Dick Cheney, who transformed the role of vice president into an unprecedented position of influence and became the chief architect of America’s post-9/11 war on terrorism, died Monday night at his home surrounded by family. He was 84.
The cause was complications from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from his family. The 46th vice president of the United States had battled cardiovascular disease for decades, surviving multiple heart attacks and eventually receiving a heart transplant in 2012.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” his family said in a statement Tuesday morning. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
Former President George W. Bush, who selected Cheney as his running mate in 2000, called the death “a loss to the nation” in a statement Tuesday. “History will remember him as among the finest public servants of his generation — a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every position he held,” Bush said. He described Cheney as “a calm and steady presence in the White House amid great national challenges. I counted on him for his honest, forthright counsel, and he never failed to give his best.”
Cheney served in Republican politics for more than four decades, holding positions as White House chief of staff, congressman from Wyoming, and secretary of defense before ascending to the vice presidency. His career spanned from the Nixon administration through the second Bush presidency, making him one of the most enduring figures in modern Republican politics.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1941, Cheney’s early life showed little indication of his future influence. He dropped out of Yale University and worked as a lineman for a power company in Wyoming while accumulating two drunken-driving convictions. But he turned his life around, marrying his high school sweetheart Lynne, completing his education at the University of Wyoming, and entering graduate school at the University of Wisconsin.
Cheney received five military deferments during the Vietnam War, a fact that would later draw criticism when he helped lead the nation into another controversial conflict in Iraq. He began his political career as a congressional intern in 1969 and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming President Gerald Ford’s chief of staff at age 34.
It was during the Ford administration that Cheney developed his philosophy about presidential power that would define his later career. “We’ve seen the War Powers Act, an anti-impoundment control act, and time after time after time, administrations have traded away the authority of the president to do his job,” he said in a 2002 Fox News interview. “We’re not going to do that in this administration.”
After serving ten years in Congress beginning in 1978, Cheney became defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush, directing Operation Desert Storm to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. At that time, he defended the decision not to continue to Baghdad and topple Saddam Hussein’s regime, calling such an action “a classic definition of a quagmire” in a 1994 interview.
Cheney left government service after Bush’s defeat in 1992 and became CEO of Halliburton, the energy services giant, accumulating significant wealth. When George W. Bush asked him to lead the search for a vice presidential candidate in 2000, the process ended with Bush selecting Cheney himself for the position.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, fundamentally shaped Cheney’s vice presidency. On that day, while President Bush was in Florida, Cheney was in the White House and was rushed by Secret Service agents to an underground bunker. He later recounted telling Bush to delay his return to Washington, saying “We don’t know what’s going on here but it looks like, you know, we’ve been targeted.”
Following the attacks, Cheney became the leading advocate for an aggressive foreign policy doctrine of preemptive action against potential threats. He played a central role in making the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, warning of dire consequences if action was not taken while simultaneously predicting that American forces would “be greeted as liberators.”
As the Iraq War dragged on without finding the weapons of mass destruction that had been cited as justification for the invasion, Cheney faced intense criticism. He became a lightning rod for opponents of the administration, earning the nickname “Darth Vader” from political foes. President Bush himself once joked about Cheney’s dark image, saying the vice president told him on Halloween that he was already wearing his costume and “mumbled something about the dark side of the force.”
Controversy followed Cheney throughout his vice presidency. His chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted of perjury in 2007 in connection with the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. In 2006, Cheney accidentally shot his friend Harry Whittington during a quail-hunting trip in Texas, an incident that remained secret for two days.
After leaving office in 2009, Cheney emerged as a vocal critic of President Barack Obama’s policies. But with the rise of Donald Trump and his criticism of “forever wars,” Cheney’s brand of interventionist foreign policy fell out of favor within the Republican Party.
The political transformation became personal when Trump attacked Cheney’s daughter, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, after she voted to impeach Trump following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Dick Cheney appeared in a campaign advertisement for his daughter’s unsuccessful 2022 reelection bid, declaring: “In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.”
In 2024, Cheney endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for president over Trump, saying Trump “can never be trusted with power again.”
Cheney’s wife Lynne and daughters Liz and Mary were with him when he died. The family said funeral arrangements would be announced at a later date.
