Leonard Goldenson
Goldenson orchestrated the merger of United Paramount Theatres with ABC in 1953 (after Paramount was ordered to spin it off in the wake of "United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.", a 1948 decree of the U.S. Supreme Court). ABC was originally formed in 1943 in the wake of an earlier Supreme Court decree effectively ordering the spinoff of the largely secondary-status "Blue Network" from its then-parent, NBC; its buyer, industrialist Edward J. Noble, tried to build ABC into a competitive Broadcasting company, but by 1951 was rumored to be on the verge of selling the nearly bankrupt operation to CBS, whose management apparently wanted ABC's critically important owned-and-operated television stations.
Americans Battling Communism
Americans Battling Communism, Inc. (ABC) was an anti-communist organization created following an October 1947 speech by Pennsylvania Judge Blair Gunther that called for an "ABC movement" to educate America about communism. Chartered in November 1947 by Harry Alan Sherman, a local lawyer active in various anti-communist organizations, the group took part in such activities as blacklisting by disclosing the names of people suspected of being communists. Its members included local judges and lawyers active in the McCarthy-era prosecution of communists.