One of the great characteristics of the Greek race is the fact that they can be defined by their legendary history. Their legacy revolves around power and of course, knowledge. Perhaps it was the Ancient Greeks who were more renowned as personifying all of these characteristics, but there is one man, in fact almost a (Greek) god amongst men, who has most recently perfectly encapsulated everything that made his ancestors one of the most dynamic and impressive races ever to leave their mark on the world.
Aristotle Socratis Onassis, the legend who was dubbed ‘The Golden Greek’ for having the Midas touch of turning everything he had contact with into a golden success, was actually born in Asia Minor, in modern day Izmir, Turkey. Known under its Greek name of Smyrna at the time of his birth (1900), the area was home to a rather significant Greek population, most of whom seemed to be rather well off. These affluent Greeks included Onassis’ father who made his living as a tobacco merchant and it proved to be his knowledge of the tobacco business which led to the beginning of Onassis’ immense success.
As with most Greeks in the troubled region, after the First World War and the reoccupation of Smyrna from Greece by Turkey, Onassis lost most of his family to war or political tensions. As a result of his father’s imprisonment by Turkish forces for apparent conspiracy, and to avoid any further losses and problems (and perhaps as a savvy business mind who could see that there was no future for someone like him in the area), he left for Greece with his father’s savings strapped to his legs.
Once his father was released and joined what was left of his family, he clashed with his son, causing the younger Onassis to decide to make his fortunes elsewhere and so in 1923, he left for Argentina, using a special visa called the “Nansen Permit” which allowed refugees a one-way trip to resettle in a country of their choice. According to biographical sources, the only money Aristotle Onassis had with him when he arrived in Buenos Aires was the princely sum of two hundred and fifty dollars.
Onassis soon found a steady job working for the British United River Plate Telephone Company, probably because he was fluent in English and Spanish, as well as Greek and Turkish, thanks to the excellent private education he received in Smyrna as the son of a successful businessman. His talent and intuition for business started when he became a night-shift telephone operator for the company, and used his time to eavesdrop on business calls made between Argentina and London and New York. Using his small savings, Onassis started investing in the deals he was listening to and soon started making money.
It wasn’t until he made amends with his father though and started importing the softer (and cheaper) Turkish tobacco that he made his first million dollars, as he was producing his own cigarettes; it must also be said that at the time there were rumours that he engaged in sabotaging his competitors as well as a few illegal business activities.
Even though he was born in Turkey and started his business operations in Argentina, one of the things which really defined Onassis was that he was proud of his Greek heritage and traded quite significantly with Greece. In fact one of the prime examples of his business acumen was when the Greek government announced that it was going to impose a hundred percent tax increase in 1929, on all products which came into the country from places which had no trade agreements with Greece. At the time, there were no agreements between Greece and Argentina; so if one takes into account that Onassis had traded two million eight hundred thousand dollars with Greece during 1928, then it makes sense that he would be suitably nervous at the financial ramifications of this decision.
Taking the bull by the horns, Onassis wrote a letter to then Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, warning him very directly and openly about the damage such a tax could cause, especially to the Greek merchant navy, especially since eighty percent of the navy was used for transport between Europe and Argentina.
Apparently all it took were the right figures (some in the form of bribes to various people in right places) and taxes between Greece and Argentine were lifted. When it came to ‘convincing’ people to do things, Onassis was reportedly a fan of the method, even commenting once, that he would never trust a person who would not accept a bribe.
While he made a few millions with the tobacco business, it wasn’t until he turned his attention to the shipping industry, with special focus on oil tankers that the money really started sailing in. At the time, the shipping industry was pretty much an insider’s game and it wasn’t really that easy for anyone new to enter its waters. Sometime after the First World War, following his father’s death in Athens, Onassis visited London where a rumour fell on his ears that there were a few Canadian freight ships, owned by the Canadian National Steamship Company, up for sale. The company found itself in trouble following the massive after-effects of the Great Depression and so Onassis simply stepped in and bought six of these massive freighters for a mere twenty thousand dollars each.
In what proved to be a stroke of business genius, he registered his ships which were used as cargo-carriers across the Atlantic in Panama and so flying the Panamanian flag, he saved a fortune on maritime taxes. At the same time, he conveniently embarked on an affair with a wealthy Swedish shipping heiress with the result that he was able to have a fifteen thousand ton tanker built, which he called the ‘Ariston’ simply meaning ‘the best’ in Greek; it was also the largest tanker ever to have been built.
One would have imagined that the globally devastating Second World War would have affected his business, but as the man with the Midas business touch, and after a few challenging experiences, Onassis found his golden way and reached an agreement with the Allied forces, whereby he rented them what was needed of his fleet to fight the German and Japanese forces. And in a stroke of genius, he made a deal with the American government to give him their surplus war ships at the end of the war at a very favourable price.
Aristotle Onassis went on to provide tankers for oil shipping, making millions and millions using specific knowledge, like the information that Egypt would shut off the Suez Canal, so he used his super tankers to transport the liquid gold around the Cape instead.
Whatever businesses he touched - and by all accounts there were many, including majority shares in the Monte Carlo Casino which angered his old friend Prince Rainier III, ownership of Olympic Airways and a vast array of properties and businesses around the world – Aristotle Onassis could perhaps best be described as being the ultimate Midas.
Weight for me tomorrow. Paul
Paul Lambis is the author of “Where is Home?” – A journey of hilarious contrasts.
For more information on Paul Lambis, and to order his book online,
visit www.paul-lambis.com
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