John Diebold, 1926-2005

John Diebold was born in Weekawken, New Jersey in 1926. Leaving Swarthmore College during his freshman year, he served as a Merchant Marine midshipman from 1944 to 1945. While in the Merchant Marine, Diebold observed that his ship's anti-aircraft fire control mechanisms employed crude self-correcting devices. This experience sparked Diebold's interest in automation. He graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York in 1946 with a B.S. in. Marine Engineering. He returned to Swarthmore, graduating in 1949 with a B.A. in Economics. Diebold matriculated at Harvard Business School in September of 1949 and became a member of the Marketing Club and the Century Club. He also served as editor of the 1951 yearbook, Annual Review . As a student, Diebold wrote a thesis on productivity analysis, " The Significance of Productivity Data," that was later published in the 1952 summer issue of the Harvard Business Review . At HBS he developed an avid interest in automated factories and was greatly inspired by HBS professor Georges Doriot's manufacturing course. Leading an eight man research team at HBS, Diebold produced a report entitled " Making the Automatic Factory a Reality," which presented designs for a fully automatic factory to produce automotive pistons. Doriot and professor Charles Bliss were among those at HBS who shared Diebold's belief that computers would revolutionize business. At their suggestion, Diebold traveled to the Advanced Research Institute at Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to consult with legendary mathematician John Von Neumann and cybernetics pioneer Norbert Weiner. Diebold also encountered Albert Einstein while visiting Princeton. Informed by their advice and by his own exhaustive research, Diebold published his ground breaking book Automation: The Advent of the Automated Factory in 1952, a year after graduating with distinction from HBS. In the book, Diebold explored the possibilities and problems of integrating computers into all aspects of business. Automation is still widely published and is revered as a management classic. It appeared on the scene when computers were still in their infancy; IBM began leasing its first computer a year later.

In 1954, Diebold started his own consulting company, John Diebold and Associates, determined to focus on the management and business decisions relating to the development and use of technology. Much of John Diebold and Associates' early activity concentrated on helping clients select computer programming firms, which numbered very few at the time, to design applications for their businesses. The 1950s marked a transition for businesses as the concept of automation gradually took hold. Diebold's pivotal role in this period is signified by his appearance as the first witness at the U.S. Congress' first Joint Economic Committee Hearings on Automation and Technological Change in 1955. In the same year, he publicly debated Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, about the employment consequences of automation.

John Diebold and Associates built a reputation based on its expertise in the newly developing field of computerized data processing in business systems, Diebold's company soon morphed into the international firm Diebold Group Inc. by offering consulting services to companies including IBM, AT&T, Xerox, Eastman Kodak, Lockheed, as well as for cities such as New York and Chicago. In 1961, Diebold's firm aided the installment of the world's first electronic banking network, connecting the branches of New York City's Bowery Savings Bank. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy appointed Diebold as one of the leaders of the U.S. delegation to the first U.N. Conference on Science and Technology for Developing Countries. Diebold appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1965, for a story about America's successful young men.

Capitalizing on his company's success, Diebold started the investment and venture capital firm John Diebold Inc. in 1967. Concurrently, to promote his ever-expanding vision for computerized automation in all aspects of society, Diebold founded the Diebold Institute for Public Policy Studies (DIPPS). He founded Diebold Computer Leasing, Inc. in 1968. Diebold was develop and champion automated information systems for various industries through his work with the Diebold Group and his association with numerous non profit organizations. He was a member and served as chairman of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, the Committee for Economic Development, the Council on Foreign Relations and others organizations. The industries that the Diebold group focused on included health care, banking, bio-technology, air-traffic control, and intelligent vehicles and highways, among others. Diebold sold the consulting arm of Diebold Group to Daimler Benz in 1991. He continued actively participating in DIPPS and other organizations until his death at seventy-nine in 2005.

From the guide to the John Diebold papers, 1906-2003, (Baker Library, Harvard Business School)