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.

B.1.

Valerie Plame Wilson Affair

Despite his general inclination to avoid the limelight, enormous attention centered on Cheney and his staff in 2005. A special prosecutor was investigating whether someone in the Bush administration had broken the law by leaking the name of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer Valerie Plame Wilson. Her husband, Joseph Wilson, had written an article disputing the Bush administration’s claim that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium in Africa and charging that the United States had rushed to war on questionable intelligence. As the investigation first emerged, then lingered, and finally dominated national headlines, there were suggestions that members of Cheney’s staff were being questioned.

In October 2005 Cheney’s close friend and influential chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice and perjury. Libby promptly denied the charges, resigned his position, and awaited trial. Some political observers said the allegations against Cheney's chief of staff indicated that Cheney's office operated with a high degree of autonomy inside the Bush White House. Critics said Cheney had created an office that was powerful and unregulated. Defenders of Cheney and the Bush administration said that the vice president had done nothing wrong and continued to provide the president with valuable advice.

In the immediate wake of the news that the vice president’s chief of staff had been indicted, there was speculation as to whether or not Cheney would also eventually leave the White House. Some suggested that his presence at the White House had become a political liability. Those suggestions, however, quickly abated and as the year ended, Cheney’s position at the White House seemed as secure as ever.

B.2.

Other Issues

At year-end Cheney also entered into one of the more public political battles of his tenure as vice president when he objected to Republican Senator John McCain’s so-called torture amendment, which sought to limit the scope of U.S. interrogation techniques. Despite Cheney’s vigorous differences with parts of the McCain measure, particularly provisions that would include some limitations on the CIA, the amendment was passed overwhelmingly by Congress.

Into 2006, Cheney resumed his role as one of the more powerful and insistent conservatives inside the administration, and as one of the stalwart defenders of the president’s domestic and international policies. As political observers suggested that sympathy for the U.S. effort in Iraq was waning among some initial supporters, Cheney urged that the country remain committed to its Iraq initiatives.

The vice president entered the hospital in January 2006 to address concerns with shortness of breath and medication he was taking for a lingering foot condition. Cheney was released after a few hours. On a hunting trip to Texas in February 2006, Cheney accidentally shot a member of his hunting party, a Texas attorney named Harry Whittington. The shooting dominated national headlines for many weeks, especially as Whittington lingered in the hospital with wounds to various parts of his body and with a shotgun pellet lodged near his heart. An investigation by a local sheriff’s office absolved the vice president of any wrongdoing and Cheney offered a public apology for the incident, calling it one of the “worst” days of his life. Whittington was released from the hospital later in the month but critics continued to linger with the case, suggesting that Cheney should have been questioned by authorities more quickly and with greater vigor.

Through 2006, the speculation surrounding the case involving Plame Wilson and Cheney’s former chief of staff, “Scooter” Libby, gained momentum. Many lawmakers and critics suggested that Cheney should do more to clear the air on exactly what role his office had been playing in the headline-dominating affair. Later that year, Plame Wilson filed a lawsuit against Cheney, Libby, and Bush advisor Karl Rove, arguing that they had conspired to reveal her identity as a covert CIA agent in retribution for her husband’s critical article.

In the spring of 2006, reports emerged that after the September 11 attacks, Cheney advocated for a controversial program to expand domestic electronic surveillance as a means to wage the war on terror. Also that spring, reports surfaced suggesting that Cheney had once taken an early, acute interest in the anti-Bush administration article that had been written by Valerie Plame Wilson’s husband, Joseph Wilson.

In May 2006 Cheney traveled to Kazakhstan to advocate for a pipeline route that would give the United States and the West direct access to oil and natural gas from Central Asia, bypassing Russia and Iran. Cheney also argued that the West needed more cooperation from Russia when it came to addressing energy concerns and castigated Russia for using oil and natural gas as “tools for intimidation or blackmail.” Russian president Vladimir Putin responded with a rebuke of Cheney, and critics suggested that Cheney had needlessly ramped up tensions between the United States and Russia.

By the end of 2006, some observers were suggesting that Cheney’s influence, once paramount in the White House, was beginning to wane. Some felt that he was distracted, or at least saddled, by the ongoing revelations and developments in the Libby investigation as well as a coalescing opposition to the war in Iraq. A controversy flared up in late 2006 when critics accused Cheney of endorsing torture after he said in a radio interview that it was a “no brainer” to dunk terrorism suspects in water. Administration spokespeople suggested the comment was not meant to condone a controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding, which is a form of controlled drowning.

B.3.

Libby Convicted

In 2007 Cheney’s former chief of staff Libby was convicted of lying and obstructing a federal investigation. Many observers said that, although Cheney was never charged with any crime, he was deeply wounded politically by what happened to his former top aide and by speculation that there might be lingering revelations still to emerge. The prosecutor in the case observed that Cheney was “under a cloud” for his role.

B.4.

Lame-Duck Administration

Through 2007 and into 2008, Cheney traveled frequently outside the country, visiting Japan, Iraq, Pakistan, and other nations vital to American interests. As lingering political problems, including those concerning his former aide Libby, began to fade from headlines, some initially wondered if Cheney’s influence at the White House had been permanently eroded. In the summer of 2007 Bush commuted Libby’s sentence, and observers suggested that despite being a lightning rod for criticism of the Bush administration, Cheney quietly continued being active in formulating policies related to Iraq, economic policy, and environmental regulations.

The overall scope of Cheney’s influence at the White House led some analysts to suggest that he would eventually be considered the most influential vice president in U.S. history and had, in many ways, redefined the parameters of his office. Underscoring that belief were two reports. One was a memoir by former CIA director George Tenet, released in 2007, that suggested Cheney had a large hand in steering America into war in Iraq. Another was a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles by two Washington Post reporters, which found that Cheney played a major role in setting administration policies, including convincing President Bush to bypass the Geneva Conventions in the treatment of suspected terrorist detainees.

In August long-time Bush advisor Karl Rove left the administration, and some observers said that Cheney’s sphere of influence in the administration had been solidified. The vice president was one of the last powerful, and close, members of Bush’s inner circle to remain part of the administration. Meanwhile, adding to Cheney’s history of health-related issues, in early 2007 he was treated for deep-vein thrombosis in his left leg; in July he had surgery to replace a cardiac-monitoring device; and in November, doctors administered an electrical shock to Cheney’s heart to restore it to a normal heartbeat. Also, through 2007, some lawmakers tried to push forward impeachment proceedings against the vice president. A resolution was eventually sent to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration in November.

At about the same time, Cheney publicly declared his support for attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey, who was replacing Alberto Gonzales, and for U.S. policies in the war on terrorism. Cheney suggested that aggressiveness in the fight against terrorism had helped keep the nation from any domestic attacks like the ones on September 11, 2001. The vice president’s remarks came at a time when critics were assailing Mukasey for saying that he was unsure if a controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding constituted torture and was a violation of U.S. and international law.

Through 2007 and into 2008, Cheney continued to travel and defend administration policies on the environment, energy, the economy, and the war in Iraq. Cheney participated in high-level foreign policy strategy discussions with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other national security advisors. Further underlining his hands-on involvement with international diplomacy, Cheney traveled to the Middle East in March 2008 to meet with various international leaders.

As a member of a lame-duck administration Cheney continued, well into 2008, to attract criticism from foes who contended that he was instrumental in expanding the powers of the executive branch of government to a dangerous degree, that he was too tied to major energy producers, and that he had been too heavy-handed in crafting American policies for the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. His approval ratings, like those of Bush, often hovered in the mid-30s during early 2008, with more than 60 percent of those polled disapproving of his job performance. Cheney ardently defended administration policies, especially suggesting that the troop surge in Iraq had led to noticeable progress. In a televised interview in March 2007, he said that he if “he wanted to be loved” he would not have been a politician.