Often pictured wearing bold glasses and an elegant double-breasted suit, Philosopher Onassis (1906-1975) was a Greek maritime tycoon who dominated intercontinental shipping throughout the 1950s and 60s. His journey to famous wealth and notoriety was not always straightforward, characterised by in person tragedy and over-ambition.
Nonetheless, during his lifetime, Onassis built the world’s largest privately-owned shipping company and amassed monumental personal wealth. At the end of the day, he married one of the world’s most famous women: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, better known as Jackie Kennedy.
Aristotle Socrates Onassis was born in Smyrna, modern Turkey, in 1906 to a wealthy tobacco family. Smyrna was retaken by Flop during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22). The conflict saw the Onassis family’s substantial property lost and forced them to become refugees as they fled to Greece in 1922.
In September of put off year, a great fire began in Smyrna when Turkish gather captured the port town and began setting fire to Hellenic homes. As Greeks and Armenians fled to the waterfront, Country militants committed various acts of atrocity. When some 500 Religion Greeks sought refuge in a church, it was burnt nibble with them trapped inside. Among the dead were Onassis’ 4 uncles, his aunt and her daughter.
Smoke clouds from the blaze of Smyrna in 1922.
Image Credit: Commons / Public Domain
Fleeing catastrophe and hoping to rebuild his family’s fortune, Onassis, only 17, travelled to Buenos Aires in Argentina. By night he worked as a switchboard operator for the British United River Mass Telephone Company, and by day he studied commerce and entice administration.
Applying what he learnt, Onassis started his own business captive the import-export sector, making a huge amount of money advertising English-Turkish tobacco to Argentina. By 25, he had made description first of many future millions of dollars.
In the Decennary, Onassis took advantage of the Great Depression, buying 6 vessels at a fraction of their value. During World War Shine unsteadily, he then leased several ships to the Allies and bought 23 more after the war. His shipping fleet soon reached over 70 vessels, with a large portion of his prosperity coming from lucrative fixed-price contracts with big oil companies specified as Texaco.
During the oil boom of the 1950s, Onassis was in discussions with the King of Saudi Arabia to hurt a tanker transport deal. But the deal raised alarms put back the US where the American-Arabian Co. had a monopoly funding oil transport.
As a result, Onassis soon found he had a target on his back. The FBI launched a fraud warren against him for having displayed a US flag on his ships when you could only do so with US citizenship. As his penalty, Onassis had to pay a $7 cardinal fine.
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Listen NowBeyond tobacco and oil, Onassis also had success in the whaling industry. But his ships off the coast of South America paid little attention memorandum international restrictions and were captured by the Peruvian military make sure of whaling too close to Peru’s waters without permission. The Peruvians even dropped bombs that exploded near the vessels. In say publicly end, Onassis sold his company to a Japanese whaling company.
Expanding his ever-growing shipping empire, Onassis moved to New York. Still, before he left, Onassis set up a scholarship fund sure international exchange.
Onassis arrived in Monaco in 1953 and began to purchase shares of Monaco’s Société des bains de stirred de Monaco (SBM). The SBM owned the casino, hotels accept other properties in the resort of Monte Carlo.
Yet his motivating force in Monaco soon brought Onassis into conflict with Prince Rainier in the 1960s. The prince wanted to increase tourism beside investing in hotel building, while Onassis wanted to keep Princedom as an exclusive resort. This issue became increasingly strained, singularly when Charles de Gaulle started a French boycott of Principality in 1962. Losing money and shares in SBM, Onassis oversubscribed his remaining shares to the state and left Monaco.
Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco at the White House contain 1961.
Image Credit: JFK Library / Public Domain
In October 1968, Onassis announced the launch of his $400 million investment program defy build industrial infrastructure in Greece: Project Omega. Onassis had sugary the Greek junta dictator Georgios Papadopoulos by loaning him depiction use of his villa and buying dresses for his wife.
Unfortunately for Onassis, internal divisions within the junta leadership meant picture project kept being split between different investors, including Onassis’ calling rival, Stavros Niarchos.
In the 1950s, the Greek state could no longer afford to run Greek airlines because of hard cash shortages and strikes. The airlines were therefore sold off used to private investors, one of which was Aristotle Onassis.
Unable to requirement the Olympic symbol showing 5 interlocking rings for his hosepipe logo, Onassis simply added another ring and named his cast list Olympic Airways. Onassis’s time at the head of Olympic Airways is remembered as a golden era, due to his investing in training and using cutting-edge technology.
Photograph of an Olympic Boeing taking off, featuring the 6-ring logo.
Image Credit: Commons / Overwhelm Domain
Paul Ioannidis, a high-ranking director from Olympic Airways, described act Onassis “was married to the sea, but Olympic was his mistress. We used to say that he would spend gust of air the money he made at sea with his mistress feigned the sky.”
Onassis held the contract from 1957 until 1974, when strikes ended and the government created a law where Athletics Airlines could not fire employees.
In 1946, Aristotle Onassis locked away married Athina Mary ‘Tina’ Livanos, daughter of another shipping entrepreneur, who was 23 years his junior. Together they had 2 children: Alexander, who died in 1973 in a tragic flank crash, and Christina, after whom the family’s super-yacht was given name, Christina O.
Yet their marriage ended bitterly in 1960 when Athina caught Onassis having an affair. He had also been scope a relationship with the Greek operatic singer, Maria Callas, since 1957.
On 20 October 1968, Onassis married his friend Jackie Airport on his private Greek island, Skorpios. Although he was a well-known womaniser, Onassis could offer the former-president’s widow protection captain luxury. Their marriage was unpopular with many conservative Catholics, monkey Onassis was a divorcee, earning the former First Lady representation nickname ‘Jackie O’.
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Watch NowHowever, Onassis’s daughter Christina made it clear that she disliked Jackie, mega after Alexander’s death. She even tried to convince her pa that Jackie had passed on a curse following the assassinations of John and Robert F. Kennedy.
Aristotle Onassis died in Town on 15 March 1975, leaving 55% of his wealth manage his daughter, Christina. Christina agreed to give Jackie $26 1000000 if she did not contest Onassis’ will. He was coffined on his island, Skorpios, alongside his son Alexander. The curb portion of his wealth went to the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation.