AMERICA'S SWEETHEART IS CHELSEA?

Byline: Joseph Honig Local View

FOR as long as some of us can remember, Americans have been suffering royalty envy.

Back in the '50s, without our own Queen Elizabeth, we fixated on Grace Kelly

and the marriage that brought her Monaco's crown.

More recently, without a stateside Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy Jr. served his nation as everyone's ideal of blueblood celebrity.

But with Diana and young Kennedy gone, the gossip mongers and magazine editors found themselves with an emptiness to fill. Hundreds of pages of slick white space cried out for a young American of breeding and stature to portray glamour, achievement and connections far above run-of-the-mill movie stars.

Chelsea Clinton just got lucky.

Editors of the smartly social Vanity Fair have - for terribly commercial reasons - just dubbed Bill and Hillary's little girl ``the new JFK Jr.,'' a sex symbol with powerful friends and influential sponsors.

No doubt this is heady stuff for the Oxford University grad student; it wasn't long ago that a pre-glammed-up Chelsea was all braces and curls and public silences. She got the entire country's sympathies when her presidential dad went off the reservation with a Beverly Hills bimbo. Chelsea was respected for her studious nature and public reserve.

And unlike the Bush girls, our current White House offspring, she never went cantina crazy while underage.

But here is Chelsea today, front-row at Paris couture shows and living it up in Britain with a Rhodes Scholar boyfriend.

It is time to take stock.

For Chelsea Clinton could do many things in the wonderful life that awaits her. After all, JFK Jr., wealthy in his own right, succeeded in convincing French investors to pour millions into a money-losing magazine that brought him attention and a public podium.

As daughter of a president, Chelsea's got the right pedigree and network of benefactors. If her dad continues talking for cash - those $150,000 half-hour speeches are bountiful dividends - she will never want for Versace frocks.

The road to lasting adoration, though, is not always smooth. And there are lessons to be learned from other presidential children who learned them the hard way.

If historians and columnists ever got together, perhaps they'd agree on a ``Guide for White House Kids.'' It might contain these warnings:

--Whatever you do, stay away from show business. Yes, it's nice to have friends in the arts - and it's fun to socialize with the stars. But Gerald Ford's son, Jack, thought his chiseled good looks would surely bring cinema fame; he wound up as a television bit player. And Margaret Truman's singing career brought only comic relief to her father's otherwise admirable administration. As for young Ron Reagan's talk show career, it lasted about as long as dad's Grenada adventure.

--Try not to criticize your parents in public. For a time, Ronald and Nancy Reagan's youngest daughter, Patti, couldn't pass a microphone without mentioning family dysfunction. She never met an interviewer without confessing disagreements with dad. Finally, her roman a clef novel spilled whatever family secrets she hadn't already shared with Barbara Walters. Patti got a generous advance but then largely disappeared. No one else seemed to profit.

--Beware of gigolos. Lynda Bird Johnson shared the White House spotlight with her younger and prettier sister, Luci. After Luci married first, Lynda grabbed her own share of publicity by dating heartthrob actor George Hamilton. Hamilton, who would later serve as Imelda Marcos' walker, apparently viewed the relationship as a good career move. With limited talent and no big movies, the sunburned Lothario got more ink from White House dates than from any acting parts. Lynda never dated another performer.

--Remember, famous names don't always mean success. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. was a dashing veteran who got himself elected to Congress with pal John F. Kennedy. Franklin Jr. had style and charm and intelligence, but he also possessed a weakness for blonds and cocktails. He drove convertibles too fast and stayed in nightclubs far too long. Even being the son of a demigod couldn't keep Frank Roosevelt from obscurity when the public tired of yet one more cafe society antic.

--Keep away from fund-raising involving dad's presidential library. Those Nixon sisters - Tricia and Julie - may be burying the hatchet in their long simmering feud over a father's legacy, but no one's come out a winner. When the sisters publicly bickered over how to use a multimillion-dollar bequest, it made them look small-minded and petty. Recent reports show Clinton library donations are not exactly pouring in; maybe supporters are tapped after giving to the ex-president's legal defense fund. In any case, Chelsea should keep the whole enterprise at arm's length.

--Finally, don't listen to others about career choices; first failures don't necessarily keep one from success. George H.W. Bush may have wanted a lot more early promise from his eldest son, more than George W. losing millions of friends' dollars in bust-out oil ventures and failing to win an early congressional race. Bush pere may have even blanched at seeing the unsuccessful oilman in the baseball business, greeting fans in the stands but reportedly at arm's length from crucial business decisions. In the long run, W. had the last laugh. A wild youth and some bad business moves couldn't keep him out of the White House.

Maybe Chelsea should cultivate some friends in Florida, too.