John F. Kennedy Jr. assassinated in 1968, his mother took him and his sister out of the United States, saying: "If they're killing Kennedys, then my children are targets ... I want to get out of this country." The same year, she married Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, and the family went to live on his private island of Skorpios. Kennedy is said to have considered his stepfather "a joke". In 1971, Kennedy returned to the White House with his mother and sister for the first time since the assassination. President Richard Nixon's daughters gave Kennedy a tour that included his old bedroom, and
Alexander Onassis States. Onassis and his sister Christina were greatly upset by the union. They had hoped that he might remarry their mother, which had seemed possible towards the end of their father's relationship with the Greek opera singer Maria Callas. Onassis said: "My father loved names and Jackie loved money." Despite never liking their stepmother, Onassis and his sister were friendly with her children, Caroline Kennedy and John, and Onassis would occasionally let his stepbrother ride at the controls of his plane. Aristotle Onassis's friend, John W. Meyer, credited Alexander with persuading his father to stop publicly accusing his business rival