After V-Day in 1945, he joined the First Marine Division in North China, going up to Beijing, thereby taking part in the liberation of his home from the Japanese.
In January 1946 he married Shirley Foss of Faribault, MN, who supported him and their family through two more years at Carleton and a master's degree at Yale University.
He worked in: Taiwan; Indonesia; Hong Kong; Malaysia; Egypt; Cyprus; London; and also as Senior Civilian Deputy to Commanding General, III Marine Amphibious Force for Pacification Operations in I Corps’ in Danang; Ambassador to Singapore; Consul General in Hong Kong; and as the first Director of the American Institute in Taiwan.
After retiring from the Foreign Service, Cross came to Seattle in 1982 to teach at the Jackson School of International Studies and the History Department of the University of Washington, where he taught for ten years.
His time in academia also included three voyages of the Semester-at-Sea Program of the University of Pittsburgh, and a quarter as Benedict Distinguished Visiting Professor at Carleton College.