Walter Sherman Gifford

Infobox Person
name = Walter Sherman Gifford


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birth_date = birth date|1885|1|10|mf=y
birth_place = Salem, Massachusetts United States
death_date = 1966
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occupation = Computer businessman
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Walter Sherman Gifford (1885 – 1966) was born in Salem, Massachusetts, United States. He is best known as the president of the AT&T Corporation from 1925-1948.

Biography

Walter Sherman Gifford was born in Salem, Massachusetts on January 10, 1885. He graduated from Harvard University in 1905. In July 1906 he joined Western Electric Co. in Chicago as Assistant Secretary and Treasurer. After three years he became Chief Statistician for American Telephone & Telegraph Co., the job he held until 1916, when he went into War work. During the war he became Supervising Director of the Committee on Industrial Preparedness of the National Consulting Board, Director of the U. S. Council of National Defense and Advisory Commission, and Secretary of the U. S. Representation on the Inter-Allied Munitions Council. After the war he returned to AT&T and soon became a Vice President. In 1925, at the age of only 40 years, he became the president of the AT&T Corporation when the existing president Henry Bates Thayer was made chairman of the board of directors. That same year he established the Bell Telephone Laboratories as a separate entity which would take over the work being conducted by Western Electric's engineering department's research division. In 1927, Gifford became the first to have a picture phone conversation with Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, through AT&T's pioneering technology in television transmission over wire.

During Gifford's presidency lasting 23 years, AT&T experienced tremendous growth. Gifford increased operating revenue from $657 million to $2.25 billion. In 1927, Gifford launched his firm's overseas operations and by 1948, 72 foreign countries were linked by wire and radio with AT&T lines. In 1950, he retired from the post of chairman of AT&T which he occupied from 1948-1950. By then he had served AT&T for 45 years.

Other information

Gifford served as the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain from 1950-53.

References

* [http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/311/]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,736652,00.html]
* [http://www.corp.att.com/history/milestone_1927b.html]
*Bell Labs