A&E BIOGRAPHY: THE ONASSIS DYNASTY 2 OF 3

A&E BIOGRAPHY: THE ONASSIS DYNASTY PART 2 OF 3

Aristotelis Sokratis Onassis (January 20, 1906 – March 15, 1975) was the most famous shipping magnate of the 20th century.

Onassis was born in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (now İzmir, Turkey) to a middle-class Greek family. At the time of his birth, Smyrna had a very significant and prosperous Greek population. After being briefly occupied by Greece (1919-1922) in the aftermath of the allied victory in World War I, the city was re-captured by Turkey; the Onassis family holdings were lost, causing them to move to Greece as refugees.

In 1923, Aristotle Onassis left his country to go to Argentina with allegedly only $63.

After difficult beginnings, he revived there the family's tobacco business . In 1925, he received Argentinian and Greek citizenships. After engaging in many different entrepreneurial activities with determination and passion for success, he finally managed to become a world-class businessman making his first million by the age of 25 , owning commercial ships, tankers and whalers.

In 1954, the FBI investigated Onassis for fraud against the U.S. government. He was charged with violating the citizenship provision of the shipping laws which require that all ships displaying the US flag be owned by US citizens. Onassis entered a guilty plea and paid $7 million. He founded Olympic Airways (today Olympic Airlines), the Greek national carrier, in 1957.