The most accurate and complete description that has been recorded concerning Aristotle Onassis΄”philosophy of life”, has been provided by his closest assistant and the President of the Onassis Foundation, Stelios Papadimitriou. He said the following of Onassis which I will transelate it from Greek into English:”His enterpreneurial designs and aspirations were enormous. Early on, he understood that life belongs to the strong who dare, not to the bold who are powerless, or the strong who sit quiet. He worshiped human courage and strength, and he reached his hand out as far as he could;but with great caution so that it wouldn΄t get cut off” (p. 8 www.rodosport.gr/enlefko/onasis.htm)

From this somewhat “diplomatic” yet “businesswise” objective evaluation of Aristotle Onassis from someone who knew him in depth, we could easily surmise how Onassis in a “simplistic”, “one-dimensional” and “dogmatic” way, equated “human strength” and “human daring” to the human faculties to seize, to crush and to acquire as many material possessions and powers “as is imaginable”. He wanted absolutely everything for his own personal social status, ignoring absolutely the “universal beneficial dimensions”(altruism, empathy) of the dynamics of “human strength”and of “human daring”. Until his tragic end, Aristotle Onassis ignored “consciously” and with an unwavering persistence these “universal beneficial dimensions” which nature has provided so generously for Mankind;the capabilities, the inspiration and the vision(transcendence of our mortal existence) to execute great achievements in the arts, the sciences and in a refined dialectic thought process whose central priorities were a common human course and the aesthetics of human existence in its entirety.

One of the few commentaries made by Onassis and have been recorded, is the following one:”I have no friends and no enemies- only competitors. “(brainyquote. com-posted by wdwdems)And I honestly believe this is how Onassis saw everyone, even his closest people, even his own family as will be demonstrated in the third part of my article concerning this person. He treated the “women in his life”as opponents, meaning Tina(Athina)Livanou, Maria Callas and Jackie Kennedy, as well as his only two children, Alexander and Christina. He could never “love” anyone because he always wanted absolute control over people, ignoring their unique personality, their dignity and their special needs.

I would like here to take a pause and refer to two details which I forgot to mention in the first part of my article concerning Aristotle Onassis. I have already described how during his stay in Argentina, Aristotle Onassis had exploited “sexually” various mature but wealthy women of the country΄s elite class in order to rise socially but more especially financially, yet what I forgot to mention is the fact that during this period, Onassis also had “sexual”relations with Eva Peron, the wife of the military president of Argentina, Huan Peron(1946-1952)(p. 3-www. rodosport. gr/enlefko/onasis. htm). Eva Peron had in 1951 accepted the nomination of the Peronists, the governing political party, to become vice-President of Argentina. There is a rumour which says that for the first “sexual” encounter with Eva Peron, Onassis had payed a very large amount, but that for him it was a very good investment. Onassis was able then, and for the rest of his life, to boast how he had the “knack” and the “guts” to conquer sexually the wife of the President of Argentina, the country which had provided him with shelter when he was “penniless” and had no professional prospects.

The second information which I unintentionally did not include in the first part of my article, is the fact that even though Onassis wanting desperately to become part of the Greek Shipping Establishment had coerced “sexually” and finally married the youngest daughter of Stavros Livanos, Tina(Athina)Livanou(when she was only 17 years old), what I forgot to mention was that Onassis first met Tina at the “Plazza Hotel” in New York in the spring of 1943, when Tina was just 14 years old. Then, she was living at the hotel suite of her father, with her older sister(3 years older) Eugenia and her mother Arieta(p. 4-www. rodosport. gr/enlefko/onasis. htm). Onassis “pulled every trick” to attract the 14 year old attractive nymphet, but Tina was enchanted with Onassis΄ friend, Stavros Niarchos, who was of the same age and an up-and- coming shipowner like him. Stavros Niarchos was more elegant, more attractive and more refined than Onassis. At that time, Stavros Niarchos expressed to Tina΄s father, Stavros Livanos, his wish to marry his 14 year old daughter, and naturally “he was booted out of the house”. This was the ideal opportunity for Onassis to make his “strategic” move. He not only became the “trusted friend” of Tina but also of her sister and mother. For Onassis it was a “good investment” of time and effort so that he could create the right conditions for him to eventually marry Tina (in 1946), while his equally “cunning” and “ambitious” friend, Stavros Niarchos, married Tina΄s older sister in 1947. It was a “check-mate” for both those young newcomers in the world shipping arena;they had married the daughters of the most powerful shipowner in the world.

Even though I consider people who are ambitious, competitive and materialistic as boring and simplistic, because they see themselves as the “epicenter of the universe” and of course want constantly to “reign over this universe” with whatever means (because they feel so very insecure with their own nature and their mortality), and even though I consider today΄s enterpreneurial activities(as creative and as beneficial as these may be) as boring and unnatural because their final goal is “the gold coins” which one counts but could never transfer “in the afterlife”, I am obliged to make a brief chronological review of the business steps taken by Aristotle Onassis throughout his life, especially those steps involving the world shipping industry, which is the sector which made Onassis very powerful, very famous, and of course very, very rich!!!