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.
This collection consists of typescripts (photocopies) relating to the court case of John and Sally Goldmark vs. Albert F. Canwell, et ux, et al. in the Superior Court of Washington in 1963-1964. Goldmark, a former Washington State legislator, and his wife Sally filed a claim of libel in response to charges they were members or sympathizers of the Communist Party levied during John Goldmark's unsuccessful campaign for a fourth term in the Washington State House of Representatives in 1962. The papers in this collection include copies of pretrial depositions and oral examinations as well as transcripts of the plaintiff's opening statement and partial transcripts of witness testimony during the trial from November 1963 to January 1964. Included in the testimony transcripts are seven days of testimony from Sally Goldmark (plaintiff), six days of testimony from John Goldmark (plaintiff), four days of testimony from Ashley Holden (defendant), two days of Albert Canwell (defendant) testimony and one day of testimony from Loris Gillespie (defendant).
Series 1: Pre-trial Transcripts, 1963. This series includes typescripts of discovery and pre-trial depositions as well as oral examination of potential witnesses from January, 1963 to September, 1963.
Series 2: Trial Transcripts, 1963-1964. This series contains typescripts of the plaintiff's opening statement and partial transcripts of testimony from November, 1963 to January, 1964. Included in these papers is testimony from John Goldmark, Sally Goldmark, Ashley Holden, Albert Canwell and Loris Gillespie.
This collection is arranged two series, both organized chronologically.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions may apply.
[Item description]
Goldmark Trial Papers, 1963-1964 (Cage 289)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
John Goldmark Papers, 1963-1964
Joseph Wicks Papers, 1930-1974
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.