The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived: Tom Watson Jr. and the Epic Story of How IBM Created the Digital Age

The enduring story of Thomas Watson Jr.--a figure more important to the creation of the modern world than Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Morgan

Nearly fifty years into IBM’s existence, Thomas Watson Jr. undertook the biggest gamble in business history when he ＂bet the farm＂ on the creation of the IBM System/360, the world’s first fully integrated and compatible mainframe computer. As CEO, Watson drove a revolution no other company--then or now--would dare, laying the foundation for the digital age that has transformed every society, corporation, and government.

The story of Watson being ＂present at the creation＂ of the digital age is intertwined with near-Shakespearean personal drama. While he put IBM and its employees at risk, Watson also carried out a family-shattering battle over the future of the company with his brother Dick. This titanic struggle between brothers led to Dick’s death and almost killed Watson Jr. himself.

Though he was eventually touted by Fortune magazine as ＂the greatest capitalist who ever lived,＂ Watson’s directionless, playboy early years made him an unlikely candidate for corporate titan. How he pulled his life together and, despite personal demons, paved the way for what became a global industry is an epic tale full of drama, inspiration, and valuable lessons in leadership, risk-taking, and social responsibility.

Ralph Watson McElvenny is the oldest grandson of Thomas J. Watson Jr. Prior to working on the The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived he hosted an author book review podcast called ＂Intelligent Talk,＂ for which he interviewed many leading nonfiction writers. Earlier, he worked at a large international real estate firm and as a private investor in multi-family houses and apartment buildings. He is a graduate of Brown University and St John’s University School of Law.

Marc Wortman, an independent historian and freelance journalist, has written for many publications, including Vanity Fair, Smithsonian, Time, Air & Space, and The Daily Beast country and has appeared on CNN, NPR, C-SPAN BookTV, History Channel. He is the author of four books on American military and social history, most recently Admiral Hyman Rickover: Engineer of Power (Yale University Press, 2022). He has taught at Princeton and Quinnipiac Universities and a college program at a maximum security prison. He was the recipient of a New York Public Library Research Fellowship and was the 2014 Jalonick Memorial Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Texas Dallas. Following college at Brown University, he received a doctorate in comparative literature from Princeton University.