Changes of the Week

P:Thomas J. Watson Jr., 42, was elected chief executive officer of International Business Machines Corp., taking over from his 82-year-old father, IBM Founder Thomas J. Watson Sr., who remains as board chairman. Young Tom Watson, "Mr. THINK Jr." (TIME, March 28,1955), will continue as IBM president. A supersalesman who is fond of saying that he takes "real pride in being a great man's son." Tom Jr. has been with IBM since he graduated from Brown University in 1937. As chief executive officer, Tom Jr. will officially become top boss, although unofficially he has been running IBM since taking over as president in 1952.

P:Horace Mansfield Homer, 52, became board chairman of United Aircraft Corp., succeeding the late Frederick B. Rentschler, who founded the company (TIME, May 7). In as president went William P. Gwinn, 48, who has been general manager of United's Pratt & Whitney Aircraft division since 1943. "Jack" Homer, who will continue as chief executive officer, joined United in 1926 with an engineering degree from Yale, became Pratt & Whitney general manager in 1940. Horner directed the huge World War II expansion that made the company the biggest U.S. maker of piston engines for aircraft. Before becoming president of the parent company in 1943, Horner was vice president in charge of manufacturing for all United divisions.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.