The web of influence which News Corporation spun in Britain, which effectively bent politicians, police and many others in public life to its will, amounted to a shadow state.

In 1956 in a move that became a bi-annual event he reorganized IBM on divisional lines to give a decentralized organization with five major divisions in the US. Around the time he was thirteen Tom Jr. he could find customers for as many as thirty machines.

He was the 2nd president of IBM (1952–1971) the 11th national president of the Boy Scouts of America (1964–1968) and the 16th United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1979–1981). He received many honors during his lifetime including being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.