Richard Bruce Cheney (January 30, 1941 – November 3, 2025) was an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. Considered the main architect of the Iraq War, Cheney has been called the most powerful vice president in American history.
Born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney later lived in Casper, Wyoming. He attended Yale University before earning a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in political science from the University of Wyoming. He began his political career as an intern for Congressman William A. Steiger, eventually working his way into the White House during the Nixon and Ford administrations. He served as White House chief of staff from 1975 to 1977. In 1978, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and represented Wyoming's at-large congressional district from 1979 to 1989, briefly serving as House minority whip in 1989. He was appointed Secretary of Defense during the presidency of George H. W. Bush and held the position for most of Bush's term from 1989 to 1993. As secretary, he oversaw Operation Just Cause in 1989 and Operation Desert Storm in 1991. While out of office during the Clinton administration, he was the chairman and CEO of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000; he received a $33.7 million severance package.
In July 2000, presumptive Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush chose Cheney as his running mate in the 2000 presidential election. They defeated their Democratic opponents, incumbent vice president Al Gore and senator Joe Lieberman. In 2004, Cheney was reelected to his second term as vice president with Bush as president, defeating their Democratic opponents, senators John Kerry and John Edwards. During Cheney's tenure as vice president, he played a leading behind-the-scenes role in the Bush administration's response to the September 11 attacks and coordination of the Global War on Terrorism. He was an early proponent of the decision to invade Iraq, falsely alleging that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction and had an operational relationship with al-Qaeda; neither allegation was ever substantiated. Cheney also pressured the intelligence community to provide intelligence consistent with the administration's rationales for invading Iraq. He was often criticized for the Bush administration's policies regarding the campaign against terrorism, for his support of NSA warrantless surveillance, and for his endorsement of enhanced interrogation techniques and torture.
Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, supported same-sex marriage in 2004, putting him at odds with Bush, but also said it was "appropriately a matter for the states to decide". Cheney ended his vice-presidential tenure as a deeply unpopular figure in U.S. politics, with an approval rating of 13%. His peak approval rating, just after the September 11 attacks, was 68%. Cheney endorsed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 but became a critic after the January 6 United States Capitol attack; he endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Cheney died the following year from complications related to pneumonia and vascular disease.
Richard Bruce Cheney was born on January 30, 1941, in Lincoln, Nebraska, the son of Marjorie Lorraine (née Dickey) and Richard Herbert Cheney. He was of predominantly English, as well as Welsh, Irish, and French Huguenot ancestry. His father was a soil conservation agent for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and his mother was a softball star in the 1930s; Cheney was one of three children. He attended Calvert Elementary School before his family moved to Casper, Wyoming, where he attended Natrona County High School.
He attended Yale University, but by his own account had problems adjusting to the college and dropped out. Among the influential teachers from his days in New Haven was H. Bradford Westerfield, whom Cheney repeatedly credited with having helped to shape his approach to foreign policy. He briefly attended Casper College before enrolling at the University of Wyoming, where he earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in political science while working as a lineman. He subsequently started doctoral studies in political science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was a full-time student for three semesters, part-time for one semester, and was shy of finishing his doctorate by a dissertation; he left to accept a congressional fellowship in Washington, D.C.
In November 1962, at age 21, Cheney was convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI). He was arrested for DWI again in 1963. Cheney said the arrests made him "think about where I was and where I was headed. I was headed down a bad road if I continued on that course."
In 1964, Cheney married Lynne Vincent, his high-school sweetheart.
When Cheney became eligible for the draft, during the Vietnam War, he applied for and received five draft deferments. In 1989, after Cheney was nominated for secretary of defense, The Washington Post writer George C. Wilson interviewed him. When asked about his deferments, Cheney said, "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service." Cheney testified during his confirmation hearings in 1989 that he received deferments to finish a college career that lasted six years rather than four owing to subpar academic performance and the need to work to pay for his education. Upon graduation, Cheney was eligible for the draft, but at the time, the Selective Service System was not inducting married men. On October 26, 1965, the draft expanded to include married men without children; Cheney's first child, Elizabeth, was born nine months and two days later. Cheney's fifth and final deferment granted him "3-A" status, a "hardship" deferment available to men with dependents. On January 30, 1967, Cheney turned 26 and was no longer eligible for the draft.
In 1966, Cheney dropped out of the doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin to work as staff aide for Governor Warren P. Knowles.
In 1968, Cheney was awarded an American Political Science Association congressional fellowship and moved to Washington, D.C.
Cheney's political career began in 1969, as an intern for Congressman William A. Steiger during the Richard Nixon Administration. He then joined the staff of Donald Rumsfeld, who was then Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity from 1969 to 1970. He held several positions in the years that followed: White House Staff Assistant in 1971, assistant director of the Cost of Living Council from 1971 to 1973, and Deputy Assistant to the president from 1974 to 1975. As deputy assistant, Cheney suggested several options in a memo to Rumsfeld, including use of the U.S. Justice Department, that the Ford administration could use to limit damage from an article, published by The New York Times, in which investigative reporter Seymour Hersh reported that U.S. Navy submarines had tapped into Soviet undersea communications as part of a highly classified program, Operation Ivy Bells.
Cheney was Assistant to the President and White House deputy chief of staff under Gerald Ford from December 1974 to November 1975. When Rumsfeld was named Secretary of Defense, Cheney became White House chief of staff, succeeding Rumsfeld. He was campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign.
U.S. House of Representatives (1979–1989)
In 1978, Cheney was elected to represent Wyoming in the U.S. House of Representatives and succeeded retiring Democratic Congressman Teno Roncalio, having defeated his Democratic opponent, Bill Bagley. Cheney was re-elected five times, serving until 1989.
In 1987, he was elected Chairman of the House Republican Conference. The following year, he was elected House minority whip. He served for two and a half months before he was appointed Secretary of Defense instead of former U.S. senator John G. Tower, whose nomination had been rejected by the U.S. Senate in March 1989.
Cheney voted against the creation of the U.S. Department of Education, citing his concern over budget deficits and expansion of the federal government, and claiming that the department was an encroachment on states' rights. He voted against funding Head Start, but reversed his position in 2000.