Dick Cheney

I

Introduction

Dick Cheney, born in 1941, American politician and 46th vice president of the United States (2001- ) under President George W. Bush. Bush and Cheney were elected in 2000 in one of the closest and most disputed elections in U.S. history. The two men were elected to a second term in 2004. Before becoming vice president, Cheney was White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford and secretary of defense for Bush’s father, President George Herbert Walker Bush.

Richard Bruce Cheney was born on January 30, 1941, in Lincoln, Nebraska, and grew up in Casper, Wyoming, where his father was a soil conservation agent for the Department of Agriculture. He received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree, both in political science, from the University of Wyoming. In 1964 he married his high school sweetheart, Lynne; she later served as the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities during the administration of President Ronald Reagan. The couple has two daughters.

II

Government Service

Cheney entered government service in 1969, initially serving in a variety of posts in the administration of Richard Nixon. He served at the Cost of Living Council and the Office of Economic Opportunity. He also worked as a staff assistant in the Nixon White House. During the administration of Gerald Ford, Cheney served on the team that helped Ford make the transition from vice president to president after Nixon resigned in 1974. Cheney also served as deputy assistant to the president. In November 1975 he was named White House chief of staff.

Cheney returned to Wyoming in 1977 and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1978. In 1988 he was elected House minority whip, and in this role he worked to get Republican representatives to vote the party line on key issues. In 1989 President George H. W. Bush named him secretary of defense. During his tenure, Cheney helped oversee the U.S. military campaign in Panama as well as Operation Desert Storm, the U.S.-led multinational campaign that liberated Iraqi-occupied Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War (1991). In 1991 President Bush awarded Cheney the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work during the war.

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III

Vice President

A

First Term

After serving in the Bush administration, Cheney became chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Halliburton Company, a Texas-based energy firm. In 2000 Bush’s son, Republican Party presidential nominee George W. Bush, asked Cheney to oversee the selection process for a vice-presidential candidate. In July 2000 Bush chose Cheney to be his vice-presidential running mate. Cheney quickly became one of the most powerful members of President Bush's inner circle. In the days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Cheney was secluded in a so-called undisclosed location, presumably for his protection and to ensure a transition of power should anything happen to the president.

Following the attacks and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Cheney championed the idea of “regime change” in Iraq, urging President Bush to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Cheney alleged a link between Hussein and al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks. He also asserted in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in August 2002 that there was “no doubt” that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and had resumed efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. In March 2003 Cheney outlined on national television the Bush administration's stance that diplomacy was no longer an option and that Iraqi president Hussein allegedly posed a threat because of “his development and use of chemical weapons, his development of biological weapons, his pursuit of nuclear weapons.” Five days later, the United States led a massive invasion of Iraq. See also U.S.-Iraq War.

From the outset of his tenure as vice president, Cheney faced criticism that he retained too many ties to the oil industry. That criticism emerged when it was announced that Halliburton Co., Cheney's former employer, was among the companies awarded the first contracts to help rebuild postwar Iraq. In the months after the invasion of Iraq, Cheney also participated in White House efforts to pass a sweeping rewrite of the nation's energy policy, a measure that would increase oil drilling, coal mining, and nuclear power. Despite some speculation that he might not join President Bush in his reelection bid in 2004, Cheney announced that he would indeed run again. In the 2004 elections, the Bush-Cheney ticket won both the popular vote and the electoral college tally.

B

Second Term

Into the second Bush administration, Cheney remained one of the steadfast supporters of U.S. efforts in Iraq. He spoke out against detractors of U.S. policy in Iraq and against critics who suggested the Bush administration was violating the rights of people detained during the war on terror. On a personal note during his time as vice president, Cheney was taken to the hospital on at least three occasions, including treatment for shortness of breath and to repair aneurysms. Despite Cheney’s well-publicized health problems, and his level of influence and his denunciations of administration critics, the office of the vice president tended to remain one of the least visible inside the Bush White House. As in the first term of Bush’s presidency, Cheney was considered to be one of Bush’s most trusted advisers on many different policies and someone who preferred to work behind the scenes. Cheney was also considered one of Bush’s most important assets in terms of maintaining the support of ardent, conservative allies around the nation.

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