBM in February 1947, Dick Watson spoke fluent French. During the next five years of his business career, he spent more than an hour a day to master Spanish and German, and to develop a working knowledge of Portuguese. These linguistic skills were a major asset to Watson throughout his international career.
At the time Watson joined the IBM World Trade Corporation subsidiary upon its formation in 1949, IBM sales outside the United States were less than $50 million. When he resigned in 1970 to become Ambassador to France, IBM World Trade Corporation sales had grown to more than $2.5 billion, and the company had established business operations in 108 countries. By then, net income from World Trade operations equaled those of the U.S. company.
From his first European business trip with his father in 1948, Dick Watson held to a conviction that Western Europe would eventually emerge in the postwar period as a united economic community. He supported the formation of the European Economic Community and made sure that the IBM World Trade Corporation was one of the first U.S.-based companies to build up its manufacturing and development capabilities within the Common Market.
He was also convinced that the U.S. business community should play a larger role in aiding the developing countries of the world. He sought ways to build up local economies in Asia and Latin America. He went on two U.S. government missions to Latin America. In 1964, Watson, with New York Senator Jacob Javits and others, formed ADELA, an investment institution in Lima, Peru. Funded by a worldwide group of banks and corporations, it provided capital for local businesses in Latin America. In Nigeria, he established an IBM educational facility at Ibadan University to provide training in computer skills.
Dick Watson served at the requests of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson on two distinguished panels established to simulate U.S. trade. The 14-member panel he headed for President Johnson reported a number of findings later adopted by the U.S. Agency for International Development. He was a member of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller's Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.
As president of the International Chamber of Commerce in 1967 and 1968, Dick Watson became an international advocate for "freer" trade. In 1968 he also founded, with David Rockefeller, the Emergency Committee for American Trade, a public affairs organization that was eventually joined by the heads of 60 of the largest corporations in the United States. Its purpose was to muster support against protectionism in the United States.
In 1970, Watson resigned his positions as a chairman of the board of IBM World Trade, and vice chairman and director of IBM, to become U.S. Ambassador to France. He was also the first official liaison of the United States with the People's Republic of China through its then Ambassador to France, Huang Chen.
Dick Watson's contributions to international relations were recognized with honors from several countries. He received the Vatican's Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester. He had already won the French Legion of Honor prior to his ambassadorship. Before he returned from France, President Georges Pompidou awarded him the rank of Grand Cross of the Republic's Order of Merit, one of France's highest honors.
Upon his return from France in 1972, Watson was reelected to IBM's board of directors and its executive committee. He also founded partnership Dankist, a venture capital firm located in Stamford, Conn.
Arthur K. Watson died as a result of a fall on July 26, 1974 in New Canaan, Conn., at age 55. Yale University's computer science building is named in his honor.
1974年1月，年届六旬的小沃森正式离开IBM，并对继任者加里说，“100天以内我不会再踏进这座大楼。”小沃森没有食言；而且直到1993年离开人世的20年间，他再也没有介入过IBM的管理。此前，小沃森的胞弟——将IBM国际业务一手做大的迪克(Arthur K. Watson)由于竞争总裁职位失利，黯然离职，出任美国驻法大使，不久病逝。妹妹简(Janette Watson)也在病逝前卖掉了手中1/3的IBM股票。最小的妹妹海伦(Helen Watson)则终生与IBM保持距离，把全部精力放在义工和慈善事业。自70年代起，随着小沃森的退隐和兄弟姐妹的离世，沃森家族逐渐消失在IBM帝国身后。如今，退居幕后的沃森家族过着怎样的生活？
奥利弗(Olive Cawley Watson)比丈夫小沃森多活了11年。这个曾经上过Vogue杂志封面的前名模，婚后便一心相夫教子，热衷各种社会慈善活动，资助过格林威治医院、布朗大学沃森国际问题研究所等公益事业。小沃森夫妇一共有六个孩子，一男五女：沃森三世(Thomas J. Watson III)、珍妮特(Jeannette Sanger)、奥利弗(Olive F. Watson)、露辛达(Lucinda Watson)、苏珊(Susan Watson)和海伦(Helen Blodgett)。小沃森在自传中提到的这六个活泼可爱的孩子，如今都步入中年，可能是取得商业巨大成功的父亲在家中暴虐的脾气给他们留下的阴影，他们大多数长大成人后都刻意与商业世界保持着距离。
长子沃森三世小时候喜欢对妹妹们颐指气使，现在已是大西洋三文鱼联合会主席，并掌管着托马斯·沃森家族基金会，娶了一个画家妻子。他们的女儿邦尼(Bonnie Field Watson)取得纽约大学教育学硕士学位后，嫁给了一个建筑师的儿子，婚后夫妻俩在同一所小学教书。
自幼喜欢读书的珍妮特长大后也与书籍结下了不解之缘。 1977年，她依靠父亲提供的15万美元资助，创立了大名鼎鼎的Books& Co.书店。这家书店位于纽约市麦迪逊大街，主要销售小说和诗歌，成为纽约颇具代表性的文化书店。但进入90年代后，由于大型图书超市的挤压以及租金上涨，书店不幸倒闭，这在当时的美国文化界轰动一时，一些人甚至自发发起资助以保住该书店。随后，珍妮特出任Turtle Point出版社的发行人。珍妮特毕生醉心于文化艺术，曾担任美国诗歌学会副主席，纽约社会图书馆理事以及美国国家图书奖评委。珍妮特经历了两次婚姻，现任丈夫是一名社会运动家，担任国际生育控制委员会主席，其祖母是赫赫有名的美国生育控制运动的先驱玛格丽特·桑格(Margaret Sanger)。
从小喜欢称呼自己父亲为汤姆的三女儿奥利弗,一直特立独行，后来成为美国同性恋任务组织(national gay and lesbian task force)董事会成员。IBM公司对同性恋者的宽容态度与奥利弗的影响不无关系。
露辛达在小沃森子女中算是离商业圈最近的一个，在伯克利大学哈斯商学院当教授，开办自己的咨询公司，并借助身为沃森家族后人的便利身份，遍访商界名家，于2004年出版了《他们如何取得成就——人生和事业成功的故事》一书(本刊将在未来摘编书中精彩部分以飨读者)。
苏珊是目前沃森家族中唯一在IBM任职的家族成员。1983年作为程序员加入IBM，1997年被任命为网络和个人电脑业务总经理，如今担任IBM TeleWeb Transformation副总裁，负责IBM集团网站和在线商务。
海伦是小沃森最小的女儿。大学里学习的是商业内部装饰，也经历了两次婚姻，现任丈夫克里斯托弗(Christopher Somers Moore)是一位成功的商人，经营着庞大的贸易帝国。
小沃森的妹妹简在小沃森的自传里被描写成一个野心勃勃的女人，只可惜疾病缠身，不到50岁便英年早逝。她的丈夫约翰·欧文(John Irwin II)是一位杰出的外交官，历任美国副国务卿和美国驻法大使，于2000年过世。他们育有一女一子。小儿子欧文三世(John N. Irwin III)是一个声名显赫的商人，1997年被美国Worth杂志评为全美拥有地产最多的100个家族和个人之一。
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/builders/builders_watson.html
http://www.ce.cn/books/main/whfk/200611/08/t20061108_9323422.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_K._Watson
