Dick Cheney, widely regarded as one of America’s most influential and powerful vice presidents, has died. He was 84. His death Monday, due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, was confirmed by his family.
“We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country,” the family said in a statement. “And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
Cheney was the 46th vice president, serving alongside Republican President George W. Bush for two terms between 2001 and 2009. He became known as the chief architect of the War on Terror during his time in the White House due to his reputation for pushing through many of Bush’s initiatives and helping bolster the power of the presidency.
Cheney served in the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations before joining Congress, where he represented his home state of Wyoming in the House for 10 years. He then served as secretary of defense under George H.W. Bush, orchestrating the Gulf War, in which the United States expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Prior to joining the 2000 Republican presidential ticket as George W. Bush’s running mate, Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton.
The vice presidency is traditionally a ceremonial role, but Cheney wielded an immense amount of influence under Bush. He exercised it most notably in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, serving as the driving force behind the broader War on Terror following the attacks, from America’s military campaigns abroad to expanding the government’s surveillance powers at home. Cheney was a leading voice advocating for the invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq under the guise that the nation possessed weapons of mass destruction — despite a lack of solid intelligence indicating it did. Cheney relentlessly defended the war he orchestrated, including the military’s use of torture as an interrogation technique, and his legacy is inextricable from the decades of devastation it wrought.
In his later years, he became an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, calling him a grave threat to society. He shocked both parties when he announced he would vote for Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Cheney struggled with his health for years, having suffered five heart attacks from 1978 to 2010. He had also worn a device to regulate his heartbeat since 2001. He underwent a successful heart transplant in 2012. His family wrote that Lynne, his wife of 61 years; his daughters, Liz and Mary; and other family members were with him as he died Monday night.
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