Edward J. McBride
Owner of Continental Press Service in 1948-1950 by his own testimony and a federal court's description; a law student who said control of the business rested with his uncle, Thomas F. Kelly.
- Aliases
- Edward John McBride, E. J. McBride
- Role
- Owner of Continental Press Service: "I own the Continental Press Service" (his testimony, Kefauver Part 5, 7 October 1950); "doing business as Continental Press Service" (McBride v. Western Union, S.D. Cal. 1948).
- Source
- Kefauver Committee, Part 5: testimony of Edward J. McBride (7 October 1950), via Internet Archive
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited records state. Testimony and staff exhibits are labelled as such; they are not findings.
On the record
- 1943 — He testified that he bought a third of Continental from James Ragen, Sr., with money borrowed from his father; counsel put the year at 1943, while the OCR of his answer reads 1948 (Kefauver Part 5, 7 October 1950).
- May 1947 — He testified that he bought the rest "From the Ragen estate and Ragen, Jr.," paying "$215,000 to the Ragen estate" (Kefauver Part 5).
- 2 April 1948 — Western Union discontinued the Morse wire used by "Edward J. McBride, doing business as Continental Press Service"; the district court restored its temporary order pending appeal on 28 June 1948 (McBride v. Western Union, S.D. Cal. 1948).
- 1 December 1948 — The Ninth Circuit held that he was not entitled to an order restoring the service (McBride v. Western Union, 9th Cir. 1948).
- 7 October 1950 — He testified "I own the Continental Press Service" and that control rested with "My uncle, Tom Kelly" (Kefauver Part 5).
The role line is his own testimony, matched by the district court’s description of him as doing business as Continental Press Service. Counsel’s description of him at the hearing as “a complete figurehead and dummy” is counsel’s characterization.
Records
itemKefauver Part 5: testimony of Edward J. McBride, owner of Continental Press (7 October 1950), pp. 437-447A 26-year-old law student testified "I own the Continental Press Service," that his uncle Tom Kelly ran it as general manager, and that he had bought it in stages from the Ragens.itemMcBride v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 78 F. Supp. 446 (S.D. Cal. 1948)District court opinion of 28 June 1948 in a suit by Edward J. McBride, "doing business as Continental Press Service," to restore Western Union's Morse wire after the company cut it off on notice from California officers; the court restored its temporary order pending appeal.itemMcBride v. Western Union Tel. Co., 171 F.2d 1 (9th Cir. 1948)Ninth Circuit decision of 1 December 1948 holding that Western Union was justified, under its tariff, in refusing to restore race-track news service to the operator of Continental Press after California officers notified it that the drops were used for bookmaking.itemKefauver Part 5, Exhibit 40: staff summary of evidence on Continental Press, with Annex A ownership dates (December 1950)A committee staff memorandum, printed at pp. 1386-1390 of the Part 5 appendix, on how Continental was formed after Annenberg left the wire business in 1939, its distributors, the 1946-47 contest with Trans-America, and a dated list of its changes of ownership.itemS. Rept. 81-1752 on Continental Press, as quoted in Kefauver Part 2, pp. 9-10 (1950)FCC chairman Wayne Coy read pages 15 and 16 of the Senate Commerce Committee's report on S. 3358 into the Kefauver record: it calls Continental the successor to the Annenberg wire service and finds that it has "a near monopoly in the transmission of racing news."itemKefauver Part 2: testimony of Wayne Coy, FCC chairman, on Continental Press and leased wires (20 June 1950), pp. 4-31The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission told the committee that "the principal disseminator of racing information used by illegal bookmakers is the Continental Press Service," described its leased Western Union circuits, and read the carriers' tariff clauses into the record.