Robert Roosevelt Robert Roosevelt Robert Barnhill Roosevelt, also known as Robert Barnwell Roosevelt (August 7, 1829 – June 14, 1906), was a sportsman, author, and politician who served as a United States Representative from New York (1871–1873) and as Minister to the Hague (1888–1889). Robert Roosevelt was born in New York City to businessman Cornelius Van Schaack "C.V.S." Roosevelt and Margaret Barnhill. He had three elder brothers, Silas, James, and Cornelius Jr., and two younger brothers, Theodore and William. He was an uncle of President Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt, Jr. and great-uncle of First Lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. As an Oyster Bay Roosevelt,
Eleanor Roosevelt Russell Baker reviewing two new Roosevelt biographies in the "New York Times Review of Books" ("Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage", by Hazel Rowley, and "Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady", by Maurine H. Beasley) stated, "That the Hickok relationship was indeed erotic now seems beyond dispute considering what is known about the letters they exchanged." In the same years, Washington gossip linked Roosevelt romantically with New Deal administrator Harry Hopkins, with whom she worked closely. Roosevelt also had a close relationship with New York State Police sergeant Earl Miller, who was assigned by the president to be her bodyguard. Roosevelt