POMERENE, ATLEE (6 Dec. 1863-12 Nov. 1937), a Democrat, served as Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (1910-11) and U.S. Senator (1911-23) before joining the Cleveland law firm of SQUIRE, SANDERS & DEMPSEY in 1923. He was selected by 2 Republican presidents, first to prosecute (with Owen J. Roberts) cases arising from the Teapot Dome scandal, and then to chair the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Board (1932-33). Pomerene was born in Berlin, OH, to Peter P. and Elizabeth (Wise) Pomerene and educated at Vermilion Institute in Hayesville, OH. He received both an A.B. (1884) and an A.M. (1887) from Princeton University, and a law degree from the Cincinnati Law School in 1886. Admitted to the bar that year, Pomerene began practice in Canton, Ohio, and soon became involved in politics, as city solicitor (1887-91), county prosecutor (1897-1900), and a member of the Ohio Tax Comission (1906).
Called the "gloomy senator," the serious Pomerene was known for his integrity and a lack of dependence on the political machine. He helped create the Federal Tariff Commission and supported the League of Nations but not women's suffrage. He defied both the railroad unions and the Anti-Saloon League, which some said cost him a third senatorial term. He lost to Simeon D. Fess.
On 29 June 1882, Pomerene married Mary H. Bockius of Canton; they lived in Wade Park Manor after he moved to Cleveland in 1923. There were no children. Pomerene received honorary degrees from Mount Union College, the College of Wooster, Miami University, and Kenyon College He died at his home and was buried in Canton.
Pomerene, Atlee. America's Position In the Two World Wars (1917)
———————-. Economy? Yes (1921).
Shriver, Phillip R. "The Making of a Moderate Progressive: Atlee Pomerene," Ph. D. dissertation (1954).