Cross, Wilbur Lucius, 1862–1948, American educator and public official, b. Mansfield, Conn., grad. Yale (B.A., 1885; Ph.D., 1889). He was instructor (1894–97), assistant professor (1897–1902), and professor (1902–30) of English at Yale, where he also was dean (1916–30) of the graduate school. Cross became well known as a literary critic, edited the Yale Review for almost 30 years, and was the author of The Life and Times of Laurence Sterne (1909), The History of Henry Fielding (1918), and books on the English novel. After he retired (1930) from Yale he turned to politics. As Democratic governor of Connecticut (1931–39), he brought about much reform legislation—abolition of child labor, governmental reorganization, and improved factory laws.
See his autobiography, Connecticut Yankee (1943).
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