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1968: Rain, considered a blessing by the Greeks, had descended like a gray benediction across the island of Skorpids. In the tiny chapel, Jacqueline Kennedy stood quietly—almost in a daze—in her beige chiffon-and-lace dress, Aristotle Onassis in his dark blue business suit. John and Caroline, each carrying a single tall white candle, flanked them. As Archimandrite Polykarpos Athanassion intoned the solemn Greek of the nuptial liturgy, Jackie and Ari exchanged rings and wreaths of lemon blossoms, and drank wine from a single chalice. Then the priest led them round a table three times in the ritual dance of Isaiah. Traditionally in the dance, one of the newlyweds steps on his (or her) partner's foot to signify who will command in the marriage. None of the 25 guests admitted seeing such one-foot-upmanship.
Later came the real show: Ari's wedding gift to Jackie. When she came into the yacht's lounge for the wedding dinner, Jackie was wearing it: on her left hand, a ring with a huge ruby surrounded by large diamonds; on her ears, matching ruby-and-diamond earrings. Caroline broke the stunned silence: "Mummy, Mummy, Mummy! They're so pretty. You're so pretty." Laughing, Jackie removed the ring to let Caroline play with it. The jewels reportedly cost Onassis $1.2 million.
1969: Since 1907, the Oak Room of Manhattan's venerable Plaza Hotel has been an all-male bastion for three hours every weekday at lunchtime. Last week, 15 members of the National Organization for Women, led by that super feminist Betty Friedan (The Feminine Mystique), 47, demanded entrance on the ground that their civil rights were being violated. Five of the ladies actually managed to brush by a Plaza assistant manager and the maitre d' to capture a center table, but the waiters studiously ignored their repeated cries for service, and the ladies were eventually forced to fall back. "This is the only kind of discrimination that's considered moral—or, if you will, a joke," fumed Mrs. Friedan. But she has not given up. She and the NOW girls have begun planning similar raids in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.
1970: After 17 years of New York's Attica State Prison (and a lifetime total of more than 35 years in jail), Willie ("The Actor") Sutton, a tired, sick old man of 68, was ready with some wistful reminiscing. "People don't seem to want to work hard for anything any more," said Willie. "Years ago, cons used to approach me in various prison yards and ask me to lay out a bank job for them. But not lately. These young kids don't believe in hard work." Though Sutton's own hard work may have netted him as much as $2,000,000, all he had when he left Attica was a prison-earnings check for $169.37.
1971: Marriage? Certainly not, said little Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, while Bianca just stood there in her see-through and smiled. Yes, St. Laurent's St. Tropez boutique was making a dress for Bianca, and yes, they were both staying up in the Hotel Byblos there, and yes, "Bianca and I have been together for several weeks. But I have no plans to marry." Still, 21-year-old Bianca Perez Morena de Macias of Nicaragua went on