Onassis, Aristotle Socrates

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Greek shipping magnate who from 1932 built up one of the world's largest independent shipping lines. During the 1950s he was one of the first to construct supertankers, and was also the founder of the Greek national airline, Olympic Airways, in 1957. In 1968 he married Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of US president John F Kennedy.

Sent to Argentina in 1923, he first worked as a telephone operator on a nightshift while trying, during the daytime, to start a tobacco importing business. Capitalizing on the growing popularity of Turkish tobacco imports, he started to manufacture cigarettes. He negotiated a trade agreement with Argentina on behalf of the Greek government in 1928. In 1932, in the depths of the economic Depression, he bought six Canadian freighters for $20,000, a fraction of their actual value. After the war Onassis bought surplus wartime Liberty ships from the USA and, as the international freight market expanded, invested in oil tankers, going on to build supertankers in the 1950s.

Blue stands for peace. Red represents power and faith. Yellow stands for the church, peace, natural wealth, and love. Green symbolizes the land and hope. Effective date: 6 February 1996. >>