Circular dichroisms (CDs) of the o, p'-isomers of 1,1,1-trichloro-and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(chlorophenyl) ethanes (DDT and DDD) were investigated experimentally and theoretically. A series of strong Cotton effect peaks in a characteristic negative-negative-positive-negative, or its mirror-imaged, pattern were observed in the CD spectra of these persistent organic pollutants. The theoretical CD spectra at the SAC-CI/B95(d) and RI-CC2/def2-TZVPP levels well reproduced the experimental ones, enabling us to unambiguously assign the absolute configuration of (+)-DDT and (-)-DDD as S.