Cheney was said to have great influence as a behind-the-scenes puppet master. Before serving under George W. Bush, he served as Secretary of Defense under his father, George HW Bush. As Pentagon chief, he played a leading role in the 1990/1991 Gulf War, in which a US-led coalition drove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. He then shaped the White House as Vice President with his neoconservative ideology.
He is considered the driving force behind the decision to invade Afghanistan after the attacks of September 11, 2001. His false accusation that Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein was arming himself with weapons of mass destruction also played a key role in preparing the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Before the 2024 presidential election, the Republican Cheney surprised US citizens by openly opposing the election of the right-wing Donald Trump and instead supporting the election of the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. He did not consider the right-wing populist Trump to be suitable for the office. Regardless of party affiliation, it’s about defending the US Constitution, he said.
His daughter Liz Cheney, who previously served as a member of the House of Representatives for the Republicans, also publicly opposed Trump and his false claims about election fraud after the storm on the Capitol and was massively attacked by Trump for this.
According to his family, Dick Cheney died as a result of complications related to pneumonia and heart and vascular disease. Cheney suffered five heart attacks between 1978 and 2010 and had to undergo several heart operations.
“For decades, Dick Cheney served our country, including as White House Chief of Staff, Congressman from Wyoming, Secretary of Defense and Vice President of the United States,” his family’s statement said. George W. Bush declared that Cheney was one of the “best public servants of his generation.” He was a “patriot” who “brought integrity” and “high intelligence” to every position he took on.
Cheney was born on January 30, 1941 in Lincoln, Nebraska, but grew up in the state of Wyoming. He dropped out of his studies at the elite Yale University after a few semesters and earned his degree in political science at the University of Wyoming in his home country.
His distinguished career in Washington began under President Gerald Ford, who appointed Cheney as White House chief of staff after Donald Rumsfeld was appointed defense secretary. In 1976 he managed Ford’s campaign – but the Republican lost the election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
In 1978, Cheney entered the House of Representatives as a congressman from Wyoming. In 1989, President George HW Bush appointed him Secretary of Defense; his term in office included, among other things, the first Gulf War. After the election of Democrat Bill Clinton, Cheney was head of the Halliburton company from 1995, which received numerous lucrative contracts from the US government, including in Iraq.
In 2001, Cheney became vice president under George W. Bush. He was considered one of the “hawks” in Bush’s inner circle of power and had great influence on the president’s controversial foreign policy.
