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Kennedy kin hopes to illuminate FDR Auchincloss focuses on `interior' life Auchincloss By PETER WONG ASHLAND -- Jamie Auchincloss has family ties to the Kennedys, but an hourlong dramatic presentation he performs focuses on another prominent Democrat in American history, Franklin D. Roosevelt. It turns out that Auchincloss, half-brother of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, also has family links to the 32nd president of the United States. Auchincloss's father, Hugh (Jacqueline's stepfather) went to Groton School and Columbia University law school, which Roosevelt also attended. He also dined with Roosevelt April 30, 1934, at the White House. Don't miss it What : Ashland resident Jamie Auchincloss tells stories about Franklin D. Roosevelt in one-person show and high tea When : 4 p.m. Sunday Where : Unitarian Universalist Center, 84 Fourth St., Ashland Admission : $10 for adults, $5 under 18; ticket information 482-4755 Auchincloss never met Roosevelt -- he was born two years after FDR's death in 1945 -- but a letter about Roosevelt that he wrote at age 11 was passed along by his mother to Eleanor Roosevelt. "She was interested that a son of conservative Republican parents would have such a fascination about Franklin Roosevelt," he said. The former first lady requested his letter for the FDR Library in Hyde Park, N.Y., and invited Auchincloss and his mother to Val-Kill, her cottage near Hyde Park. Eleanor Roosevelt died in 1962 before they responded to the invitation, but Auchincloss recalled that he sat next to her when John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as president in 1961. "With my sister Jacqueline having married (then senator) John Kennedy, all of my pretty strong interests in politics just got stronger," Auchincloss said. The one-hour presentation does not involve Auchincloss dressing up as FDR or imitating his voice or mannerisms. He has performed it for the Southern Oregon Learning in Retirement program at Southern Oregon University, but this Sunday's presentation at the Unitarian Universalist Center is the first public one locally. A large painting of Franklin Roosevelt sits atop the mantle at Auchincloss's home, and Auchincloss said he has made 15 visits to the FDR Library for research. He said his aim is to illuminate family background and formative influences on Roosevelt, rather than the events of the Great Depression and World War II that dominated FDR's record four terms as president. "He had a thickly forested interior," Auchincloss said. "He could be jovial and jocular, but what he was really thinking and feeling was obscure most of the time and used to anger Eleanor, because she was just the opposite. She said exactly what she thought and told the truth all of the time. "One good reason to study people like FDR is to see what you would do or say in any number of circumstances -- and Bill Clinton could have used part of my Roosevelt collection to get out of some hot water himself." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA