Moses L. Annenberg
Named in the 1939 Consensus Publishing tax indictment and dismissed before trial; the Supreme Court called him "the dominant figure" in several horse-race betting corporations, and 1950 testimony traces the Continental Press wire service to the business he gave up in 1939.
- Aliases
- M. L. Annenberg, Moses Annenberg, Moe Annenberg
- Role
- "The dominant figure in several other corporations which were engaged in enterprises connected with betting on horse races" (Supreme Court of the United States, United States v. Ragen, 1942).
- 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
- 1927 — Thomas F. Kelly testified that James Ragen left the Chicago Examiner in 1927 and "went over to work for Mr. Annenberg on the news bureau," the General News Bureau (Kefauver Part 5, 18 October 1950).
- 1929 — The Supreme Court records that 30 of the 100 shares of the Consensus Publishing Company were held by Cecelia Investment Company, "a holding company controlled by Moses Annenberg" (United States v. Ragen, 1942).
- January 1932 — William Molasky testified that a half-interest in a St. Louis race-news business was bought by "Annenberg, myself, Kruse, and Ragen" (Kefauver Part 4-A, 30 September 1950).
- 22 August 1939 — The Seventh Circuit records that the Consensus indictment returned on this date named Annenberg with the other defendants, and that "Prior to trial, the defendants Annenberg, Taylor and Kamin were dismissed as defendants" (United States v. Molasky, 1941).
- 1939 — A Senate committee report, as quoted to the Kefauver Committee, calls Continental Press the successor to the Nation-Wide News Service, abandoned by the Annenberg interests in 1939 (S. Rept. 81-1752, quoted in Part 2). The committee staff's Exhibit 40 says that "Continental Press Service was formed after M. L. Annenberg went out of the wire-service business in 1939" (staff memorandum).
- 1940 — Affidavits recited in a federal opinion say that the attorneys for the Annenberg organizations, before final hearing of their Chicago suit against the wire companies, "agreed to close and terminate the entire business"; the court did not decide whether the affidavits were true (Hamilton v. Western Union, N.D. Ohio, 1940).
- 1940 — Molasky testified that Annenberg gave him his shares in the Pioneer News Co. for $1. Asked whether Annenberg had then been indicted and convicted, he answered "I believe he was" (Kefauver Part 4-A).
Moses L. Annenberg appears in these records as the owner of the Chicago race-news bureaus that came before Continental Press and as a defendant named in the 1939 Consensus Publishing indictment. The role line is the Supreme Court’s statement of facts the jury could have found in United States v. Ragen; it is not a finding about any other business.
His own plea, sentence and dates are not stated in any primary record filed here. The Consensus opinion says only that he was dismissed as a defendant in that case before trial. Arthur McBride, testifying in Cleveland in January 1951 (Kefauver Part 6, filed with the Cleveland records), said Annenberg gave up the business “about a day or two before he went in and pleaded guilty in Federal court”; that is a witness’s recollection. A Tacoma Times page of 12 August 1939 on his tax indictment is held back on rights grounds and is not filed.
Records
itemUnited States v. Ragen, 314 U.S. 513 (1942)Supreme Court decision of 5 January 1942 reinstating the tax-evasion convictions of James Ragen, Sr. and Arnold and Lester Kruse in the Consensus Publishing Co. case, and describing Moses Annenberg as "the dominant figure" in several horse-race betting enterprises.itemUnited States v. Molasky, 118 F.2d 128 (7th Cir. 1941)Seventh Circuit decision of 26 February 1941 reversing the tax-evasion convictions of William Molasky, the two James Ragens and the two Kruses in the Consensus Publishing Co. case, on an indictment of 22 August 1939 that had also named Moses L. Annenberg.itemHamilton v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 34 F. Supp. 928 (N.D. Ohio 1940)District court decision of 9 May 1940 dissolving an injunction that had kept Western Union's leased wires running to a Youngstown race-news distributor; the affidavits it recites describe the end of the Annenberg wire organizations in Chicago.itemKefauver Part 5: testimony of Thomas F. Kelly, general manager of Continental Press (18 October 1950), pp. 691-699Continental's general manager told the committee how he worked for James Ragen and Moses Annenberg's news bureaus, how in 1939 Annenberg "was going to give up the news business," and how Arthur McBride took the business over with most of Annenberg's staff.itemKefauver Part 4-A: testimony of William Molasky on the Pioneer News Service and the Annenberg shares (30 September 1950), pp. 652-672A St. Louis witness testified that in 1932 a half-interest in a St. Louis race-news distributor was bought by "Annenberg, myself, Kruse, and Ragen," and that in 1940 Annenberg gave him his shares for $1.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 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.itemKefauver Committee, Cleveland: testimony of Arthur B. McBride (January 1951)Arthur B. McBride appeared voluntarily with Washington counsel, at the committee's request, on the books and records of the Continental Press wire service; his counsel stated that he had never been engaged in any illegal business.