Josephine Wertheim Pomerance Papers

Jo Pomerance was born in 1910 and lived most of her life in Cos Cob, Connecticut. The following is a resume found in the Pomerance papers. It is dated 1979, one year before Pomerance's death in 1980. More biographical information can be found in Box 20.

"Ms. Pomerance is a Consultant, United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1977 to date. She is United Nations Observer for the Americans for Democratic Action,1972 to date.

"She was a founder and is presently Co-Chairperson with Dr. Betty Goetz Lall, of the ad hoc Task Force for the Nuclear Test Ban, 1971 to date. "Ms. Pomerance is also presently a member of: - The Board of Directors of Americans for Democratic Action. - The National Board of the United Nations Association of the United States of America. (United NationsA/USA) - The Commission to Study the Organization of Peace. - The Council of the Arts of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. - During May- June 1978, she was an Advisor to the United States Mission, United Nations Special Session on Disarmament.

"From 1970-1977, she was Co-Chairperson of the United Nations Association/United States of America`s Committee on Arms Control, Disarmament and Peacekeeping of the Conference of United Nations Representatives, United Nations Association/United States of America Council of Organizations.

"From 1972-1977, she was President of the Southwest Fairfield County (Connecticut) Chapter of the United Nations Association/United States of America "Ms. Pomerance was a member of the Carter-Mondale Task Force on Foreign Policy during the 1976 presidential campaign. "In 1972, she was a special consultant to the Senate Subcommittee on Arms Control and International Organization (The Hon. Edmund S. Muskie, Chairperson) and to the Members of Congress for Peace through Law (The Hon. Dick C. Clark, Chairperson).

"In 1971, she received a special award from the United Nations Association/United States of America in recognition of her work on the Disarmament Issues Committee from 196l-1971, and for her "long and outstanding service to disarmament and a better world order."

"In 1970-1971, she served as a member of the Democratic Policy Council Committee on Arms Control and Defense Policy (Paul C. Warnke, Chairperson).

"In 1965, she received the "Swords into Plowshares" award from the Atomic Industrial Forum for her work in promoting the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The award culminated two years of work by the Educational Committee to Halt Atomic Weapons Spread, an ad hoc group founded and directed by Ms. Pomerance under the Chairmanship of Dr. Arthur H. Larson of Duke University. . "In 1965, Pomerance was appointed to the Arms Control and Disarmament Committee of the National Citizens Commission for International Cooperation (working for the United Nations peacekeeping section) under the chairmanship of Dr. Jerome Wiesner, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"In 1963, she helped initiate the campaign to win public support for a nuclear test ban agreement, acting as Secretary for the Citizens Committee for a Nuclear Test Ban - Ambassador James J. Wadsworth, Chairperson.

"In 196l-1962, she was special advisor on Non-Governmental Organizations to the United States Mission to the United Nations. Previously she served as United Nations Observer on Disarmament Issues for the American Association for the United Nations, an office she is currently filling for Americans for Democratic Action.

"In 1950, she assisted in the formation of the Committee for World Disarmament and World Development, a project of the Jane Addams Peace Association of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

"Pomerance has lectured and written widely on the subject of disarmament and nuclear control. She has been called to testify before Congressional Committees on disarmament issues, and has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Star, The St. Louis Post Dispatch, The Boston Globe and other newspapers. She has also written for such publications as The Nation, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and others. She has participated in many conferences such as Pugwash and Stanley Foundation Strategy for Peace conferences.

"Pertinent material published by her ad hoc Task Force for the Nuclear Test Ban was used in President Carter's noted address at the United Nations in May of 1978. Dr. Richard Gardner of Columbia University, one of President Carter's chief foreign policy advisors said of Jo Pomerance, 'There is no one who has done more to achieve a nuclear test ban treaty.'

"A graduate of Smith College, Pomerance received an M.A. in Political Science from The New York School of Social Research. She is married to Ralph Pomerance, an architect. They have three children. She is the granddaughter of the late Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Sr., who served in President Wilson's administration, the niece of Henry Morgenthau Jr., Secretary of the Treasury under Franklin D. Roosevelt, and sister of Barbara Tuchman, author of The Guns in August, the 1963 Pulitzer Prize selection."