Wilbur Cross (1862-1948)

Cross, Wilbur. Connecticut Yankee; an Autobiography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1943. This is the best thing to read about this scholar, writer, and politi­cian. He writes better than anyone else who has written about him, and tells much, much more. It is also the most interesting and informative account of Connecticut politics during the thirties.

Marsh, William John. The Man with a Million Friends, Wilbur L. Cross. New Milford: Marsh Bros., 1934. A 25-page campaign pamphlet.

Murray, Sister Mary. "Connecticut's Depression Governor: Wilbur Cross." Con­necticut History 16(August, 1975). Drawn from her dissertation, below.

—"Wilbur L. Cross: Connecticut Statesman and Humanitarian, 1930-1935."Doc­toral dissertation. University of Connecticut, 1972. Deals with Cross's years as governor. "The first five years of the gubernatorial career of Wilbur L. Cross from 1930 to 1935 reflected social, economic and political struggles during the depression decade." The dissertation "offers an analysis of the objectives and achievements of Governor Cross term by term by the revealing of the pledges of his Inaugural Messages, subsequent State problems and his solutions to those problems. Clashes with the Old Guard of the Democratic Party, with the Republican opposition and with the New Deal have been researched and de­scribed." (from the abstract)

Woodbury, Robert L. "Wilbur Cross: New Deal Ambassador to a Yankee Cul­ture." New England Quarterly 4l(September, 1968)3:323-40. Woodbury discus­ses the ambiguity between "the historical conservative and the uncomfortable liberal" in Cross. An excellent piece; a good bibliography of unpublished sources may be drawn from citations.