Revisiting Kennedy Dynasty Wealth Again

Kennedy Dynasty members have apparently remained extremely wealthy since the 1990s. As Jonathan Slevin and Maureen Spagnolo observed in a 1990 book that they edited, Kennedys: The Next Generation:

"...A shroud of reticence covers the family's Park Agency company, which manages the family's business interests and financial affairs. The next generation benefits directly from the low-profile New York-based enterprise, which Stephen Smith ran until his death in August 1990. The staff provides the cousins with many perks and services, such as a travel agency, accounting and loans to finance political campaigns..."

Barbara Gibson’s 1993 book, The Kennedys: The Third Generation also observed:

"…Caroline is rich, as are all the Kennedy children. They were millionaires at birth, and their incomes have increased year after year. In addition, Caroline gained income from the Onassis estate, adding to her wealth. She and John were willed an additional $500,000 each at his death...Most of Caroline's time is spent at home in the 12-room apartment…bought at 78th Street and Park Avenue. The co-op is expensive, reportedly in excess of $2.5 million at the time of purchase..."

In his 2003 book, Sweet Caroline, Christopher Andersen indicated how the mother of U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy apparently increased the family’s wealth by marrying a Greek billionaire named Aristotle Onassis in 1968:

"...Through a series of highly questionable business deals, Onassis had parlayed an initial stake...into a half-billion-dollar shipping empire...Jackie could not overlook the fact that Onassis ranked only behind Howard Hughes and John Paul Getty as the world's richest man...Ari owned his own airline—Olympic Airways…”

According to the same book, a pre-nuptial agreement between U.S. Ambassador to Japan Kennedy’s mother and Aristotle Onassis [who died in 1975) provided for "3 million for Jackie and a $1 million trust fund each for Caroline and [her and JFK’s now-deceased son] John,” “under Maurice [Tempelsman]'s guidance” Ambassador Kennedy’s “mother had amassed a $150 million fortune,” and “the bulk of the estate was divided up between Caroline and John." And when 1,195 lots from Jackie Onassis’s estate were auctioned off in April 1996, “the...auction...poured another $34,461,495 into Caroline and John's coffers..."

J. Randy Taraborielli’s 2012 book After Camelot also recalled:

“…His [Aristotle Onassis's] father, Socrates, was a prosperous shipping owner with ten ships in his fleet and extensive real estate holdings...[Ari Onassis] forged simultaneous long-term alliances at fixed prices with such competing oil companies as Mobil, Socony, and Texaco...under the duty-free flag of Panama...As his coffers grew, so did his holdings--shares that guaranteed his control of 95 multinational businesses on 5 continents: gold processing, airlines, and real estate investments in South America, a chemical company in Persia; a castle, apartments, a skyscraper in Manhattan; Olympic Airways,..; ownership of Greek islands in the Aegean...; the luxury yacht Christina; and 17 banks throughout the world..."

"...Each of the Kennedy children received $1 million when they turned twenty-one...She [Jackie Onassis] would also receive $150,000 a year for the rest of her life. John and Caroline would each also receive $50,000 a year until they turned 21. At that time, $100,000 a year would be added to Jackie's annuity..."

"By 1985, Jackie (Onassis) had become fully committed to...Maurice Templesman...At 16, he began working for his father, who was a diamond merchant...He joined his father in the diamond merchant business--Leon Tempelsman and Sons, Inc...Tempelsman would take complete control of Jackie's finances and build her $25.5 million settlement from Onassis into a fortune that would be estimated at between $100 and $200 million..."

"...It was Caroline Kennedy who first spoke to Ted about endorsing Obama...The Kennedys support of Obama was a crushing blow to...Hillary Clinton...

"...In January 1998, Merchandise Mart and several other commercial properties owned by the Kennedys were sold to Vorrado Realty, a real estate investment bank, for $625 million. It was a deal Christopher [Kennedy] helped to broker, and one that guaranteed much of the third generation of Kennedys (Smith and Shrivers included) millions of dollars in yearly annuities--as per the provisions in their grandfather's will should the company be sold--instead of hundreds of thousands, and for the rest of their lives...Of Ted's children, Ted Jr. continues his work with the Marwood Group, advising corporations..."

The wealthy diamond merchant business owner who took “complete control of” Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s “finances” after Aristotle Onassis’s 1975 death, Maurice Tempelsman, was the subject of a cover-story profile in People magazine’s July 11, 1994 issue. According to People magazine, "the secretive Tempelsman” was "a major, major player in Africa," was "CEO of Lazare Kaplan International" which is "one of the U.S.'s oldest diamond firms," was "a former chairman of the...African-American Institute," "has donated over $150,000 to Democratic candidates and the party" and "was especially active in 1988 when a proposed embargo of South African diamonds threatened his business," during South Africa's apartheid era. And according to Lawrence Baraebibai Ekpebu’s 1989 book, Zaire And The African Revolution:

"...The Southern Africa Group for Education [SAGE [was]] headed by a Randall Porter and late President Kennedy's son, John F. Kennedy, Jr. [and was]…said to be financed by a `close' friend and business associate of Mobutu, millionaire Tempelsman! Mr. Tempelsman [was]…said to have helped Mobutu bring foreign investors from the United States, France, Japan and South Africa to form a second Zairean mining organization [Tenka fungurume Mining Society]...Both he and Mobutu [were]…said to be `reaping substantial earnings from the gem diamond trade'...”

Coincidentally, according to United States Foreign Policy Toward Africa by Peter Schrader, during the 1970s former CIA Chief of Station in Kinshasha Lawerence Devlin also "took up duty as the local representative of Maurice Tempelsman, a powerful U.S. businessperson with significant economic investments in Zaire."