Wilbur Lucius Cross, Ph. D.
(April 10,
1862 – October 5, 1948) was an American
educator and political figure who was Governor of
Connecticut
for eight years.
Born in
1862 in Mansfield,
Connecticut
, Cross graduated from Yale University (B.A.
1885) and
served as principal of Staples High
School in Westport, Connecticut
for a short time around 1885 before returning to
Yale as a graduate student, earning a Ph.D. inEnglish
literature in 1889.
Cross, who
became a well-known literary
critic, was Professor of English at Yale University
and the first Dean
of the Yale Graduate School, from
1916 to 1930. Along with Tucker Brooke, Cross was the editor
of the Yale
Shakespeare; he also
edited the
Yale Review for
almost 30 years. He wrote several books, including
Life and
Times of Laurence Sterne (1909) and
The History of Henry
Fielding (1918), and several books on the English novel.
After
retiring from Yale, Cross was elected governor of Connecticut as a Democrat in 1930 and served
as Governor for four two-year terms, from 1931 to 1939. He
was defeated in 1938 in his attempt to gain re-election for a fifth
term. He is credited with passage of several items of reform
legislation during his tenure of governor, including measures
related to the abolition of
child labor,
governmental reorganization, and improved factory laws.
Wilbur Cross High School in
New Haven,
Connecticut
, Wilbur Cross School in Bridgeport,
Connecticut
, and Connecticut's Wilbur Cross Parkway were named in his
honor, as was the Wilbur L. Cross Medal for outstanding
achievement in professional life, awarded by Yale.
The first campus
library at the University of Connecticut
(then Connecticut State College), built with bond
revenues authorized during Cross' governorship and opened in 1939,
was named for Cross in 1942.
Wilbur Cross's
autobiography,
Connecticut Yankee, was published in 1943. He died on
October 5, 1948 in New Haven, aged 86.
See also
External links
As
Literary Figure, Not Politician, University of
Connecticut Advance, November 12, 2002
Wikis
Map
Search