Monday, Feb. 08, 1960

Married. Adolph Green, 44, co-author (with Betty Comden) of some of Broadway's brightest hits (Two on the Aisle, Wonderful Town); and Phyllis Newman, 25, stage and screen actress; he for the third time, she for the first; in Manhattan.

Divorced. Charles C. Diggs Jr., 37, Negro Congressman from Michigan's 13th district; by Juanita Diggs, 31; after twelve years of marriage, three children; in Detroit.

Died. Diana Barrymore, 38, John ("The Great Profile") Barrymore's daughter, who made a promising start on the stage in the best Barrymore tradition, but was soon sidetracked by drink and a series of freeloading friends and lovers while juicy tabloid stories and a ghosted autobiography (Too Much, Too Soon) celebrated the events in her decline; in Manhattan. Diana hoped for another comeback in a production of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, hoped also, she told friends, to marry Williams. Fittingly, Friend Williams delivered a realistic eulogy: "She had great talent but no control. Without control, it was like an engine running away."

Died. David M. Hall. 41, Freshman Congressman from North Carolina's Twelfth District, who pursued his career in spite of being confined to a wheelchair from the age of 15 because of osteomyelitis, undergoing surgery 200 times, finally developing cancer; in Sylva, N.C.

Died. Oswaldo Euclydes de Souza Aranha, 65, Brazilian rancher and statesman who gained enough experience from revolutionary clashes of the 1920s to captain the forces that installed Strongman Getulio Vargas as Brazil's President, went on to be Vargas' Ambassador to Washington (1934-38) and Foreign Minister 1938-44), established close relations with the U.S. (though in later years he became disillusioned by U.S. hard-money policies), persuaded other Latin American countries to sever diplomatic relations with the Axis, brought Brazil into the war on the side of the U.S. over the reluctance of his chief and even gave the U.S. submarine bases in Brazil; of a heart attack; in Rio de Janeiro.

Died. John J. O'Connor, 74, Tammany-sponsored Democratic Congressman from New York City (1923-38), chairman of the House Rules Committee (1932-38), who paid for his fight in the House against President Roosevelt's court-packing plan by being the only victim of F.D.R.'s "purge": he lost his seat in the 1938 election while the other two Representatives and nine Senators marked for defeat were reelected; in Washington.

Died. George Strausser Messersmith, 76, schoolteacher turned career diplomat, who implemented his sturdy convictions with tactful restraint in a series of Foreign Service assignments around the world, while Minister to Austria (1934-37) made such an impression by standing up to Hitler that President Roosevelt brought him back to Washington as Assistant Secretary of State, let him reorganize the State Department to meet wartime needs; in Houston. As consul general in Berlin, Messersmith prophetically declared in 1933 that Hitler would start war. While serving as Ambassador to Cuba, Mexico and Argentina during and after the war, he combatted the Communists. In spite of his austere habits and long working hours, he won the affection of Latin Americans, was offered (1947) the chairmanship of Mexican Light & Power Co., a post in which he served with distinction until he retired in 1954.

Died. Major General (ret.) Randolph Carter Berkeley, 85, oldest line general in the Marine Corps, a veteran of the 1914 Mexican campaign and World War I, and Medal of Honor winner; in Beaufort, S.C.

Died. Gavril A. Tikhov, 85, Soviet astronomer whose observation of "blue vegetation" on the planet Mars led him to found a new branch of science called astrobotany and to hypothesize that life could also be found on Venus. Neptune and Saturn; in Alma-Ata, Russia.

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