Archives West Finding Aid

John Goldmark was a Washington State legislator from Okanogan who served three terms in the House of Representatives from 1957 to 1962. Goldmark chaired the Ways and Means and Legislative Budget committees during his tenure. Goldmark's bid for re-election in 1962 was unsuccessful after his opponents launched a campaign that charged Goldmark and his wife Sally were Communist Party members or sympathizers. After the election, the Goldmarks filed a libel suit naming as defendants Albert Canwell, a former Republican state legislator and former chairman of the state Un-American Activities Committee; Ashley Holden, an editor for an Okanogan County newspaper; Loris Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican party in Okanogan County and Don Caron, coordinator for the John Birch Society in Washington state. The jury ruled in favor of the Goldmarks and awarded them $40,000. Ultimately, the ruling was overturned and the jury's verdict set aside due to a Supreme Court ruling in March 1964 that a public official could not collect damages for criticism of his official actions in absence of proof of actual malice.