Dick Cheney Dies at 84

His two terms as vice president transformed the office and made him a major power broker

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Published November 04, 2025

Former vice president Dick Cheney, who radically reshaped the office during his time under President George W. Bush, died Monday. He was 84.

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Former vice president Dick Cheney, considered by many to be the most powerful person to ever hold that office, has died. He was 84.

Cheney died Monday night due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from his family.

“For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States,” the statement said, according to the Associated Press. “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. 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.”

Cheney’s health was a matter of public interest since his first heart attack at age 37. Over the decades, he survived five heart attacks, had bypass surgery and had a defibrillator implanted. But his fiscal conservatism could be viewed as being at odds with the social programs that gave others strong health care options.

As vice president under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009, Cheney advocated for reforming Social Security by allowing people to divert money from payroll tax contributions to personal accounts. And he cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Cheney benefited from advances in medical technology well into his golden years. In 2010, heart failure brought him to the brink of death before a transplant bought him more time.

A defining moment: The War on Terror

On September 11, 2001, after al-Qaida terrorists steered two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, a Secret Service agent rushed then-Vice President Cheney from the West Wing. A third hijacked jet was reportedly set to strike the White House. Cheney had just made it into an underground bunker when the aircraft doubled back and hit the Pentagon. With President George W. Bush away from Washington, it was Cheney who gave the approval to shoot down the hijacked planes. That same day brought a dire warning from Cheney’s doctors: Labs indicated he might imminently go into cardiac arrest. It turned out to be a false alarm.

“This is going to be the kind of work that will probably take years,” Cheney said of the American response to the attacks, days after 9/11.

With the Bush administration’s focus now on terrorist plots, Cheney said the U.S. would have to operate through “the dark side,” quietly doing whatever was necessary to gain intelligence and accomplish its goals. Cheney helped the National Security Agency expand its surveillance of domestic communications. He supported keeping detainees at Guantánamo and argued for enhanced interrogation techniques. His 2011 book, In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, called the surveillance program “one of the most important success stories in the history of American intelligence.”

Those were not the only controversial choices Cheney defended. In 2003, facing international opposition, he pushed for war in Iraq. Cheney suggested Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was tied to al-Qaida and warned that he was poised to use weapons of mass destruction. Within a year, America invaded.

The ultimate D.C. insider

Cheney epitomized the Washington insider. He was not the decider, but his fingerprints were all over the levers of power. People who worked with Cheney described him as having “the agency of the president” or, in many rooms, being “in charge.” His Secret Service code name was Angler, a reference to his love of fly-fishing with a subtext: Cheney always found his angle. Though he sometimes took charge in moments of crisis, he kept much of his maneuvering under the radar. Cheney aides, who absorbed information while saying little about their boss, were known as the Watchers by government agency staff.

“He was a zealot,” Barton Gellman, who authored Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, told AARP. “But most zealots can’t find the light switch. They don’t know how things really work. He was a guy who really did know how things work. And if you combine that with zealotry, then you’re really going to move the needle on history.”

Born in 1941 in Lincoln, Nebraska, Richard Bruce Cheney moved with his family to Casper, Wyoming, when he was 13. He flunked out of Yale, got two DUIs and spent some years laying power lines before graduating from the University of Wyoming. He planned to get a Ph.D. when, in 1968, he joined Rep. Bill Steiger’s congressional team. Soon, Cheney attracted the attention of Donald Rumsfeld, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, who brought him on as a special assistant in 1969. Before his 35th birthday, Cheney was President Gerald Ford’s chief of staff.

During his time in office, Cheney became a trusted advisor to President George W. Bush, particularly in the areas of national security.

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Elected to be Wyoming’s sole congressman in 1978, Cheney already knew how Washington worked. He forged relationships across the GOP and joined the Interior Committee, which helped him represent Wyoming’s energy interests, then the Intelligence Committee. He was a ranking member on the committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal, using his perch to defend executive power. He allowed the Peacekeeper missile to be stationed in his district when others refused.

“He was not a politician who gave stem-winder speeches when he would come home,” Pete Williams, the retired journalist who covered Cheney before joining his staff, told AARP. “He would sort of brief the audience, just like he was still White House chief of staff.”

In 1989, Cheney was House Republican Whip when President George H.W. Bush appointed him Secretary of Defense. Of every job Cheney held, this was his favorite, he wrote in Heart: An American Medical Odyssey. His tenure was marked by optimism. The Berlin Wall fell. The Cold War ended. In Panama, Cheney helmed Operation Just Cause, which led to the ousting and capture of drug trafficker Manuel Noriega. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, Cheney directed Operation Desert Shield. He flew to Saudi Arabia, well aware of the valuable oil reserves in Iraq’s reach, and persuaded the king to let the U.S. station forces within his borders. In early 1991, Cheney implemented Operation Desert Storm, which expelled Hussein weeks later. For his Gulf War leadership, Cheney was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

His decision not to run for president

Cheney mulled a presidential bid but opted instead to become chairman and CEO of Halliburton, a Fortune 500 oil and gas company. He turned down an early vice presidential overture from George W. Bush because he considered it, he later recalled, “a terrible job.” Only after leading the VP search committee and earning assurances from Bush did Cheney accept the offer.

“I was persuaded it would be a consequential vice presidency,” Cheney wrote. “He made it clear I would be an important part of his team, not just a typical vice president relegated to attending funerals and fund-raisers.… I was able to play a significant role because that is what he wanted.”

Many thought Cheney pulled the strings. Asked about that perception in 2011, Bush told AARP he disagreed. “No, Dick Cheney was a fine vice president,” he said. “Glad I picked him.”

Cheney had the experience, connections and strategic mind to guide the administration’s most consequential choices. Before the 2000 election results were official, Cheney chaired the transition effort from his kitchen table, selecting personnel as no VP ever had. He interviewed potential Supreme Court justices from his residence, presenting Bush a short list that included both his future appointees. The economy also animated Cheney. He secured an extra office near the House floor so he could better shape tax policy. A supporter of supply-side economics, he won tax cuts for America’s highest earner.

The controversies that haunt his legacy

By the second term, things went south. News broke that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction in 2004. Public opinion turned against the Iraq War. Cheney’s approval rating sank. Then in 2006, while quail hunting, Cheney accidentally shot and wounded Texas attorney and Republican supporter Harry Whittington. The day, which Cheney called “one of the saddest of my life,” made him a subject of ridicule.

Those close to Cheney saw him in a better light. In a town where climbers use associates like ladder rungs, Cheney was known for his loyalty, inspiring near-universal devotion from staffers. He also had a sense of humor. After the press dubbed him Darth Vader, Cheney played along, dressing his pup as the Sith Lord for Halloween.

Family life

Married more than 60 years to his high school sweetheart, Lynne, Cheney had two daughters, Mary and Liz. He was a committed husband and father who was well-known for preparing his family's annual Thanksgiving dinner.

At a 2004 town hall meeting, Cheney cited Mary when he distanced himself from a Bush-supported constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Cheney thought the states should decide.

“Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it’s an issue our family is very familiar with,” he said. “With respect to the question of relationships, my general view is ‘freedom’ means freedom for everyone.”

Decades later, he joined Liz Cheney — a congresswoman who, in 2021, voted to impeach President Donald Trump — in rebuking their party’s leader. Though the elder Cheney had previously backed Trump, he expressed misgivings.

In a 2022 ad for his daughter’s reelection campaign, he did not mince words. He criticized Trump's policies and tactics. In 2024, the lifelong Republican endorsed Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.