Theodore Newton Vail

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Theodore Newton Vail (July 16, 1845 – April 16, 1920) was a U.S. telephone industrialist.

Born in Minerva, Ohio, he served as the president of AT&T between 1885 and 1889, and again from 1907 to 1919 (the company was named American Telephone & Telegraph before 1894). He convinced President Woodrow Wilson that the telephone as a medium of communication would spread more rapidly if it was brought under one monopoly so as to ensure uniform provision of services throughout the country. He called this "one system, one policy, universal service". [1] This was formalised in the form of the Kingsbury Commitment of 1913.

[edit] Further reading

• Robert Sobel The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition (Weybright & Talley 1974), chapter 6, Theodore Vail: The Subtle Serendipidist ISBN 0-679-40064-8.

[edit] See also

• Alfred Vail

[edit] External links

• Theodore Newton Vail's biographic sketch at Find A Grave