Aristotle Onassis

Aristotle Socrates Onassis (Greek: Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotelis Onasis; 20

Aristotle Onassis
January 1906 – 15 March 1975),[1] commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a
Greek[2][3] shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately owned
shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men.[4] He was
known for his business success, his great wealth and also his personal life, including
his marriage to Athina Mary Livanos (daughter of shipping tycoon Stavros G.
Livanos); his affair with famous opera singer Maria Callas; and his 1968 marriage to
Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of American PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.[5]

Onassis was born in Smyrna and fled the city with his family to Greece in 1922 in
the wake of the Greco-Turkish War. He moved to Argentina in 1923 and established
himself as a tobacco trader and later a shipping owner during the Second World War.
Moving to Monaco, Onassis rivaled Prince Rainer III for economic control of the
country through his ownership of SBM and in the mid 1950s sought to secure an oil
Onassis in 1968
shipping arrangement with Saudi Arabia and engaged in whaling expeditions. In the
1960s Onassis attempted to establish a large investment contract, Project Omega, Born Aristotle Socrates
with the Greek military junta, and sold Olympic Airways which he had founded in Onassis
1957. Onassis was greatly affected by the death of his 24-year-old son, Alexander, in 20 January 1906
a plane crash in 1973, and died two years later
. Karataş, Smyrna,
Ottoman Empire
(now Karataş, İzmir,
Turkey)

Contents Died 15 March 1975

(aged 69)
Early life
Anatolia Neuilly-sur-Seine,
Argentina France

Business Resting Skorpios Island,

Shipping place Greece
Monaco
Nationality Greek
Saudi Arabia
Whaling Citizenship Greek and Argentine
Olympic Airways Education Evangelical School of
Investments Smyrna
Project Omega
Occupation Shipping tycoon ·
Relationships and family
businessman
Athina Livanos
Maria Callas Spouse(s) Athina Livanos
Jacqueline Kennedy (m. 1946; div. 1960)
Death and legacy Jacqueline Kennedy
See also (m. 1968)

References and sources Partner(s) Maria Callas (1959–

External links 68)
Children Alexander Onassis
Christina Onassis
Early life Relatives Athina Onassis
Anatolia (granddaughter)

Onassis was born in Karataş, a suburb of the port city of Smyrna (now İzmir,
Turkey) in Anatolia to Socrates Onassis and Penelope Dologou. Onassis had one full-sister, Artemis, and two half-sisters, Kalliroi
and Merope, by his father's second marriage following Penelope's death. Onassis became a successful shipping entrepreneur and was
able to send his children to prestigious schools. When Onassis graduated from the local Evangelical Greek Schoolat the age of 16, he
urkish, Spanish, and English.[6][7]
spoke four languages: Greek (his native language), T

Smyrna was briefly administered by Greece (1919–1922) in the aftermath of the Allied victory in World War I, but then Smyrna was
re-taken by Turkey during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22). The Onassis family's substantial property holdings were lost, causing
them to become refugees fleeing to Greece after the Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922.[8] During this period, Onassis lost three uncles, an
aunt, and her husband Chrysostomos Konialidis and their daughter, who were burned to death in a church in Thyatira where 500
Christians were seeking shelter from the Great Fire of Smyrna.

Argentina
At age 17 in 1923, Onassis arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by Nansen passport, and got his first job as a telephone operator, with
the British United River Plate Telephone Company,[4] while following studies in commerce and port-duty administration at Aduanas
Argentinas. He later became an entrepreneur, creating an Argentine import-export company, going into business for himself and
making a fortune importing English-Turkish tobacco to Argentina.[9] He obtained Argentine citizenship in 1929.[2][3] Eventually he
established his first shipping trading company in Buenos Aires, Astilleros Onassis. After gaining his first fortune in Argentina, he
expanded his shipping business worldwide and relocated to New York City, USA, where he built up his shipping businesses empire
while keeping offices in Buenos Aires and Athens.[9] His legacy in Buenos Aires was the creation of a shipping empire and a
Hellenic Culture Fund providing youth scholarships & a students/academic international exchange program between Argentina,
Greece, Monaco and the United States; the programs are funded and administered by the Onassis Foundation and eventually were
under the managing direction of his daughterChristina Onassis.

Business

Shipping
Onassis built up a fleet of freighters and tankers that eventually exceeded seventy vessels. Onassis's fleet had Panamanian flags and
sailed tax-free while operating at low cost. Because of this, Onassis could turn a profit in every transaction, even though he charged
one of the lowest prices in the merchant navy market. Onassis made large profits when the Big Oil companies like Mobil, Socony,
and Texaco signed long-term contracts at fixed prices with him for the use of his fleet, while having trouble managing their own
fleets, which operated under US flags and thus at high cost.

Monaco
Onassis arrived in the Mediterranean principality of Monaco in 1953 and began to purchase the shares of Monaco's Société des bains
de mer de Monaco (SBM) via the use of front companies in the tax haven of Panama, and took control of the organisation in the
summer of that year. Onassis moved his headquarters into the Old Sporting Club on Monaco's Avenue d'Ostende shortly after taking
control of the SBM. The SBM was a significant owner of property in Monaco, its assets included the Monte Carlo Casino, the
Monaco Yacht Club, the Hôtel de Paris and a third of the country's acreage.[10] Onassis's takeover of the SBM was initially
welcomed by Monaco's ruler, Prince Rainier III as the country required investment,[11] but Onassis and Rainier's relationship had
Charles de Gaulle.[12]
deteriorated by 1962 in the wake of the boycott of Monaco by the French President,

Onassis and Rainier had differing visions for Monaco. Onassis wished the country to remain a resort for an exclusive clientele, but
Rainier wished to build hotels and attract a greater number of tourists.[13] Monaco had become less attractive as a tax haven in the
wake of France's actions, and Rainier urged Onassis to invest in the construction of hotels.[14] Onassis was reluctant to invest in
hotels without a guarantee from Rainier that no other competing hotel development would be permitted, but promised to build two
hotels and an apartment block. Unwilling to give Onassis his guarantee, Rainier used his veto to cancel the entire hotel project, and
publicly attacked SBM for their 'bad faith' on television, implicitly criticising Onassis. Rainier and Onassis remained at odds over the
direction of the company for several years and in June 1966 Rainier approved a plan to create 600,000 new shares in SBM to be
permanently held by the state,[15] which reduced Onassis's stake from 52% to under a third.[16] In the Supreme Court of Monaco the
share creation was challenged by Onassis who claimed that it was unconstitutional, but the court found against him in March 1967.
Following the ruling Onassis sold his holdings in SBM to the state of Monaco for $9.5 million ($271 million as of 2015),[17] and left
the country.[18] According to Frank Brady inOnassis: An Extravagant Life, Onassis's words about the issue were: "W
e were gypped."

Saudi Arabia
During the oil boom of the 1950s Onassis was in final discussions with the King of Saudi Arabia for securing a tanker transport deal.
Since the Arabian-American Oil Co. (Currently, ARAMCO) had a monopoly on Saudi oil by a concession agreement, the US
government was alarmed by the tanker deal. By 1954, a specific U.S. policy for Saudi Arabia, in addition to strengthening the US
"special position," was to take "all appropriate measures to bring about the cancellation" of an agreement between the Saudi
government and Onassis to transport Saudi oil on his tankers and "in any case, to make the agreement ineffective". [Doc. 128] The
arrangement would have ended monopoly control of Saudi Arabia's oil by American oil companies, but was forestalled by the US
government.[19]

For this reason he became a target of the US government and in 1954, the FBI investigated Onassis for fraud against the U.S.
government. He was charged with violating the citizenship provision of the shipping laws which require that all ships displaying the
[20]
U.S. flag be owned by U.S. citizens. Onassis entered a guilty plea and paid $7 million.

Whaling
Between 1950 and 1956, Onassis had success whaling off the Peruvian coast. His first expedition made a net profit of US$4.5
million. That business ended when The Norwegian Whaling Gazette made accusations based on sailors' testimonials, such as one
given by Bruno Schalaghecke who worked on the factory ship Olympic Challenger: "Pieces of fresh meat from the 124 whales we
killed yesterday still remains on the deck. Among them all, just one could be considered adult. All animals that pass within the range
of the harpoon are killed in cold blood." The venture came to an end after the business was sold to Kyokuyo Hogei Kaisha Whaling
Company, one of the biggest Japanese whaling companies, for $8.5 million.[21] Norwegian authorities suspected the involvement of
[22]
Hjalmar Schacht in Onassis's whaling enterprises. Schacht had previously been connected with Onassis's Saudi Arabian deals.

Olympic Airways
In 1956, Greek airlines in general faced economic difficulties, whereby companies like TAE
were affected by strikes and cash shortage. The Greek government decided to give this and
other companies to the private sector, and, on July 30, 1956, Onassis signed a contract
granting him the operational rights to the Greek air transport industry. When Onassis heard
during the negotiations that he would not be able to use the five Olympic rings in his logo due
to copyright issues, he simply decided to add a sixth ring.

Olympic Airways Boeing

Operation effectively started in 1957, with one DC-4, two DC-6s and 13 DC-3s. The
707, 1973
following year saw 244,000 passengers transported. The agreement lasted until December 10,
1974, when a number of factors (namely, a series of strikes, shortage of passengers, fuel price
increase, and a law from the new Greek government forbidding Olympic Airways to fire employees) led Onassis to terminate his
contract.

Following this event, Paul Ionnidis, a high-ranking director from Olympic Airways, said the following of Onassis: "Deep down, [he]
did not want to relinquish Olympic Airways. He found it flattering to own an airline. It was something in which he took deep pride. It
was his accomplishment. He was married to the sea, but Olympic was his mistress. We used to say that he would spend all the money
he made at sea with his mistress in the sky."

Onassis's time at the head of Olympic Airways is known as a golden era, due to investments he made in training and the acquisition
of cutting-edge technology. For example, in 1959, he signed a deal with De Havilland to buy four Comet 4B jets. Onassis was also
renowned for his attention to service quality, which led him to buy gold-plated utensils and candles for the dining service of the first-
class section.

During 1974, the last year of Onassis's involvement with the company, Olympic Airways transported 2.5 million passengers and had
a work force of 7,356 persons. At the time, his ownership of Olympic Airways distinguished Onassis as one of only two men in the
world to own a private airline, the other beingHoward Hughes of TWA.[23]

Investments
Onassis was involved in the privatization of the Greek national airline and founded the
privatized Olympic Airways (todayOlympic Air) in 1957.

Stocks accounted for one-third of his capital, held in oil companies in the USA, the Middle
East, and Venezuela. He also owned additional shares that secured his control of 95
multinational businesses in five continents. He owned gold-processing plants in Argentina and
Uruguay and a large share in an airline in Latin America and $4 million worth of investments
in Brazil. Also, he owned companies like Olympic Maritime and Olympic Tourist; a chemical
company in Persia; apartments in Paris, London, Monte Carlo, Athens, and Acapulco; a castle
in South France; the Olympic Tower (a 52-storey high-rise in Manhattan); another building in
Sutton Place; Olympic Airways and Air Navigation; the island of Skorpios; the 325 ft
(99.06 m) luxury yachtChristina O and, finally, deposit accounts and accounts in treasuries in
217 banks in the whole world.[24]

Onassis, 1932
Project Omega
In October 1968, amidst the Greek military junta and shortly after his marriage to
Jacqueline Kennedy, Onassis announced the launch of Project Omega, a $400
million investment program that aimed to build considerable industrial infrastructure
in Greece including an oil refinery and aluminum smelter. Onassis had cultivated the
Prime Minister of Greece, Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos, for his assistance with
the scheme, loaning Papadopoulos the use of his villa and buying dresses for his
wife.[25] The project was financially supported by the American bank First National
City, and Onassis's American financial supporters eventually tired of the
unfavourable terms demanded by him. The project was heavily criticized by people
such as Helen Vlachos, a journalist from Athens. Another Greek Colonel, Nikolaos Onassis in 1970
Makarezos, preferred a deal offered by Onassis's rival, Stavros Niarchos, and the
project was eventually split between them. The failure was due partly to opposition
from influential people within the military junta, such as Ioannis-Orlandos Rodinos,
Deputy Minister of Economic Coordination, who
opposed Onassis's offers in preference to Niarchos.[26]

Relationships and family

Athina Livanos
Onassis married Athina Mary "Tina" Livanos, daughter of shipping magnate Stavros
G. Livanos and Arietta Zafrikakis, on 28 December 1946. Livanos was 17 at the
time of their marriage; Onassis was 40. Onassis and Livanos had two children, both
born in New York City: a son, Alexander (1948–1973), and a daughter Christina
(1950–1988). Onassis named his legendary super-yacht after his daughter. To
Onassis his marriage to Athina was more than the fulfillment of his ambitions. He
also felt that the marriage dealt a blow to his father-in-law and the old-money Greek
traditionalists who held Onassis in very low esteem.[27] The couple had become
Onassis's world-famous yacht
largely separated by the mid-1950s, with the end of the marriage coming after
Christina O together with its tender, a
Livanos found Onassis in bed with a friend of hers at their home in Cap d'Antibes,
classic Hacker-Craft.
the Château de la Croë. The house was then acquired by Onassis's brother-in-law
and business rival Stavros Niarchos, who bought it for his wife, Eugenia Livanos,
Athina's sister.[28] Onassis and Livanos divorced in June 1960 during Onassis's well publicised fair
af with Maria Callas.[29]

Maria Callas
Onassis and opera prima donna Maria Callas carried on an affair despite the fact that they were both married. They met in 1957
during a party in Venice promoted by Elsa Maxwell. After this first encounter, Onassis commented to Spyros Skouras: "There [was]
just a natural curiosity; after all, we were the most famous Greeks alive in the world."[30] Callas and Onassis both divorced their
[9]
spouses but did not marry each other although their relationship continued for many years.

Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis ended his relationship with Callas to marry Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. They married on
20 October 1968 on Onassis's privately owned Greek island,Skorpios.

According to biographer Peter Evans, Onassis offered Mrs. Kennedy US$3 million to replace her Kennedy trust fund, which she
would lose because she was remarrying. After Onassis's death, she would receive a settlement of US$26 million; US$150,000 each
year for the rest of her life. The whole marital contract was discussed with Ted Kennedy and later reviewed by André Meyer, her
financial consultant.

Onassis's daughter Christina made it clear that she disliked Jacqueline Kennedy, and after Alexander's death, she convinced Aristotle
that Jacqueline had some kind of curse due to John andRobert Kennedy's assassinations.[31]

During his marriage to Jackie, the couple inhabited six residences: her 15-room Fifth Ave. apartment in New York City, her horse
farm in New Jersey, his Ave. Foch apartment in Paris, his house in Athens, on Skorpios, his private island in Greece, and his yacht
Christina O.[32]

Death and legacy

Onassis died at age 69 on 15 March 1975 at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, of respiratory failure, a
complication of the myasthenia gravis from which he had been suffering during the last years of his life. Onassis was buried on his
island of Skorpios in Greece, alongside his son, Alexander. Onassis's will established a charitable foundation in memory of his son,
named the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, based in the tax haven of Vaduz in Liechtenstein, and headquartered in
Athens. The foundation received 45% of Onassis's estate, which would have been left to his son, with the 55% remainder left to his
daughter, Christina. The foundation consists of two parts; a business foundation which runs various businesses including shipping,
and a public benefit foundation which is the sole recipient of the business foundation.[33] The public benefit foundation funds the
worldwide promotion of Greek culture, funds the Onassis International Prizes for achievement in various fields, and the funding of
scholarships for Greek university students.[33]
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis also received her share of the estate, settling for a reported $10
million ($26 million according to other sources), which was negotiated by her brother-in-law
Ted Kennedy. This amount would reportedly grow to several hundred million under the
financial stewardship of her companion Maurice Tempelsman.[34] Christina's share has since
passed to her only childAthina, at the time making Athina one of the wealthiest women in the
world.[35]

See also
Greek shipping
Skorpios
Christina O
Stavros Niarchos Onassis financed the
construction of the Olympic
Tower in New York.
References and sources
References

1. "Aristotle Socrates Onassis"(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/428916/Aristotle-Socrates-Onassis).

Encyclopædia Britannica.
2. "Biografia de Onassis Aristóteles Millonario Griego Armador de Barcos"
(http://historiaybiografias.com/biografia_ona
ssis/). historiaybiografias.com(in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-11-28.
3. "La Argentina de Onassis"(https://laterminalrosario.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/la-argentina-de-onassis/)
. La
Terminal, ida y vuelta a la realidad(in Spanish). 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
4. New York Times, March 16, 1975, "Headliners, Aristotle Onassis is Dead" by Gary Hoenig
5. "22 iconic photos of life at sea"(http://www.boatinternational.com/luxury-yacht-life/people-parties/iconic-photos-of-life
-at-sea--27381/frame-4). Boat International. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
6. Cafarakis, Christian (1972).Ari: O Fabuloso Onassis. Editora Expressão e Cultura.
7. Gerald A. Carroll. Project Seek: Onassis, Kennedy, and the Gemstone thesis (https://books.google.com/books?ei=rR
yZTNeVCsPQ4gbbrZVo&ct=result&id=5iJ1dFfxjdQC&dq=onassis%2Bevangelical&q=%22Onassis+graduated+from
+the+evangelical%22#search_anchor). Bridger House, 1994,ISBN 978-0-9640104-0-6, p. 50
8. Hussein, Waris, Onassis, the richest man in the world(1988), movie for television.
9. The Diva and the Tycoon" (https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/11/05/reviews/001105.05smitht.html), by Sally Bedell
Smith, New York Times, November 5, 2000
10. Evans 1987, p. 113.
11. Evans 1987, p. 114.
12. Evans 1987, p. 199.
13. "Obituary: Prince Rainier III of Monaco.",The Times, London, 7 April 2005, pg. 58.
14. Nuzum, Thomas. "Monte Carlo Has a Good Feud, but Glamor Is Gone", The Chicago Tribune, Chicago, December
5, 1965, Section 1B, pg. 1|link=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1965/12/05/page/33/article/monte-carlo-has-a-
good-feud-but-glamor-is-gone
15. "Mr. Onassis In Monaco Law Battle.",The Times, London, 22 August 1966, pg. 6.
16. Evans 1987, p. 204.
17. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–"
(https://www.minneapolisfed.org/community/financial-and-economic-education/cpi-calculator-information/consumer-p
rice-index-1800). Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
18. Evans 1987, p. 206.
19. National Security Council (1954)."US Objectives and Policies with respect to the Near East"(http://www2.gwu.edu/~
nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB78/essay2.htm). The National Security Archive. p. 6. Archived fromthe original (http://ww
w2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB78/propaganda%20127.pdf)(PDF) on December 13, 2002. Retrieved
10 April 2014.
20. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (1968)."FBI Vaults File: Aristotle Onassis Part 2 of 11" (http://vault.fbi.gov/Arist
otle%20Onassis/Aristotle%20Onassis%20Part%202%20of%2011) . p. 5. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
21. Dorsey, Kurkpatrick (2013). Whaling and Nations: Environmental Diplomacy on the High Seas
. p. 151.
22. Evans 1987, p. 140.
23. Destiny Prevails: My life with Aristotle, Alexander
, Christina Onassis and her daughter, Athina, Paul J. Ioannidis,
Livani Publishing, 2013
24. "Onasis.gr - Everything about Aristotelis Onasis"(http://www.onasis.gr/). www.onasis.gr. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
25. Evans 1987, p. 231.
26. Evans 1987, p. 237.
27. Evans 1987, p. 102.
28. Evans 1987, p. 154.
29. Evans 1987, p. 190.
30. Evans 1987, p. 173.
31. "Video Biography of Aristotles Onassis"(https://web.archive.org/web/20070325182652/http://www .thebiographychan
nel.co.uk/). Thebiographychannel.co.uk. 11 August 2008. Archived fromthe original (http://www.thebiographychanne
l.co.uk/) on 25 March 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
32. Cheslow, Jerry. "If You're Thinking of Living In/Peapack and Gladstone; Fox-Hunting and High-Priced Homes"(http
s://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/07/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-living-peapack-gladstone-fox-hunting-high-priced-hom
es.html), The New York Times, 7 August 1994. Retrieved 21 March 2011. "She does have a story about Aristotle
Onassis, who rented a home in neighboring Bernardsville with his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis."
33. Michael Knipe. "The legacy of Onassis."The Times, London, 18 December 2001, pg. 11
34. McFadden, Robert D. "Death of A First Lady: The Companion; Quietly at Her Side, Public at the End"(https://www.n
ytimes.com/1994/05/24/us/death-of-a-first-lady-the-companion-quietly-at-her-side-public-at-the-end.html)
, The New
York Times, May 24, 1994. Accessed: 6 March 2015
35. Craig, Olga and de Quetteville, Harry. "Happy birthday, Athina. Here is your £2.5 billion inheritance" (http://www.teleg
raph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/1420120/Happy-birthday-Athina.-Here-is-your-2.5-billion-inheritance.htm
l), The Telegraph, 26 January 2003. Accessed: 6 March 2015

Sources

Ioannidis, Paul (2015).Destiny Prevails: My Life with Aristotle, Alexander

, Christina Onassis and her daughter,
Athina. New York: Significance Press-paperback orkindle edition. ISBN 978-0990757474.
Evans, Peter (1987). Ari: The Life, Times and Women of Aristotle Onassis. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-
009961-4.
Gage, Nicholas (2000).Greek Fire, The Story of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis
. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
ISBN 978-0375402449.

External links
Alexander S. Onassis Foundation official site
Aristotle Onassis: The Golden Greek(documentary on the life of Onassis, in English with Greek subtitles)
FBI file on Onassis

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