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ONCE UPON A TIME, a boy was born in Kaysed, , and his name was JACKIE -style school caps. offi- cially ended in Socrates Onassis. -1918, and the Onassis family had survived it very well. Tobac- Since the fall of Constantinople, the Onassis family and other co could now be exported freely, and it living in Turkey had been subjects of seemed the road to riches had been the Turkish sultan. The Turks were opened. But the war was far from over great warriors, but it was the Greeks for . In 1919, Greek troops, FABUL supported by Allied warships, occu- who functioned as administrators and transacted pied the city. For the next three years, Smyrna most of the business of the Turkish Empire. was Greek. Young Aristo clamped his British- Socrates could have studied at a Greek college style cap back on his jet-black hair and returned in Kayseri and then gone to work as a petty func- to the recently reopened Evangeliki Scholi. He tionary of the sultan's civil service. Instead, he joined a sporting, club and became outstanding started a small business and moved to Smyrna, at water polo. which was then an important, bustling town. More He said later that he.was in line for a place than half its population was Greek. Socrates was three years later, his father married again. Soon on the Greek Olympic team, although he was not soon doing well in the tobacco business, and re- Aristo and his sister Artemis had a baby half sister, yet 16. Maybe. Anyway, he was a strong swim- turned to Kayseri to choose a wife, a young' Merope, who was soon followed by another little mer. When he wasn't swimming, he sailed and Greek beauty named Penelope Dologlu. Their girl, Ca lirrhoe. rowed in the harbor speckled with ships from all first child was a daughter, Artemis. On January 20, Aristo was eight when World War I began: over the world. But the turmoil continued in 1906, Penelope presented her husband with a son, Turkey soon joined Germany. By 1917, Smyrna. In 1922, Turkish nationalists began to named Aristotle Socrates Onassis. abandoned her neutrality and joined the Allies. drive the Greek forces to the sea, and by Septem- The other members of the Onassis family were As a result, Smyrna's Greeks were looked upon ber, they had taken Smyrna. r dedicated to the Greek cause, even though techni- - by the Turks as potential saboteurs. In the quiet Thousands of had poured into cally they were Turkish subjects. But little Aristo of their church, the Smyrna Greeks prayed for the the city ahead of the Turkish Army. The Turkish wasn't interested in wars and Greek patriotic so- success of the Greeks, but outside, they obeyed troops swept into Smyrna so swiftly that there was cieties. The sea was the first thing he saw when he the Turkish and German troops and paid lip serv- no time for the Greeks woke in the morning and the last thing he saw at to escape. Some were shot ice to the sultan's cause. The general who had in the street, others hung from lampposts and night before he turned out the yellow lamp near headed the German military mission to Turkey trees, some lynched by vigilantes. The only safe the window and went to sleep. He developed a now established his headquarters in Smyrna. Aristo parr of the city was the square mile surrounding passionate love for it. and the other boys of the Evangeliki Scholi were the U. S. Consulate, which was guarded by Amer- When Aristotle was six, his mother died, and ordered to wear the Turkish fez rather than English- ican marines. The Turks treated the marines with continued The Onassis formula: Take a chance when others hesitate, pay no taxes if you can avoid them and cultivate the friendship of the famous

By Doris Lilly

PAINTING BY GILBERT STONE COPYRIGHT 0 1170 BY DORIS LILLY. ADAPTED PROM "TNOBB FA.M..01.8 GREEKS." BY DORIS LILLY. TO SE PUBLISHED BY COWLES BODK COMPANY. Loot 6-30-70 31 scrupulous courtesy. But the kathernecks were to a Turkish concentration camp. Alexander had Aristotle's mind raced. He was carrying secret under strict orders to turn Greeks away from the been arrested in Kasaba, tried before a military messages from the prisoners, and the inevitable gate at bayonet point if necessary. kangaroo court as a "traitor" and casually hanged. search would result in much worse than imprison- When the first orgasm of violence was over, in the public square. Aristotle's Aunt Maria and her ment for himself—and God help his father and the Turks began a systematic occupation of the husband Chrysostomos Konialides were also dead. his friends. Waiting for the return of the com- ruined city in an effort to carry out their an- With 500 other Greeks, they were praying for mandant, he and the guard were walking back and nounced policy of ridding Turkey of its Greek divine help when the Turkish troops set fire to the forth in the corridor outside the office. Slowly, population. The Onassis fathily had stayed in church, They were burned alive. Aristotle fell behind the soldier until it was safe for suburban Karatz through the horror, all but Bent on rescuing his father, Aristotle, armed him to stroll casually toward the gate. Aristo's uncle, Homer, who, as a Greek political with Greek chutzpah and his Turkish and American To the soldiers standing guard, he was the agent, was subject to almost certain death. He had passes, visited him in prison twice a day. Through same polite young boy they had seen often in the made his escape and reached . The• rest of the American vice-consul's intercession, Aristotle's past weeks, walking in and out of the prison as the Onassis family did not get off so easily. sisters and stepmother were released from camp though he owned it. His mouth was frozen into a Soctates Onassis was arrested and thrown into a and put on an American ship bound for the safety smile. He waved and they waved. back. Once out Turkish prison. His wife Helen and his three of Lesbos. But to help his father, he needed money. of the gate, he ran to the safety of the U. S. daughters were sent to an evacuation center; here, Lots of money. Marine compound. In minutes, he was in the with hundreds of others, they awaited transporta- - Father Onassis had been in the do-it•yourself office of his friend the vice-consul. He was out- tion horn Smyrna to Greece. banking business as well as tobacco. At his offices fitted in an American gob's-uniform, and within an With his father in jail, it was up to Aristotle on Grand Vizier Han Street, he made loans and hour was aboard an American destroyer, steaming to rescue what was left of the family, to save what kept the valuables of his friends in an old-fash- for Lesbos and freedom. Three weeks later, the was left of the family fortune, to get the family out ioned black safe. A Turkish friend of Aristotle's head of the Onassis family by proxy shepherded of Turkish Smyrna, somehow to start again. father was desperate to retrieve a parcel contain- his charges from Lesbos onto the shores of Greece. When the Turkish advance party reached the ing precious papers and valuables that he had left Onassis house, Aristo was so polite to a general's with Socrates for safekeeping. With passes, papers, adjutant and spoke such perfect Turkish that- he witnesses and an army guard, Aristotle and the he. Greek was asked to stay and make himself useful. The Turk went to Grand Vizier Han Street. community in general liked this bright youngster, and Aristo The building was a smoking shambles, but it obligingly told him everything he wanted to know. had not been looted. They opened the safe, the 1111 What Aristo didn't know was where to find liquor, proper papers were signed and witnessed, and the remembers but he did suggest that he and the adjutant take a Turk got his parcel. After a private conference look in town. The errand was fruitless, but Aristo with the army escort, young Onassis was allowed young Onassis had made a friend of a general and a lieutenant to empty the safe of his father's fortune in Turkish as arrogant and had been able to move around the ravaged pounds. The missing ingredient had been located. city; official connection and mobility—prime req- Inside his father's prison, the situation was and surefooted uisites to fill his new role as head of the family. desperate. Every day, more prisoners would disap- His next stroke of luck arrived when a Ti. S. pear en route to a midnight trial from which they vice-consul, stopping nearby, asked the same would never return. It was only a matter of time A FAMILY COUNCIL OF WAR was called, and it was question as the Turks: where to find booze. Arisro until the nightly list would include the, name of decided that Aristotle, to save his father in was more than willing to try again if it would give Socrates Onassis. Smyrna, must go to Constantinople. There, he -trim the opportunity to drive through Smyrna in Socrates had many Turkish friends in the made the rounds of the appropriate officials and the company of a representative of the mighty Smyrna business community, and the boy reasoned his father's friends, and with a delicacy incredible of America. that if the Turks paid no heed to the Greeks' pleas at his age handled the contacts and financial ar- The fruitless rounds of his father's friends he for mercy, maybe they'd listen to their own people. rangements that would spring his father. It was ex- had made in a Turkish Army car proved no longer He organized a march of 50 leading Turkish pensive, but he succeeded, fruitless in the Model T Ford of the U. S. vice- businessmen. Bearing down on the prison, the Reporting his success at a family meeting consul. Hidden bottles of raki, ouzo and even a marchers flourished a banner protesting the arrest back in Athens, he was astounded that some rela- bottle of French brandy appeared out of nowhere of Socrates Onassis and demanding his release. tives thought he had spent too much money. When and were sold gladly. The vice-consul was im- This probably saved his life. Socrates was released and joined his family, he was pressed. Aristotle's commission was a single bottle. The Turks had issued a decree stating that all proud and happy to see his son, but the boy was He gave it to the Turkish general. Now he had two Anatolian Greeks of military age (17 to 45) must dumbfounded to find that his father sided with friends in high places. From the American, the register for deportation to Greece. Aristotle was those• members of the family who had criticized 16-year-old boy received an identification pass 16. His American protector at the consulate the handling of his release. that would take him in and out of the U. S. strongly advised him to leave before his next Aristotle didn't try to defend himself. If his Marine zone. From the Turk, he had a Turkish birthday. Socrates told his son to go. He was to own father didn't believe he had done the right Army pass to enter and leave the still-smoldering take with him important messages to Athens from thing, if his family didn't have faith in his judg- city. Now he could operate. his father's friends and, with his father's blessings, ment, he would cut out and make it on his own. His father was in a Turkish prison, one of the most of the family money. But first he went to the Resentful and angry, the boy refused to take more hundreds of Greeks being held for summary trial prison to say good-bye, leaving his father 500 than 50 Turkish pounds. He declared he'd make as political offenders. Turkish pounds (then worth about $2,000), ciga- his own arrangements and go to Buenos Aires, Every day, a batch of prisoners was taken to a rettes and food. citizenship or no citizenship. For he was, like all Turkish military post where the trial consisted of a As he was leaving, he was stopped and led to the other Greek refugees from Turkish Asia Minor, reading of the charges. There was no defense. The the office of the prison commandant to be ques- technically without nationality. With 15 of his judge pronounced the sentence, Death. The pun- tioned. Reprieve came straight out of a Warner 50 Turkish pounds, he got himself a special tem- ishment was dealt out swiftly by bored Turkish Brothers' World War II movie. The telephone rang, porary travel •document. Finally, in the torrid heat soldiers who put a rope around the condemned and the commandant was ordered•to Turkish head- of a August, Aristotle Socrates Onassis- man's neck, stood him on a bench and kicked the quarters on the double. He left, but not before waved good-bye to his family and Greece from bench away. Next case. telling Aristotle that he would be back and the the rail of an Italian steamer: Of his father's brothers, only Homer had es- questioning would continue until he got the truth: His voyage to Buenos Aires was a nightmare. caped. John and Basil had been arrested and taken All of it. The boy was placed under guard. An was packed into a cargo hold that had been

32 root 6-30-70 transformed into a sort of dormitory for three hurl Ari later said that in desperation he had de- enough to keep him for a year. It was also his dred men. Promptly at ten each night, the elec- cided to become a sailor, when fate took over in first private capital, the foundation of one of the tric lights were extinguished from above, plunging the form of two young Greeks. They had found world's greatest fortunes. the cramped room into a blacked-our version of jobs with the telephone company and thought he Other orders followed—larger orders and larger Dante's Inferno. could do the same. He wrote down their names and commissions. Slowly, he accumulated money and Steerage passengers were given one meal a the address of the British United River Plate Tele- opened a bank account. Now he could easily have day. They were allowed to line up topside to re- phone Company—and was there bright and early moved into his own apartment—even employed a ceive the slop and could get a breath of air before the next morning. maid if it was mediocre swank he longed for. In- returning with their meal to the hold. He got the job, at a salary that was the equiv- stead, he stayed on at the boardinghouse and kept For $20 more, Aristotle could have transferred alent of 25 cents an hour. For a steady job, he had his job at the telephone company. Soon he had into the luxury of a cabin, where you didn't have to obtain an Argentine identity card. If the appli- enough money to take his next giant step: manu- to eat standing up or squatting on the floor. But cant was under age, he was required to produce a facturing cigarettes: $20 was almost 20 percent of his capital Neverthe- resident of to guarantee he would not In Argentina in the 1920's, this was not as am, less, Aristotle had to get out of the stench of the became a public charge. Sidestepping this, Aris- bitious as it sounds. Two workers in a back room hold and into the clean air—no matter what. lie totle Onassis simply gave the year of his birth as who rolled cigarettes and finished them by hand would make a deal. 1900. Greeks from Turkish Asia Minor were still were sufficient. The whole thing could not have With five dollars, he persuaded the purser to technically stateless, so to avoid more red tape, he cost him more than the five percent commission on let him stay topside, and for the 21 days remaining indicated that his birthplace was Salonika in his first sale, yet Onassis started the business on until they docked at Buenos Aires, he made his Greece, rather than Smyrna. As long as he was credit. Instinctively he knew that the key to wealth bed atop the coiled stern lines. His home was a manufacturing a new birth, he'd be damned if he'd is credit, using your own money as collateral. little round cage, but compared to the stinking hell say he was a Turk. These changes would dog him The cigarettes were moderately successful in below, with the open slop buckets on the floor, it for years to come. the luxury field. They were handmade, and some was the Elysian Fields. He was soon collecting overtime and making had tips that were made of rose leaves. There is an over $100 a month. He asked for and received a job episode in Onassis' cigarette-manufacturing career HE STILL REMEMBERS the dare he set foot ashore: as night telephone operator. Now, his days were that the Greeks don't like to discuss even at this September 21, 1923. free. Friends say that he often slept only three late date. It seems that one of the famous Argen- There's an 80-year-old man in Buenos Aires hours a day. In his free time, he sold cigarettes in tine brands of that time was called Bis. Aristotle today who also recalls that day very well. His name the streets of Buenos Aires, for the same company decided to bypass such formalities as trademarks is Juan Katapodis, and he was then a fruit peddler. in which he would become the major stockholder and cash in on the acceptance of the brand name. When he heard that a shipful of Greek immi- in years to come. But he knew that the money was He called his own cigarettes Bis—and sold them grants was due to arrive, he hurried to the water- in selling thousands of pounds of Turkish tobacco for less than the real Bis cigarettes. front, hoping to find an old friend or friend of a to the Argentine factories, not in picking up a few The owner of the Bis factory didn't take kindly friend from Greece. centavos on the streets. to this type of competition, even from a fellow He remembers a young boy clattering down He started by going through channels, polite- Greek, and sued Onassis. He had to settle out of the gangplank, accompanied by an old Turk with a ly showing tobacco samples he had gotten from court for several thousand pesos and'stop using the white moustache and fez, the old and the young his father to the purchasing agents of all the large Bis name. This was the first of the chain of law- both searching for a new life in a new country on Argentine tobacco firms. He was ignored:, suits that has dragged after him ever since. a new continent. Juan greeted the boy in Greek, presented him JUAN GAONA was the boss of a leading Argentine ABOUT A YEAR AFTER his arrival in Buenos Aires; with a shiny apple picked out of his basket, and cigarette-manufacturing company. Thirty-five Onassis, the stateless non-person, became a full- together they walked across the street to a water- years later, Onassis recalls his name instantly and fledged citizen of not one but two countries. The front bar where they had a cup of coffee. Juan tells smiles. (Aristotle remembers everyone who helped Argentine citizenship for which he had applied, us that even then, oozed con- him, and that is as rare among the super-rich as with the same false statistical information he had fidence, In ten minutes, he and Juan were friends. gratitude is among the super-poor.) Juan Gaona supplied to get his identity card, was granted. As Juan talked a friend into hiring the boy to row was his man, but he still had to be reached. an Anatolian Greek from Turkey, he was also stevedores from one end of the docks to the other Onassis couldn't get an appointment, so he made a Greek citizen under a blanket law by the for a few cents a trip. A few months later, young adopted the autograph seeker's technique. Every Greek Government. Onassis found another temporary job as a con- day when the cigarette executive arrived for work, struction worker. He settled at a small pension there was a dark young man standing outside his THINGS WENT VERY WELL for the young Aristotle: where room and breakfast came to $25 a month. door. He said nothing, asked nothing_ He just He and his father Socrates had reconciled by mail, Members of the Greek community of Buenos stood there looking a little wistful. When Gaona but it wasn't the same thing as healing the wounds Aires are proud of Onassis' later success, but they went to lunch, there was the young man waiting. of misunderstanding face-to-face. An international seem almost afraid to say anything about a man When Gaona arrived home at night, there he was incident propelled Aristotle into taking the next with such enormous power. Those who knew him again—the same young man standing outside. ship to Athens. in these first years say he was a typical boy of the Somehow, the good senor held out for 14 days: It was the summer of 1929, at the height of a docks—sharp, arrogant, surefooted. When he could stand it no longer, Gaona col- prosperity such as the world had never seen before. After his construction job was finished, lared Aristotle and demanded to know what he In Buenos Aires, the social elite played polo by Onassis took a job as dishwasher in a bar. A tight- was after. It must have been with a sense of relief day and bridge by night at the Jockey Club: lipped old Greek friend remembers when Aristo that he learned that all the youth wanted was a Onassis was selling tobacco—and, by now, hides told him how he had personally washed the glass chance to sell tobacco: as well—as fast as he could obtain them. Then drunk out of by his idol, Carlos Gardei, the Armed with permission to use the boss's trouble in the Balkans threatened Onassis' future. great Argentine singer of tangos. "It was as name, Aristotle showed up at the purchasing de- Bulgaria refused to sign a trade treaty with though it was the proudest moment of his life." partment bright and early the following morning. Greece. In an effort to apply some economic pres- Relentlessly, Aristotle made the rounds, For the first time, the agents really looked at his sure, the Greek Government suddenly decreed a searching for a job with some opportunity. Time tobacco samples and found them excellent and 1,000 percent increased import ciuty on goods from and time again, he was turned down. For solace competitive in price. He wrote his first order, for countries that had no official commercial arrange- maybe, he found himself going back to the water- $10,000 worth of Oriental tobacco on the spot and ment with Greece. The blow was aimed at Bul, front. Here, at least, the sea was the same as it had sent it off to his father. His five percent commis- garia, but it landed tight on the head of Onassis: been in Smyrna. And he could hear Greek again. sion was $500. This money would be more than Touchy Argentina had no trade treaty with continued

LOOK 6-30-70 33 Greece. If Greece raised its tariff on Argentine As the Greek acting consul general in Argen- ALL MIS WAS CLEAR to Onassis, but old-line ship- products ten times, Argentina would do the same tina, he had an enormous amount of official power pers were too fearful to see the logic. Already, on Greek products, and one of the major Greek both in shipping and in import-export. He was many of them had more ships than cargoes. These products then being exported -to the Argentine also going full speed ahead in his own business: ships had cost them a dollar, not three cents, was the tobacco Onassis handled. Onassis couldn't Some of his competitors felt that his position as and they were paying more interest in a year believe the Greek Government could be so care- acting consul general gave him an unfair advan- than it would have cost them to buy extra less. Couldn't they foresee the disastrous result of tage. Until he gave up his job in 1935, every door three-cent ships. He was looking for ships, but such a move? He could, and he was still working in the Argentine banking and business world was the three-cent bargains were nor to be found in on a memorandum he intended to present to the open, and he exploited all his contacts. After the fleets of the established shippers. Instead, he Athens authorities when he sailed from Buenos 1935, he didn't need them any more. During this sought out secondhand vessels that had been laid Aires to Piraeus. period, he was usually ignored by Argentine up because of the Depression. society. He lived quietly but elegantly at the Aristotle wasn't looking for small freighters THE MAN WHO WALKED unhurriedly down the first- Plaza Hotel and learned as much as he could of 4,000 or 5,000 tons. He was looking for larger class gangplank in 1929 was very different from about shipping. He was always ready for a wild ships because, he reasoned, the larger the ship, the resentful and determined boy who had left night on the town, but never late for an appoint- the greater the potential, an opinion he shared the same port in 1923. The hometown boy had ment in the morning. without knowing it with , still made good. It was a glorious moment. As the Depression deepened, some of the battling it out in Piraeus. And 10,000 tanners His family clustered around the young mil- best families had to sell their houses in Paris, give didn't cost twice as much as 5,000 tonners in ei- lionaire who, from the moment he could afford it, up their stables and cut down on their servants. ther fuel or wages. hid been quietly supporting the widows of his Things were so rough that a young lady from one He heard about ten 9,000 and 10,000 tonners; martyred uncles and educating their children in the of Buenos Aires' leading families, whose father owned by the Canadian National Steamship best schools. He was home now. The only thing was in difficult financial straits, offered herself in Company, for sale for about $30,000 apiece. that marred the reunion was the weakness of his marriage to Aristotle in much the same way a Pericles Dracoulis, a highly respected ships' bro ailing father. - vestal virgin in a final spasm of sacrifice threw ker in London, had told him about them. Taking a Onassis had finished his memorandum, and it herself on the mercy of the. invading. Visigoths. Dracoulis - engineer with him, Onassis left im- was presented to Premier Eleutherios Venizelos Aristotle liked the girl well enough, the way mediately for Montreal. within a week. The slightly brash, 23-year-old Ar- you like someone you don't think about often gentine-Greek was called to meet the aged hero of enough to dislike, but he certainly had no inten- Greek politics. tion of marrying her, and said so. Horrified to be e discovered The following day, the decision was made to turned down, she pointed'out that she'd thought early the secret exempt Argentina from the strong provisions of a Greek would jump at the chance to marry into the decree, and Aristotle was appointed envoy ex- Argentine society. "Not this Greek," was his of many great traordinary of the Greek Government. His in- reply. Aristotle's tobacco business prospered, as fortunes. It structions were to return to Argentina as soon as did his trading in bides and grain. He began to possible to undertake negotiations with the Ar- deal in whale oil, an exotic item that was to play a is: use OPM gentine Government. No stinking holds this time vitally important role in his future business career. (Other People's out. It was first dass all the way. Six years after He was making frequent business trips to Europe, his arrival in Buenos Aires as a stateless immigrant and as a trader, he knew that the fluctuations Money). with a few dollars and no prospects, Onassis was in prices of commodities could make or break returning with two nationalities, a million dollars, him overnight. a diplomatic passport, and entrusted with a deli- IT WAS A COLD GRAY DAY in the winter of 1932 cate assignment that would affect international FEW MEN had any faith left in the future of ship- whenH Aristotle stepped aboard a ship covered with relations That was 1929, the last year before a six- ping. If they. were already in the business, they ice and snow and frozen in her chains in the ice- year economic hangover. were sitting it out in safe harbor, waiting for the packed St. Lawrence River. He zigzagged across economic storm to subside. The two men who her snowy decks, checking, probing, looking and IN BUENOS AIRES, our new diplomat succeeded saw the shipping panic not as a disaster but as an asking question after question. He ran from freez- brilliantly in his mission of matchmaker and opportunity were Aristotle Onassis and Stavros ing engine room to abandoned cabins and out smoothed away the friction so that a Greek- Niarchos. They both knew it wasn't enough just again onto a lower deck. Argentine treaty could be effected. In December, to own ships. You had to follow the fluctuations He made a tentative offer of $20,000 for each he was appointed Greek acting consul general in in world trade and be able to guess right about of six ships, and returned to London to thrash Buenos Aires. the future prices of commodities such as grain, out the details and submit himself to the cus- With the bulk of the Greek merchant fleet since the rates paid for shipping such .commodi- tomary haggling. putting in at Buenos Aires, and with hundreds of ties jumped up and down rapidly. A ship could He discussed this tentative deal in London hard-living, hard-drinking Greek seamen in and become an iron ulcer, bleeding the owner to with members of the fraternity on the town, the consul was kept jumping getting death day by day until he could get cargo. who, out of malice, bad judgment, envy or maybe them out of scrapes. There was the, endless paper Fortunately, Onassis was a trader. Maybe he all three, told him without exception that he was work and red tape to plow through, plus the didn't know as much about shipping as some of crazy to buy ships when there were no cargoes. added headache of trying to settle disputes his potential competitors who had been in the For one of the few times in his life, he listened to between crews, owners and port authorities. business for generations, but he could ferret out others. He first cut his offer to two ships, then The consulate in Buenos Aires was clearing potential cargoes and forecast prices. after some furtherthought, increased it to six. He nearly a thousand ships a year when he took over, Old ships were selling at incredibly low could have had ten. but soon after his appointment, the number prices. The same prices, in fact, for which they The $120,000 was paid in cash by Aristotle began to shrink because of the 1929 crash. This could be sold for scrap. You could buy something himself, and he still frowns when he remembers was the mournful harbinger of a world economic that had cost a dollar for as little as three cents, how he tried and failed to get the money from crisis that would last for years and bring starvation and you could sell it for almost three cents for British banks. Even though he had enough mon- and ruin to millions. But there was a golden lin- scrap. But (and herein lies the.key) this same ship, ey to buy ten times as many ships, he hated to use ing hidden in the gloom for a handful of future as a ship, had a potential value of many times over his own capital. It was the story of the tiny to- millionaires who could look ahead. Aristotle three cents. It could earn its price back in a year bacco factory all over again, and it is the secret Onassis was among the seers: if you were lucky enough. of most of the world's great fortunes. Use OPM

34 LOOK 6-30-70 (Other Peoples Money) and keep what's yours chos. The woman: Ingeborg Dedichen. for leverage and collateral. Pay interest on the Aristotle Onassis was then 28, already a mil- When Onassis met Ingeborg, she was un- lionaire and a burgeoning shipping magnate. That money you borrow and, if the deal is sound, the happy because her husband had left her. She had interest is only a tiny fraction of potential profits. , was the year he met Ingeborg Dedichen. Niarchos taken, this trip to forget. had already been married and separated from his Of course, never pay—and I hope you'll excuse Although Ingeborg's transient husband had the expression—taxes. If you're a genius and a first wife after only a year. left her without a kroner, she soon had a cozy Greek shipowner, its all legal. _ Superficially at least, the two greatest ship- house in Paris where she entertained her newfound owners of our time liked each other when they friend. Some men want dozens of women. But met. Niarchos no doubt admired the wily acumen ABOUT TWO YEARS AFTER Aristotle had bought there are others, and Aristotle Onassis is one of that had advanced Onassis from a penniless Greek his ships, there were the first signs of an easing them, who like all women but seem to only love one in the world depression. The newest member of emigrant to a millionaire Argentine entrepreneur at a time. All his serious romances have lasted for in a few short years. Certainly, he envied Onassis' the Greek shipping fraternity took his bargain- years. His relationship with Ingeborg Dedichen, basement ships out of their mothballs one at a personal ownership of an embryo merchant fleet, curiously, proved to be the most lasting of them for Niarchos' own growing passion for ships and time, and became an operating shipowner. Before all. Long after their ten-year affair ended and he long, his ships were showing more profit than shipping vas not to be satisfied with a small per- married, they remained the best of friends. They centage of the ships owned by his uncles. those of his wary competitors who had been in still are today: She will never want for money as shipping for generations. Onassis must have admired Niarchos' gleam- long as Onassis has a few million left. ing Bugarti and his graceful handling of his sail- He registered some of his ships in Greece One of the first places they went in the first and some in Argentina—in Argentina because ing yacht. He may well have envied his dash, his flush of their romance was to Sweden and Nor- easy manner and his arrogant polish. What Onas- that was the base of his operations, and in Greece way. Through her father, Ingeborg knew many because at that time, the Greek wage scale for sis didn't know was that the Bugatti wasn't paid Scandinavian shipping people. Certainly, she was for, and the yacht belonged to a Niarchos cousin: seamen was the lowest in Europe. Also, the Greek helpful when, a year later, Onassis followed up safety standards were low,. which helped cut costs, They shared a taste for high living, but nei- his tanker-building plans by negotiating with the ther would let his appetites interfere with his pri- as did the lack of a strong Greek seamen's union Swedish shipyards in Goteborg. to hold out for such expensive frills as overtime. mary purpose: achieving success in shipping and Making all the motions of a man in love, but the wealth it would bring. Nevertheless, there were some rules and regu- not enough to prove it with marriage, Aristotle lations even on vessels of Greek registry. The - Onassis had been treated as a pushy intruder took Ingeborg along to Argentina, the U.S. and by the old established Greek shipping families most annoying was that all the crew had to be England, wherever he went to nurse his fleet from Greek citizens. in London and Greece. By this time, his fleet, infancy into sturdy growth. Aristotle improved though small, was operating around the world, The Greek Government was talking about his French enormously, made an occasional trip to putting in rules and regulations covering opera- and he was seriously considering building his own Van Cleef & Arpels, and began to appreciate the tankers. By most standards, he could consider tion of vessels, and even some sort of retirement value of fine furniture and paintings and the and injury benefits for Greek seamen. Worse still, himself as having "arrived." Yet the old-line luxury of a chauffeur-driven car. • Greek shipping families still did not seem to want there were rumors in Athens of raising the almost Despite his love of Paris, his headquarters nonexistent taxes on Greek shippers. to accept him. He could hardly have escaped the remained in Buenos Aires, and he began to spend feeling that they didn't think he was quite as good Things were getting so bad that an Onassis his summers in Greece. It was in Athens that he ship was held up in Rotterdam until it could re- as they were. first met his future sometime brother-in-law; The Greeks harbored a vague mistrust of those place a cook with a Greek, and there wasn't a sometime partner and sometime hated rival: Greek seaman—much less a Greek cook—in the few who became successful under the Turks, sus- Stavros Niarchos. pecting them of being toadies. As a 16-year-old port. Onassis himself hurried from London to The Onassis-Niarchos relationship is a Holland to intercede personally with the Greek saga boy, Aristotle Onassis had indeed cultivated the in itself, and the driving force behind each man's Turkish general who had requisitioned the family consul there to let his ship proceed with another life. Today, they are two of the richest men in the cook even if he couldn't turn out a decent dish of house in Smyrna, and it was only the intervention world, and withikt question, the two greatest of such influential Turks that saved his father's beam bayildi, but the consul flatly refused. It was ranker operators. In business, their ferocious life. Onassis has never been a professional Greek regulations. Regulations be damned! Burning up rivalry, although abnormal, has been mutually the telephone and cable lines, by the next morn- in the same sense that so many New Yorkers be- stimulating. It has produced fundamental changes come professional Irishmen after their seventh ing, Onassis had changed the registry of his ship in world shipping and shipbuilding and has had from Greece to Panama. beer or third martini. But he had done nothing to an impact on world economy and politics. be ashamed of during the Smyrna episode, and in Panama was the first country to invent the During this time, their personal lives have "flag of convenience," which means that no mat- later years recounted his role with pride. Never- often seemed intertwined through partnership, theless, his enemies have consistently painted the ter what nationality a ship's owners have, the ship marriage, nationality, business vision, occupation, can be registered in Panama and fly the Panamani- story in such a way as to impugn his patriotism taste, habits, age and even appearance. Though and twist him into a Greek junior Quisling: an flag. Panama's standards for its ships are the each would loudly deny it, it is doubtful if either Onassis has resented this, and with reason. minimums an insurance company will allow. No has made any major personal or business decision other country's tax rates on shipping profits can , Stavros Niarchos' mother's family were lead- without thinking of how it would affect the other. ing Greek flour millers by the turn of the century. compete with Panama's. The only tax there is a The paradox in their dislike for each other has minuscule ten cents per annum per ton. Onassis With well-established business and social con- its roots in their basic similarities and superficial nections through his mother's family, and with his was a pioneer in registering his ships under the diflerences. They are both highly competitive, Panamanian flag of convenience. father, a partner in a very successful business, driving, ambitious men. Each wishes to surpass Stavros enjoyed a happy and secure youth. Un- As the Onassis ships began to move into or preferably wipe out the other in every field of more parts of the world, so did their owner. In his like Onassis, he did not grow up in conditions endeavor, including the attractiveness of wives. of constant fear and intimidation. quest for more and better cargoes (and always Thus they have become rivals not only in business, more ships), Onassis began to make trips to While the 18-year-old Onassis was working but also in their social lives. Again, the underlying the night shift as an operator for the Buenos Europe and the United States with increasing bitterness of feeling each has developed for the regularity. His rise was steady and assured now. Aires Telephone Company, the precocious 15- other far surpasses mere rivalry. year-old Niarchos was being fitted by the family When the two men first met in Greece in tailor for clothes appropriate for a young man IN 1934, during a trip to Europe, Onassis met a 1934, Stavros Niarchos was 25. He was a hungry about to enter Athens University. But before he man and a woman who were to play vitally im- businessman but a well-established member of portant roles in his life. The man: Stavros Niar- could enter law school and take what he con- Athens society. He had everything but money. sidered his rightful position in Athens business continued

LOOK 6-30-70 35 and social life, his father lost all his money. Aires, so he was really 35, and eligible for military Ships had played a major part in the Allied Niarchos went to work for his uncles as assistant service. We know he didn't serve, but we don't victory, but at a bitter cost. Of the official total, manager • in their Piraeus flour mill, hoping to know why. of 450 Greek ships that participated, 360 had been make the money that would be his passport back In the summer of 1.942, Ad was back tending last. Onassis' luck had held throughout the war, to the gracious life he remembered with longing. store in Buenos Aires. Argentina's huge Italian however. Of the major Greek owners, he alone He was not treated like a poor relation—not ex- population was rooting for B Duce's victory, had not lost a single sailor or ship. That is, unless actIy; but decision-making at the mill was in his while her Germans were watching Hitler's Russian you want to count the two he had sold to the uncles' hands, not his, and this was where the advances with pride. Argentina was officially Japanese before Pearl Harbor, which had been treasure lay. neutral, but a little more neutral on the side of the sunk by the Americans.. Around the time Niarchos and Onassis first Axis than on the side of the Allies. The ships he had chartered to the War Ship- met, Niarchos had managed to get his foot in the Ari has never been a political animal. Causes, ping Administration had each earned him close to door of shipping. He knew the really big money movements and wars leave him wracked with a quarter of a million dollars a year. The Foreign in shipping was in tankers and bigger ships. So yawns. Being a Greek and liking America, he Funds Control Division of the U. S. Treasury had far, all he had to call his very own was a piece of naturally wanted the Allies to win, but he never kept a careful eye on his American profits, but as his uncles' rusty freighters. He wanted to build got fanatical about it, and as far as we know, did the ships had been under Panamanian registry, his own giant ships. Onassis was already dicker- nothing concrete to help, such as volunteering for and he was an Argentine citizen, almost all the ing with the Swedish shipyards for construction active duty, contributing money to a cause or profits of the corporation that owned them had of his own tankers, which would be the biggest offering his intellectual services on a dollar-a-year escaped the Bureau of Internal Revenue. in the world. -basis. Certainly, he was close to. the Argentines At the end of World War II, Onassis'• family Onassis had a long head start, but Niarchos and the leaders of their Axis-leaning government. was safe. His fleet was intact. He had made more vowed -he would catch up and then pass him, Before Onassis left Argentina on one of his influential friends in the United States and Argen- going full speed ahead. Onassis was nor a man many trips to the United States, somebody put in tina. With his wartime profits, his fortune was to be passed. a report in Buenos Aires saying he was anti- - estimated at $30 million. It had not been a bad Each man longed first for recognition from American. He didn't know it at the time, but this war for Aristotle Socrates Onassis. the stuffy fraternity of Greek shipoWners and report went to the FBI earl was considered im- then to lead the pack. Each man wanted accept- portant enough for J. Edgar Hoover personally to As WARTIME SHIPPING was gradually phased out, ance. Each man was hell-bent on making the big- write a letter to Rear Adm. Emory S. Land, then Onassis again went against the tide in his search gest fortune there was to be made in shipping. the head of the War Shipping Administration. for new and additional tonnage. He wanted ships, The lives and careers of Onassis and Niarchos ' The letter, dated July 16, 1942, was marked and he wanted bargains. So why not wait for the were dead set on a collision course. "Personal and Confidential by Special Messen- hundreds of U. S. Government-owned Liberties ger," and read as follows: and tankers that would surely be available soon? My Dear Admiral: Aristotle pondered his future and made a Information has been received from a confi- decision. Europe was a mess and would be for dential source that Mr. Aristotle Onassis, who is some time to come. America was now the place reportedly part owner of the tankers "Calliroy" where the big money was to be made. and "Antiope," was scheduled to depirt for the He bought a house in Oyster Bay, not far United States on Thursday, June III, 1942, by Pan from that of his friend Alberto Dadero, and de- American clipper from Buenos Aires, Argentina. cided to make his home as well as his According to the informant, the purpose of Onas- permanent base of operations. sis' visit is to continue the negotiations for the Marriage was also on his mind. He would sale of these two tankers to the War Shipping Ad. not marry Ingeborg. He knew exactly what the ministration. girl he married should be: She would be Greek, The- informant advised there is no informa- of a good family and good character. It wasn't tion available indicating Mr. Onassis has any too much to hope she'd be rich and preferably. FROM THE TIRE Onassis first cultivated the. Turk other motive for making a trip to the United from a Greek shipping family. If possible, she ish genera! until he began to know Sir Winston States, but it was reported he has expressed senti- should also be young and beautiful. Churchill, he has always romanced those more im- ments inimical to the United Stares war effort, and Aristotle Onassis had met Mr. and Mrs. portant than he, or shose who could be of use to that his activities and movements while in the Stavros Livanos' shortly after they arrived from him. From the time he laid siege to Sefior Gaona United States should be carefully scrutinized, Montreal in 1942 to take up residence at the Plaza when he was a poor boy in Buenos Aires to the Sincerely yours, John Edgar Hoover Hotel. Ari has said he remembers the exact time time he laid siege to Jackie Kennedy. when he was Onassis knew nothing of the letter, nor and date he first saw the two Livanos daughters. a rich• shipowner in New York, this essentially dreamed that he was under surveillance by Gov- It was on Saturday, April 17, 1943, at 7 p.m. The proud man has been capable of extreme humility, ernment agents on his trips from New York to girls were shy 16- and 14-year-olds home from if that is what it takes to get what he wants. Hollywood and to Buenos Aires. boarding school for the weekend. Until December 7, 1941, when America en- For three years, he watched them. Eugenia, tered, the war, Aristotle Onassis flew back and As THE WAR PROGRESSED, the Onassis ships the elder, was soft and dark. Athina, whom forth between Argentina, New York and Holly- steadily added to the Onassis fortune as they everybody called Tina, was blonde and outgoing. wood. But once America was at war, all aliens plowed the seas hauling war cargoes for the U.S. She was a little bit of a tomboy and willful in the from Allied countries who were of military age war effort. Ad moved up socially as he moved up way a younger daughter-can be. Both were beau- were subject to the draft. Aliens from neutral financially, spending increasing amounts of time ties. Eugenia was more like the heroine of an old- countries, however, did nor have to serve. with the leading Greek shipowners in New York fashioned romantic novel—modest and quiet, she Onassis now had a choice between thinking and the upper echelons of Hollywood's film never disobeyed her mother or father. She spoke of himself as an Argentine or a Greek. There was colony. His social rise in Buenos Aires was also English and French at school and beautiful, pure also the matter of the confusion about his age as steady, as he became more and more intimate with Greek at home. given in his passport. According to this, he was Alberto Dodero, who was financially the most The Livanos girls were now• old enough to 41 and not subject for military service, as the powerful man in Argentina. rake their place in the social life of the Greek government only wanted men between the ages On September 2, 1945, the forces of the colony. They were allowed to go to movies with of IS and 37. But he had added six years to his Japanese emperor humbly, surrendered. As quick- their father's friend Ad, and afterward to Rum- age to get that telephone-company job in Buenos ly as it had begun, the war was over. pelmeyer's for American hot-fudge, sundaes. It continued on page 41

36 LOCK< 4-30-70 was all very proper. And all very Greek. shipping. The Onassis fortune of untold millions in the United States—the five largest tankers Stavros Livanos admired Onassis' business dates from this period, and its major contributors in the world. They would cost a total of $40 ability and had probably thought of him as a were United States business and the American million, and Onassis had engineered the whole possible son-in-law, but without enthusiasm. taxpayer. One oil executive recalls that every time thing without putting up a dime of his own Livanos' ships and his family were the only he turned around, there was Onassis, or one of his money. Triumphantly, he and his young wife things that mattered in his life. Onassis may have Contact men; inviting him to a party. sailed for Europe for their first summer holiday. had every other qualification to suit Livanos, but Finally, Onassis persuaded the head of the At Santa Margherita Ligure, he met his old he was old enough to be Eugenia's father. National City Bank to lend him the necessary friend and mentor from Argentina, Alberto Livanos was still Greek enough to think it was up money to buy 16 Liberties. The bank put up Dodero, who was escorting Evita Peron on her to him to choose his daughter's husband. only half the money, and the terms of repay- European grand tour. Aristotle, Alberto and Evira While all this was going on, Ingeborg had ment were stiff, but this was a major breakthrough had a cozy lunch, cooked by Evita herself, but been gradually phased out of Onassis' life, just as for Ari. He was able to chip through the frosty Ari picked up the tab by writing Evita a check for the old Liberties were being phased out of Ameri- New York bank not only because he had con- $10,000 for one of her charities. Its one of the can shipping. vinced them the loan was sound, but because he very few charitable gestures of Ares I've ever been One woman at a time. Now, it was the sweet had already persuaded Government officials that able to uncover. Of course, Evita and her husband, and lovely Eugenia. Finally, he decided to ask for he was a logical shipper to use for the dispatch the dictator of Argentina, were grateful, so you her hand. (He knew he would have to get her of coal ro devastated and Germany under could say it was for a good cause. father's permission also, but he felt that when the continuing U.S. aid program. In effect, the The personal life of Aristotle Onassis and Livanos thought it over, he would have to come loan was guaranteed by fat Government con- Tina seemed happy during these early years of around.) He asked her. And she refused. tracts, and the whole program was, in the final marriage. In the spring of 1948, they became the An couldn't believe it. She was gentle about analysis, underwritten by the U.S. taxpayer: parents of a son, christened Alexander. it, and very fond of him as a friend, and _very Now he was ready to put his master plan kind. But she refused. into effect. He needed brand-new, enormous ON JUNE 25, 1950, North Korean troops invaded They remained friends, and • she seemed as tankers built to his specifications and incorpo- South Korea,'and two days later, the United States anxious as ever for him to take her to the movies rating everything he had learned from the ship- found itself at war again. Onassis cabled the or a new Broadway show. She always brought ping business. They:would all be built with American Government, offering his ships, "as if along her younger sister Tina. other people's money. Forty million dollars they were of United States ownership," and his Probably An knew about a high school worth of OPM. It was a brilliant concept that personal services: romance between Tina and John Vatis, the son of was to make him one of the largest fortunes in . . UNCONDITIONALLY AND UNDER ANY a well-known 'Greek shipping family. He may the world. CAPACITY WHATSOEVER NO MATTER HOW HUMBLE have known that her father had absolutely for- I am certainly nobusiness economist, but OR RISKY OR DANGEROUS STOP I SPEAK SIX LAN- bidden her to see Vatis again. What he didn't I am a keen observer of billionaires. How this GUAGES GREEK BORN A NATURALIZED ARGENTINE know was that if Eugenia didn't want to marry Greek immigrant wheeled and. deakd his way CITIZEN WITH SEVERAL YEARS OF CONSULAR SER- Aristotle Onassis, Tina would. This 17-year-old into one of the largest fortunes in the world is VICE AS ACTING CONSULAR GENERAL OF GREECE girl had a will as strong as her father's. She was as ingenious. This is how he did it: First, he planned IN BUENOS AIRES WITH MANY YEARS OF THOROUGH determined to marry An as he was determined to to sign a contract with an oil company to carry KNOWLEDGE AND CONNECTIONS IN THE NEAR ger ships. They both succeeded. its oil at a fixed price for a long period of time, EAST WESTERN EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CON- After the wedding ceremony, when Tina using a ship that would satisfy its standards. TINENT I AM MARRIED TO A BRITISH BORN GIRL opened the envelope containing her dowry, the The oil companies have never had enough AND FATHER OF AN AMERICAN BORN BOY TWO rumor among the Greek shipowners was that her tankers of their own to carry all their oil, and AND A HALF YEARS OLD husband had been far from overjoyed. There had they didn't particularly want them. American oil ARISTOTLE S. ONASSIS been talk that many millions of dollars or at least companies' tankers would have to fly the Ameri- His growing list of enemies and envious com- thousands of tons of the Livanos fleet would go can flag and pay high American wages. It was petitors put down his offer as an attempt to curry to the newlyweds. The rumor is that the envelope always cheaper to hire foreign tankers: favor with the Americans, who had been so useful, contained only the promise of two ships, which With his plans made, Onassis now went after and with the American Government, where ques- the old man later changed to one ship, a surplus the money. He scampered around the deep stone tions were beginning to be asked about the Liberty that he was to acquire through the Athens canyons of Wall Street and whirled up into the acquisition of surplus ships by aliens, through surplus quota. As only the down payment had dizzying heights of its elevators, seeing the leaders subterfuge. Anyway, the Government failed to been made on it, the new owners were responsible in American banking and the high priests of fi- accept his generous offer: for the mortgage payments: nancial institutions, outlining his proposition. He In December, 1950, Tina and Ari's second For their house, however, Mr. Livanos came' needed two million dollars to build the largest child, Christina, was born. During the next five through. Tina and An found a four-story town and'rnost modern tanker in the world. What was years, Onassis created, operated and then sold the house at 16 Sutton Square, and although the his collateral, they asked? His collateral was the largest and most efficient whaling fleet in history. price tag seemed outrageous, Papa Livanos duti- contract with the oil company, which would more He created the most modern tanker fleet ever to fully plunked down $460,000. It was deeded not than cover the loan. Only he didn't have it yet. sail the seven seas. He bought and gently revived to the couple, but to a special corporation set up Still running, he convinced the Mobil Oil Monte Carlo, formerly the most fashionable resort for Tina; called the Tina Realty Corporation. Company to sign a charter for 60 months for a in Europe, which was fading like an elderly By assuming the expenses of furnishing and gigantic 28,000.ton tanker: courtesan. He feuded with her storybook prince practically rebuilding the house, Ari contributed With the contract from the oil company in and princess and made world headlines. He was as much as, if not more than, his father-in-law. his pocket, he went to see Paul Miutheim of indicted by the U.S. Government for/fraud. He When it was finally finished in the fall of 1946, Lehman Brothers, who thought the formula was was fingerprinted like a common, everyday crimi- it had cost Onassis a cool million dollars: brilliant and turned him over to his associate, nal and formally committed to jail (for 15 min- Mrs. Onassis was a pleasant if not vibrant Herman Kahn, who in turn brought him to Harry utes). He began negotiations to buy a national hostess, and the couple were to be found almost Hagerty of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Com- airline. He bought abodes around the world that nightly at the theater, which they both loved, at pany. Hagerty arranged a loan of $2 million to rivaled the Xanadu of Kubla Khan. He met with El Morocco or at home giving dinner parties: build his first ship. kings, presidents and prime ministers on terms of Within a few months, The Texas Company equality. He made hundreds of millions of dollars. IN New YoRK, Ari was busy with negotiations () signed up with Onassis, and now he had Although Tina is known as terribly thrifty, that were to take him to leadership in world oil a total of five supertankers under construction neither she nor An had to worry too much about continued

LOOK 6.30-70 41 how much the yacht he was building in Germany were Rainier's family retainers, who screamed to and was examining the books. was going to cost. When the Christina was com- their monarch that Onassis couldn't run The whole episode was incredibly compli- pleted, she would be the most luxurious private like one of his non-union tankers. cated and hopelessly tangled in legal technicalities. yacht afloat. Then there were the yachts. During the Ad- Onassis employed the service of no fewer than 375 There was only one man in the world who Rainier salad days, Onassis had arranged for of the best lawyers in America alone. Onassis' law had a vessel that could compare to the one that Rainier to find a real bargain in the 135-foot Den firms had gone over every detail of the transactions Tina and An were designing. That was Stavros Juvante. The rumors, which both men tried to at the time and advised him that they were strictly Niarchos, whose graceful new Creole is still the squelch, insisted it was a gift from Onassis. But within the law. The War Shipping Administration largest and most opulent privately owned sailing Aria new yacht, the $2,500,000 Christina, sat had approved all the deals, but now the Justice vessel afloat. There was only one man who could bigger than life in Monte Carlo harbor. Department was using these same approved deals compete with the Onassis fleet of tankers: Stavros When the Prince was invited aboard, he found as a basis for legal action: Niarchos, who, as soon as he heard the 45,270-ton Onassis surrounded by titles as illustrious as, or At the beginning of February, 1954, Onassis Tina Onassis had been launched, announced he was more so than his own: ex-King Peter of Yugo- flew to New York and called a legal council of building the 45,700-ton World Glory, which would slavia and Queen Alexandra, who _always wore war. He arrived on a Monday. When by Thursday be the largest tanker in the world. bright-colored beach clothes; ex-King Farouk, nothing had happened, he sent a telegram to the Niarchos' breath grew hot on the sensitive who liked to perch on a lobby radiator of the Hotel Attorney General, placing himself at his disposal. neck of Aristotle Onassis. What had begun as de Paris; the Begum Aga Khan. There were also Incidentally, the Attorney General happened to be business rivalry was mounting to a death battle Greta Garbo, with her friend Dr. Gaylord Hauser; Herbert Brownell, Jr., whose law firm, Lord, Day of two giants. movie-man Darryl Zanuck, and Juliette Greco, & Lord, was one of those that had originally ad- Jack Warner, and Porfirio Rubirosa. vised Onassis that his proceedings were legal. FOR THE GROWING Onassis family, home was Cap By the time Grace Kelly put her white gloves The following day, Onassis was lunching at d' and the Chiteau de la Croe, with Monte aside and married Rainier, Onassis was as famous his favorite corner table in the bar of the Colony Carlo only a few pleasant miles away. as the groom. It was a marriage made between restaurant when he was placed under arrest. The Monte Carlo was originally Greek. In the heaven and Wall Street, with the assistance of arresting officers waited outside until Onassis 1950's, a very modern Greek set down in Monte Father Francis Tucker, an American priest who was finished his lunch, and then told him ro come Carlo, where the ruler was Prince Rainier III, then the Prince's closest adviser, a gentle nudge from down to the marshal's office later. a handsome bachelor in his thirties. Lehman Brothers and a hip, hip, hooray from the Onassis arrived in Washington on Monday An independent principality, Monaco has no publicity-hungry, heir-hoping citizens of tax-free morning, presented himself to the U.S. District corporate or personal income taxes, a factor that Monaco. Ari Est met the future Princess Grace Attorney, who read the charges of fraud, and had much to do with this very modern Greek when Cary Grant, with whom she was making a handed him over to another marshal, who then moving his financial command post there from picture in Monaco, brought his costar ro lunch. escorted him to jail: Paris. Looking for space, Onassis saw the empty Quite innocently (he says), An asked her if she too He pleaded not guilty and was released on Sporting Club as ideal, But the directors of the was connected with the picture-making business. $10,000 bail. He had only spent a few minutes Societe des Bains de Mer, which owned most of Grace wasn't pleased. in custody, but was quietly furious. He still is. Monte Carlo, refused to rent it to him. Onassis, Later, Rainier complained to an editor of through his 30 corporations, quietly bought up LOOK magazine about Onassis, and declared he the shares of the Societe. wouldn't have anything more to do with him. Ari fter the U.S. Soon the Onassis staff was installed in the didn't pour oil into the harbor of Monte Carlo indicted him, Sporting Club, and the Prince decided it was pru- when the same reporter asked what Rainier had dent to meet the man who had bought out most of against him. he said the Monaco's 370-acre realm. The Societe des Bains "Did that kid have the nerve to say something British would de Mer also owned the Casino, the hotels, the golf nasty about me?" he said. "I thought when we got course and the only theater. him that boat, he wouldn't talk so much." - have knighted The pair met in the musty 200-room palace. Tina and An were present at the royal wed- him for the The tension was gratefully melted, and the Prince ding, but when the newlyweds returned from their of Monaco and the King of Tankers formed an honeymoon, the Christina sailed arrogantly out of same services alliance to revive Monte Carlo. The first step was the harbor of Monte Carlo. to find a wife for the Prince. At that time, Prince Finally, in 1967, a special law was passed Rainier was uptight with French movie star Gisele by Monaco, which in effect forced Onassis to sell AFTER MONTHS OF DELAYS and uncertainty, Pascal, and their romance was flourishing. A his shares in the Societe to Monaco at a fixed Onassis, in the summer of 1955, suddenly decided romance was all right, but the Monegasques dis- price of $16 a share instead of the $50 Onassis to try and settle the case himself. He flew to approved of Gisele as a wife. They were anxious, said they were worth. "We were gypped," said America, where a meeting was arranged in Wash- however, that the Prince marry soon and produce Ad. But considering his initial investment was ington with Assistant Attorney General Warren an -heir. If there were no prince to carry on the only a little over $1 million, and he received a E. Burger, now Chief Justice of the United States. ancient line of the Grimaldis, Monaco, under a check for $10 million for his holdings from the The Government claimed Onassis owed them $20 binding treaty, would revert to France. Treasury of Monaco, it was a gyp anyone would million. Onassis claimed he owed nothing but Rainier and Onassis spent long hours dis- sit still for. Anyway, Ad didn't like the feeling was willing to work it out point-by-point. The cussing plans to recapture and even surpass Monte and didn't set foot in Monaco for several years. two sides haggled back and forth in a dozen Carlo's former glory. Leaders of international so- meetings, like traders in an Oriental bazaar. A ciety were urged to come to Monte Carlo. For the IN THE MID-1950's, Aristotle Onassis was indicted tentative agreement of $5,700,000 was reached, first time since World War I, the Casino actually for fraud by the U.S. Government. He was only then called off by the Government. More delay. showed a profit, but Rainier didn't appear to be one of a dozen Greek shipowners who had bought It was not until the end of the year that all the de- overly grateful. Maybe he would have been less surplus ships through American corporations set tails were sorted out. than human if he hadn't been a trifle annoyed to up for the purpose, but he was the biggest fish The result was that Onassis agreed to pay see Ari and Tina described as the king and queen because, since his conquest of Monte Carlo, he the Government $7 million in compensation. of Monte Carlo. But the first real friction seems was the best known to the public. Symbolically, Also, he agreed to build 198,000 tons of tankers to have been over the Onassis plan to fire some of it was in Monte Carlo that he received the dis- in the United States, to be operated under the the old and unneeded staff. Featherbedding, Onas- quieting news that a U.S. Government official had American flag and to be owned in trust by Alex- sis would have called it, but many of the employees installed himself in his, Onassis', New York office ander and , two bona fide Ameri-

42 LOOK 640-70 can citizens. In return, he was allowed to sail 15 envy you the most. Close friends are happy to ficially called the Hellenic Shipyards, has proved of the T2 tankers under whatever flag he wished. tell you who your husband was dining with in maybe even more profitable. Nobody except the Everybody was happy. New York or Paris, while you Were in London or keeper of the privy purse knows for sure, but at As part of the package, the United States . Close friends who are too busy to the time, it was assumed in Greece that the royal dropped the criminal charges against Onassis. linger half an hour after lunch can spend hours family also participated in the organization of the Only a few congressmen and senators were un- clipping blind items about you from gossip Hellenic Shipyards. Non-fans, whom Frederika happy. Onassis felt that if he had done as much columns and mailing them to you anonymously. has in great quantities, refer to her as Niarchos' for the British shipbuilding industry as he did These same friends can tell your husband, with junior partner. for the American, "I would have been knighted. wide-eyed innocence, how you were dancing In America, I was indicted." nightly in Paris at L'Etoile with a handsome young LET'S LEAVE GREECE NOW and go to Venice, where Legally, he was vindicated. If his international Italian and also mention the South American mil- Aristotle Onassis first met in 1957. reputation had been slightly tarnished, well, there lionaire who seems to be madly in love with you. The Christina was anchored at the mouth of the is a price to pay for everything. He still was the Grand Canal, and Ari invited the Greek diva and undisputed champion of all the tanker operators IN GREECE, a new premier, Constantine Karaman- her husband to visit the yacht. in the world. lis, had been elected early in 1957. Part of his am- Ari and Callas met again in Milan, and soon bitious plans for the country included the con- An arranged to see her again in London, where IN HIS DOMESTIC LIFE, the dark clouds were struction of a shipyard and expansion of the she was ro sing her great Medea at Covent gathering. When they were married, Tina had money-losing Greek national airline. To raise Garden. That night, Onassis himself arranged a been 17 and Ari 40. From being a schoolgirl with the necessary money, Karamanlis put out feelers supper party for Callas at the Dorchester Hotel a cash allowance far smaller than that of her for possible investment among rich Greks living after her performance. An arrived at the opera schoolmates, Tina was suddenly given the re- abroad. Soon a lunch was arranged between a good hour before the performance, where he sponsibilities of furnishing and running a mil- Onassis and Premier Karamanlis in Athens, after handed the tickets around to his guests as though lion-dollar New York town house and other lux- which the Premier set his staff to work preparing he were the producer. At the party, Ari. and urious establishments on three continents.,Before concrete proposals for both the airline and a ship- Tina, Callas and her husband, good old Giovanni she had a chance to enjoy her newfound freedom yard. Onassis thought he had both concessions Battista Meneghini, were the center of attention. as a married woman, however, she assumed the safely in his pocket:. He .said_ it was sentiment. Ari toasted Callas.again and again. Tinartlid stern- additional responsibilities of motherhood. rather than hope of profit that motivated his sud- slightly more reserved. Life with An had to be exciting and glamo- den interest in the Greek economy. That may be, But it was the cruise of the Christina the rous, but that bouquet of roses would not be with- of course, but until now, I have noticed a marked following July that brought things to a climax. The out thorns. Aly Khan, Cary Grant and Margot lack of flag-waving among the wealthier Greek cast was headed by the greatest man-.of our Fonteyn were amusing to be with, but there were shipowners. A government-sponsored shipyard, times, Sir Winston Churchill, accompanied by other guests to whom a wife had to be pleasant with the special tax advantages, looked like a darn his personal physician, Lord Moran. In his for her husband's sake. J. Paul Getty may be one good investment, especially if you were in the ship- book Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord of the richest and most important men in the ping business to begin with. Moran, his lordship tells us: world, but his lugubrious demeanor hardly quali- Onassis waited and waited. Always, there "Ad, as Winston calls him, hardly takes his fies him as one of its fun people. were unexpected delays. Demands for changes in eyes off his august guest; one moment he will may have been Hitler's• financial genius, but never the terms and specifications. Evasion and general fetch him a glass of whisky, and the next, when the ideal companion for a midnight supper after stalling. There was a fly in this bowl of cream, Winston finds it cool on deck, he will tuck him in the opera. The top oilmen and the financial execu- and the frisky devil was Stavros Niarchos. a blanket. Once, noticing hairs on the collar of tives involved in Ari's business were hardly a A very special friend of Niarchos, at that time his coat, he hurried away to find a clothes brush. barrel of laughs. Some of them were old enough and now, was Queen Frederika, who tried and We were in the games room, waiting for dinner, to be her father, and a good many were her father's failed to make the. Greek crown more powerful Ari pulled his chair nearer and held a teaspoon of friends whom she had known as a child. Con- than the state. caviar to Winston's lips, as one feeds a baby. versations about deadweight tons and fuel con- Niarchos often entertained the royal family Three times he repeated this little ritual. Ari sumption were subjects she was glad to have left aboard the Creole, while his adversary, Onassis, learned bezique in order to play with him." behind in her father's Plaza suite. But there they catered to the more flamboyant members of the Mr. and Mrs. Onassis, were superb hosts. popped up again when she was with Ari. international set. But Onassis and Frederika had Near Athens, the Greek Premier was entertained Tina and Ari had lived for years in Monte met along the way, and she also found time to by Onassis and his wife; and off Istanbul, the Carlo, but that wasn't exactly what you could call accept his hospitality aboard the Cbrigina. premier of Turkey came aboard. The highlight perfect. There was the constant badgering of the A granddaughter of Wilhelm II, the last- of the trip for Onassis must have been the visit press, which she hated. There was the friction German Kaiser, she has been accused of being pro- of the Christina to Smyrna. If ever a hometown with Rainier and later, Princess Grace. German. There has never been a question that boy made good, here he was: rich as cream, with Ari's friends were not necessarily Tina's she wore the purple pants of the Greek royal a beautiful wife, his friend Churchill, and his friends. Nor were her friends his friends. She has family. Niarchos certainly had her support, and he friend the great Maria Callas. The cruise had had the British gentlewoman's passion for horses too had submitted bids. for both the shipyard and lasted a month. When they retuned to Monte since she was a child. Ari is not a horse lover, and the airline. But Frederika, a shrewd gut fighter, Carlo, it was the end of the Onassis marriage. somehoW the idea of his thumping cross-country wasn't about to overlook Onassis, who was by Onassis flew to Milan, where -Maria Callas in wild pursuit of the hounds is sort of funny. now a man of fearful wealth and power. announced she had separated from her husband, She loves winter sports. He can't stand them. Ari Karamanlis actually pleaded with Onassis not and then joined Onassis on his private plane and traveled constantly, tending his empire. to put him in the middle. How about a compro- flew to the south of France. Wounded but not slain, When Ari was thoroughly immersed in his mise, maybe, or taking over both projects in the elderly Meneghini officially announced his Saudi Arabian crisis, Tina broke her leg skiing in partnership with Niarchos? But by now, the two marriage had ended and recalled when he and St. Moritz. Ari wasn't there. Again in St. Moritz, men were long past the point where they would Maria first met: "She was a fat, clumsily dressed when she was injured in an automobile accident, be partners in anything. woman. She had not any prospect of a career, Ari wasn't there, although he arrived within 24 At last, a compromise was worked our. Ni- and I had to rent her a hotel room and put up hours from New York. archos got the shipyard, and Onassis got the air- seven hundred dollars so she could remain in When you are young and beautiful and very line. We can wonder what Queen Frederika got. Italy. I created Callas, and she repaid my love by rich and very secure, every morsel of gossip about Onassis was happy with his part of the divi- stabbing me in the back." you is fondled first, then passed on by those who sion. As for Niarchos, the Skaramanga Yard, of- Where was Ari during all this? He was on the continued

LOOK 430-70 43 Christina with Callas. His sister Artemis and her April, 1941, the Germans and Italians occupied Athens by Premier Constantine Karamanlis and husband acted as chaperones. Athens. They wanted to keep the opera going, his wife, who escorted them to the villa of mil- The world press turned the split into a both for entertainment and propaganda. Many of lionaire Greek shipowner Markos Nomikos and three-ring circus, badgering Ari and Callas for the leading artists of the Greek theater and the his wife Aspasia. I am told this didn't sir too well comment wherever they went. The few public opera refused to perform, but Maria became a with Queen Frederika, who was Karamanlis' statements Tina made were through her attorney. permanent member of the Athens opera during the political enemy and would have liked to have been Ad, it seems, couldn't stop talking. Occupation. She would entertain the officers with hostess to the wife of the American President. . "Friends have described me as a sailor," selections from Italian opera, and they would Aristotle Onassis stopped by the villa to pay Onassis said, "and sailors don't usually go for bring her family food. his respects to Mrs. Kennedy before the parry left sopranos, but I would indeed be flattered to have When Italy surrendered to the Allies in the for a cruise aboard the North rind, the 123-foot a woman of her class fall for me." In Venice, he fall of 1943, the Greek Resistance began to drive Nomikos yacht. Jackie visited the island of Hydra, was quoted as saying that he was a sailor, and the Germans out of their country. In October, swam in the Bristol-blue waters off the island of sailors always had a girl in every porn. 1944, Athens was liberated, and civil war broke Delos, where Apollo was born. She went to At the end of 1959, Tina filed suit for divorce out. Maria's anti-Communist sympathies were Mykonos, where it is hot and the beaches are gray in New York state (where the only grounds were known. Her apartment was machine-gunned, and and the sea and the sky are so blue and so bright adultery), citing another woman described only as her pro-Communist janitor wrote, "We will kill you don't know where one ends and the other Mrs. J. R. Now just everybody knew that the Maria, first knocking out her brains with a sledge- begins. She had lunch with King Paul and Queen mysterious J. R. was none other than Jeanne hammer." Despite such gruesome threats, the only Frederika (finally) at the summer palace at Tatoi. Rhinelander. Jeannie and Tina were good friends casualties in the Callas household were the canar- She ate Greek food, danced Greek dances, water- arid had gone to the same school in New York. ies, which were drilled in their cages. The British skied and was adored. "But why Jeannie?" friends were beseeching then occupied Athens, and the war was over. Jackie's next significant excursion took place each other. "Why not Maria Callas, who is Tina's In 1947, after Maria went to Italy, she got in Italy, where she mixed business with pleasure real rival?" herself a sponsor in the portly form of Giovanni and got something done about sister Lee's mar- I suppose a lot of Livanos pride was respon- Batrista Meneghini. They were married in 1949, riage and the Roman Catholic Church. With Jackie sible for Tina's decision. Also, Tina had been seen and two days after the ceremony, Maria left, alone, married to the President of the United Scares, and togetheroften with Venezuelanmillionaire "Renal- for Buenos Aires to sing at the Teatro Colon. with her almost Madonna-like preoccupation with. dito" Herrera in small intimate restaurants, and Back home, Meneghini began to devote himself the Church, it didn't seem right that her sister's there were pictures to prove it. Maybe if Tina full-time to the promotion of his wife's career. marriage was not recognized in the eyes of the had cited Maria, observers say, Onassis could have Soon, Callas was the brightest star in the musical Church. 'just what marriage they wanted an- charged that his wife had been involved with an- galaxy. She fought with managers, she fought nulled," Time reported, "was at first not quite other man before Maria appeared on the scene. with singers, she fought with her weight—and clear, since 'Stash' was once married to shipping Tina's family tried their best to work out a licked them all. A worldwide sensation, she sang heiress Grace Kohn, who last year married the reconciliation, and the serene Grimaldis did what in Rome, Naples, Mexico, Covent Garden, the Earl of Dudley, who was formerly married to they could serenely. An was desolate. He called Metropolitan and, finally, La Scala. Laura Chatteris, who is now married to Michael his estranged wife in New York and begged her to When she met Ad, she was at the top of her Canfield, who was the first husband ofLee Bouvier, forget the divorce. Tina was adamant, and in June, profession. Suddenly, singing engagements were who since March 19, 1959, has been married to 1960, she was granted an uncontested divorce and canceled for obscure reasons. She seemed to be Prince Stanislaus Radziwill." custody of the two Onassis children. spending more time with An than on her career, Because the President did not want to appear until finally she gave it up completely. to be asking favors from the Vatican that would be FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS, Ari and Maria lived denied the average Catholic, an emissary was dis- together openly. He often expressed his admira- SHORTLY BEFORE THE BREAKUP of their marriage, patched to act as liaison between the Holy See and tion and respect for La Callas' achievements. Out- Ari and Tina bad been entertaining Churchill the yacht of Fiat millionaire Gianni Agnelli, on side of opera, which really bored him, they did aboard the Christina in Monte Carlo harbor. Sen. which the two sisters were lolling around at have a great deal in common. Both were self-made. John F. Kennedy and his wife were visiting Ravello, close to Amalfi, with Capri at their feet. Both were considered foreigners by the other Joseph P. Kennedy nearby, and Ari asked if the It was an easy traveling distance for the emissary, Greeks, whom they forced to accept them, grudg- presidential aspirant would like to come to cock- who commuted from Rome by launch. ingly, by the sheer force of their personalities. tails, to meet Sir Winston. Jackie did not openly consult with the emis- Times had been hard for Maria during her The future President and the past Prime Min- sary, but secret meetings were held aboard, and adolescent years in Greece. It would have been ister had a long and pleasant discussion as the the yacht skittered from port to port in an effort impossible for her to study singing at all if a shipowner's guests. Jackie didn't appear to be to put off reporters. sympathetic teacher had not arranged a scholar- terribly bored when her host accompanied her on It wasn't until the summer of 1963 that ship. And although her voice was impressive, her a tour of the yacht. Onassis first spent any time with Mrs. Kennedy, appearance was against her. She was awkward, An had met the senator from Massachusetts and that resulted from his association with Lee wore thick glasses and weighed 180 pounds. She and his Jackie earlier, and they had all dined Radziwill. Twice in his life, Aristotle Onassis has also had the unpleasant habit of chewing het together in Washington. been linked with two sisters, and twice be has fingernails down to the quick. Later, when Sir Winston visited New York married the one nobody was watching. If, as a child, she had been shy and reluctant aboard the Christina, the new President of the Onassis met in London, and by when her mother had pushed her, as a girl, she United States made a personal call to ask the aged 1963, it began to look like a friendship to keep became as aggressive as her mother. It was As if she statesman to come and be his guest at the White your eye on. Prince Stanislaus is a descendant of had told herself that if the other girls had dates and House. Unfortunately, Churchill's health would Polish kings; at one tithe, the Radziwill estates in the boyfriends she didn't have, she'd ger more not permit an unscheduled visit. But when Jack Poland and Russia covered hundreds of square attention than they ever dreamed of because she Kennedy called, it was Onassis who answered and miles. Unfortunately, the family emerged from the had a voice. renewed his acquaintance with the President. Russian Revolution and World War II with noth- In April, 1939, she sang the leading role in the In 1961, Jack and Jackie visited London. The ing much left but a glorious history. The Prince National Conservatory production of Cavalleria President returned to Washington, and Jackie, accompanied his wife to Athens, but was not Rustitaria and was so good that in December of the with her sister and brother-in-law, Prince and Prin- aboard during most of the summer while Ari was same year, she was admitted to the Athens Con- cess Radziwill, and two Secret Service men, left Princess Lee's host on the Christina. If the Prince servatory. In 1940, she made her professional London for Greece for a nine-day unofficial visit. wasn't there, neither was Maria Callas, who always debut in a small role at the Athens opera. Then, in The parry was met at Hellenikon airport near seemed to disappear at exactly the right time, an

44 l.001; 6-30.70 asset that may have had much to do with the sented Mrs. Kennedy with a whopping diamond- millionaire signed it in Greek." longevity of her romance with Onassis. and-ruby necklace. Princess Lee's favor was some- From 1964 until the end of 1967, Jackie Ken- To what degree the friendship blossomed dur- thing nice in pearls. Sweet, but hardly the gift nedy went from city to city, ruin to ruin and resort ing this cruise nobody knows for sure, but tongues from a man in love. to resort, traveling and soaking in the cheering wagged in the far-flung headquarters of the inter- When the cruise was over, Jackie returned to crowds, photographers and adoration like a giant national set. Drew Pearson wrote that Onassis' Athens, then shot off to Morocco. Tanned and bone-dry sponge. Her list of escorts was bound- ambition was to be the brother-in-law of the Presi- buoyant, Lee Radziwill returned to her Prince, and less. In no order at all, they included John Ken- dent; and for once, Pearson didn't go far enough. Onassis returned to Callas. Everyone involved neth Galbraith, Robert McNamara, Mike Nichols, In that same summer of 1963, Jackie Kennedy kept a dignified silence, and it was unthinkable Mike Forrestal, George Plimpton, Averell Harri- suffered the tragic loss of her baby Patrick and that the press would question the President's wife man, .Lord Harlech, Anthony Quinn, Andre wanted to see her sister, who has always been her about so delicate a matter. Meyer, Oliver Smith, Truman Capote, Randolph closest friend. (Jackie has never liked girls very Evidence of how close the sisters are is in- Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., Arthur much; in fact, I've never seen her lunching or , dicated by an incident during their stay in Athens. Schlesinger, Jr., Ted Sorensen, William Walton, shopping with a lady.) Whether it was to recuper- Lee had developed a case of flu and had a high Richard Goodwin, Charles Spaulding, Charles ate after her ordeal or whether, as Washington temperature. Onassis' sister called her husband, Bartlett, Leonard Bernstein, Alan Jay Lerner, Gian- columnists said, she was dispatched by the Presi- a physician, and he prescribed a shot of penicillin. Carlo Menotti, , and I could go dent to break up an affair that was raising eye- Jackie, knowing how terrified her sister was of on and on. brows on both sides of the Atlantic, she went to needles, gave her the shot herself. Greece to see her sister while she was the guest of When An and Jackie eventually married, Prin- DURING THE LATTER PART of this period, Greece Aristotle Onassis aboard the Christina. cess Lee's reaction was, if anything, unusual. In became a military dictatorship. Onassis, a man of The President could not have been enthu- public, she expressed delight. But she is said to business, loves countries and their people, not siastic about having Onassis in the family, if have been privately very upset. In fact,- only ten forms of governments, whether they be dictator- indeed the stir indicated that marriage was in the days before she cut short a vacation in Tunisia to ships, monarchies or democracies. He became one air. First of all, the Kennedys were without ques- join the wedding party, she was saying to people, of the major bidders on a new plan for economic tion the first Catholic family of America, if not the "I said to my sister recently: 'I see no reason why development under the dictatorship. The plan world. Ari was not only divorced but had been you would ever want to marry again. You have calls for an oil refinery, steel and aitsrninfrin maintaining a well;publicized romance with a already had a great love affair with a wonderful power plants and a long list married opera star whom he of heavy and light gave no indication man. You have children. You have already had industrial establishments to convert Greece from of making his legal wife. It had taken a bit of everything, love, romance and all that marriage -an underdeveloped agricultural country into an Kennedy know-how to get approval from the can offer. Why would you ever want to marry industrial nation. Vatican for the divorced Lee to marry her prince, in again?' " In retrospect, these remarks were made The other bidder is Stavros Niarchos. The a Catholic ceremony. If she upped and divorced at a time when the Princess already knew her sister stakes amount to almost a billion dollars and vir- Stash after all that, how would the Kennedys look was planning to marry Onassis, so they do tual economic control of Greece. then? Jack Kennedy had to be disturbed. evidence a negative attitude on her part. Friends Both Onassis and Niarchos have submitted Nor was The President dazzled by a Greek close to the Lee-Jackie-An triangle tell one that overall plans calling for huge investments. ft ap- shipowner who had been indicted by the U. S. Onassis never proposed marriage to Lee. pears that the major difference between the two and was tarred in the public's mind not only with plans is that, as usual, Onassis' intention is to have shipping oil to Red China and Castro's Cuba but somebody else put up the bulk of the actual with being friendly with Nasser, Juan Peron and aroline Kennedy money. In March, 1969, Onassis seemed to have "Papa Doc" Duvalier of Haiti. seemed defeated Niarchos in the bidding over a contract Jackie duly left for Athens, and her secretary to build the oil refinery. announced she would be cruising the Mediter- unhappiest ranean on the yacht of Aristotle Onassis. Natu- WHILE HIS BUSINESS ACTIVITIES in recent years rally, Lee and Stash would be of all at there, also Under have been formidable, it is Onassis' personal life Secretary of Commerce Franklin D. Roosevelt, the prospect that has captured the attention of the world. Jr., with his young wife Sue, and, of course, of a new In the spring of 1968, Jackie Kennedy began Onassis himself, who, when asked about the to be seen around with Aristotle Onassis. On destination of the cruise, answered evasively, "To daddy Easter Sunday, they dined in a private room at this or that island. Mrs. Kennedy is the captain." Mykonos, a Greek restaurant in New York, with First stop was Istanbul, where Jackie told a Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf and Ari's cheering mob, "I will return when my husband is ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963, only a few weeks after daughter Christina. Like a nervous lover, An ar- no longer President." Jackie returned to the United States, President rived an hour early to check the details. The Back at the White House, there was tension. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. barbecued baby lamb was done to a turn, the President Kennedy was naturally very aware of his The Onassis presence at the funeral was noted moussaka was tender and moist, and the wine was "public image"—and that of his family. Callas' by William Manchester in Death of a President: just the right temperature. gossipy ex-husband declared Onassis had thrown "Rose Kennedy dined upstairs with Stash Radzi- During that spring and summer, they were to- over Callas for Lee Radziwill. Questions were will; Jacqueline Kennedy, her sister, and Robert gether often at the Colony restaurant, where An raised in Congress on the propriety of the Presi- Kennedy were served in the sitting room. The rest sat in his usual corner table and ordered the dent's wife being the guest of a foreigner who of the Kennedys are in the family dining room spaghetti he adores. They swam together in the had been under indictment and now was "turn- with their house guests, Robert McNamara, Phyl- rarefied waters of Bailey's Beach Club in Newport, ing over to the disposal of a Presidential and lis Dillon, Dave Powers and Aristotle Socrates R.I. They visited the Virgin 'Islands-on a cruise, Department of Commerce [Roosevelt] parry a Onassis, the shipowner, who provided comic and before that, she had flown to Nassau for a luxury ship, with 60-man crew, including two relief of sorts. They badgered him mercilessly weekend aboard the*Christina. In August, she flew coiffeurs and dance bands at a personal cost of about his yacht and his Man of Mystery aura. with Sen. Teddy Ketmedy to , where they many tens of thousands of dollars." Observers say During coffee, the Attorney General [Bobby] were guests of Onassis. that at least one conversation on the Christina's came down and drew up a formal document radio telephone between the President and his stipulating that Onassis give half his wealth to THE GREEK ORTHODOX WEDDING of Jackie and Ari wife concerned her speedy return to America. help the poor in Latin America. It was preposterous took place during a light drizzle in a cypress grove Toward the end of the cruise, Onassis pre- (and obviously unenforceable), and the Greek on the island of Skorpios, a month before the fifth continued

LOOK 4.30.70 45 anniversary of the of President fear, and Ari has done everything humanly pos- with so much luxury and love and adoration in John F. Kennedy. In an effort to appease a sible to give his wife the privacy she not only the entire history of civilization. If they spend swarm of newsmen and at the same time plead for deserves but must have. $384,615.38 a week, as Fred Sparks assures us, the privacy, Jackie told the press, "We know you A close friend of the Onassises tells me it is a sheer splendor of their opulence has demoted understand that even though people may be perfect marriage. "They have come to the civilized Elizabeth and Richard to the middle-income well-known, they still hold in Their hearts the conclusion that to stay married, they must each brackets. People love to speculate, and I've heard emotions of a simple person for the moments that keep their independence." Backing this up, everything from $5 million to $20 million. I are the most important of those we know on Daddy-0 said, "Jackie is like a little bird that can't believe that I'm the same woman who once earth—birth, marriage, and death." needs its freedom as well a.s security, and she gets asked Ari's friend, John Meyer, "Is An really In spite of this somewhat muddied appeal, both horn me." rich, Johnny? I mean really rich?" there was hand-to-hand combat between Onassis' Ari will call his wife from his office on Fifth If you don't pay taxes, you don't need de- guards and the press. Avenue and tell her he is leaving in an hour for ductions, and it is well known in the Greek Daughter Caroline was reported to have been Istanbul and will call her when he arrives. There fraternity that Aristotle Onassis has never been the unhappiest of all at the prospect of a new is no discussion. No pointed wife), questions like, known for his philanthropic good works. But it daddy, while son John amused himself by taking Well, why can't I go? or When are you coming would seem that Jackie is changing all that. buggy rides along the island shore in a white back? or How dare you leave without me? or Apparently in an effort to improve, or I golf cart driven by an officer of the Christina. What about the children? should say "create," a philanthropic "image," (Ari's son) said peevish- According to a story confirmed by friends, Afi is building a child-care center in Psyhiko, a ly, "I didn't need a stepmother, but my father Onassis was most certainly determined to lead suburb of Athens. It will cost him a million and needed a wife." the same life he had before his marriage to will be named Onassion. Also, at the alleged The world had mixed feelings. Said a former Jackie, and had continued to see Maria at the suggestion of Jackie-0, Ari has given generously Kennedy aide to Time, "She's gone from Prince country house of their great friend, Baroness to Irish charities following the completion of an Charming to Caliban." France's Le Monde com- "Maggie" van Zuylen, who is a Rothschild by exceptionally favorable business deal in Belfast, mented: "Jackie, whose staunch courage during birth and plays excellent bridge. where he is having some tankers built. John's funeral made such an impression, now In late November of 1968, less than a month As if they didn't have enough houses, chooses to shock by marrying a man who could after he and Jackie were married, An stopped off Daddy-0 is considering buying a villa on the be her father [Onassis is 23 years her senior] and in Paris and took Maria Callas `to dinner, most Lake of Geneva in Switzerland for his ladylove. whose career contradicts—rather strongly, to say likely to do some explaining. At about four in the He's already bought and paid for the gorgeous the least—the liberal spirit that animated President morning, Woman's Wear Daily reported, "he called Barclay Douglas estate on Hammersmith Road, Kennedy." Maria Callas sighed, "First I lost my on La Callas at home, presumably to do some next door to Mummy Auchincloss' house in weight, then I lost my voice, and now I've lost, more explaining, but Maria barred the door. The Newport, R.I. Friends say he will add yet another Onassis." "The American public would forgive next day at lunch at Baroness van Zuylen's house, villa, at Lagonisi, on the Aegean Sea. It is said me anything," Jackie once remarked, "except Maggie [the Baroness] gave Daddy-0 a very to be protected by the sea god Poseidon, a sort running off with Eddie Fisher." But from this stern lecture on how a newlywed should behave. of Greek Pinkerton. moment on, cracks began to appear on the idol's The groom guffawed in delight. According to "Jackie doesn't like going out," a friend of pristine surface. financial circles, Daddy-0 is still handling La the family told me, "and when she and Ari are in Woman's Wear Daily, a feisty fashion publica- Callas's affairs—fiscal, that is." the same town at the same time, they like to stay tion, stuck a pin in the first balloon by dubbing In January, 1969, it was reported that Maria in and have dinner." Onassis Daddy-O—a title that will stick to his had told Onassis that she didn't want to see him What they usually eat when they are home is hide for the rest of his life. again. She •felt that because of him, she had lamb, unborn lamb, if you can stand it, which The sensational and sometimes garish publi- neglected her career, and as he was no longer costs from $35 to $55 a. pound. In fact, they like city that has surrounded Jackie and Ari since hers, she felt the time had come to concentrate lamb so much that they have a standing order from their marriage is certainly not their fault. But entirely on her singing. Contrary to reports, the a Madison Avenue butcher for three a month, no neither have they made the teeniest effort to hide, story said, Maria is not wealthy and needs to work matter where they are:If it is flown to them in, or at least blur, the lavishness of their lives. Of to live in her habitual style. "I have erased him let's say, their villa in Montevideo, it is packed in course, Onassis earned his money, and he has a from my life, my heart and my thoughts. He tried ice, but (heaven forbid) not frozen. right to spend it as he wishes, but with the world dangerously to kill my career." Mrs. Aristotle Socrates Onassis is radiant. in chaos, there are those who have taken it upon She's got what the rest of us only dream about: themselves to harass Mrs. Onassis by writing SNOOPY PULITZER PRIZE WINNER Fred Sparks the protection and love of a powerful man, the threatening letters and hate mail, and even making tells us Daddy-0 picked up a $20 million tab for beauty of a rose with all its sweetest leaves still her children targets of madness and abuse. Then the first year of life with' Jackie. Jackie-O, who is folded, the unabashed worship of a billion pairs there were the striking employees of Onassis' usually seen wearing nothing more sensational of eyes, freedom of spirit and movement, money Olympic Airways, one of whom shouted, "You than a pair of slacks and golfing shirt, spends to buy all the material things there are to be had spend 12 million dollars a year to live—how $300,000 a year on clothes, as compared to in the whole wide world—and a warehouse to about a 25 percent increase in our take-home pay?" $30,000 when she was the wife of the President. store them in. An is a strong man and rakes great pains to Handmaidens come high, and their retinue of 202 If all this is enough to keep Jackie happy, see that his wife is protected. Although Jackie is cost Daddy-0 another $1,030,992 for the first could it be the only way to keep Daddy-0 home no longer watched over by the U. S. Secret Service, year of married life. Another $5,000,000 for at night is to shoot him in the legs? Its hardly the children are, and will be until they are 16. Mrs. Jackie's jewels, so she can Sparkle Plenty; and a secret he's back seeing Maria Callas and was at Onassis never travels without a bodyguard, and houses in Athens, Monte Carlo, Montevideo, Maxim's in Paris recently eating a plate of raw when she is staying in New York, extra men are Paris and New York (Jackie's flat) going strong; onions while Maria looked the other way. Every- assigned to her round-the-clock at an estimated and permanent hotel suites in London and New body knows you don't go to Maxim's to hide. cost of $1,200 a week. York; and the Christina, with an annual upkeep But friends close to Mrs. Onassis tell me every- There have been a series of alleged plots of $1,400,000 a year; and another $2,000,000 thing is peaches and cream and poo-poo the against her life. On January 3, 1969, a plane for insurance on just about everything. As my divorce rumors that have been traced to Greece, carrying Jackie from New York to Athens was Daddy Lilly used to say, "It all adds up." predicting a summer split. "If you're as impor- painstakingly searched at Kennedy Airport after If Jackie was given a premarital settlement, tant as Jackie and Ari," one friend of Jackie's police received a threat that a bomb had been only fier banker knows for sure. But I don't think said, "people are just going to talk." You know hidden aboard. It's hard to live with this kind of - there was ever a man who has showered his wife something, I think he's got something there. END

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