Washington, D.C. – November 4, 2025 – Richard Bruce Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, a pivotal figure in Republican politics for over four decades, and a central architect of the 2003 Iraq War, died on Monday night, November 3, 2025, at the age of 84. His family confirmed the death in a statement released Tuesday morning, attributing it to complications from pneumonia compounded by longstanding cardio and vascular disease.
Cheney, who served as vice president from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush, leaves behind a legacy marked by transformative influence on American national security policy, fierce partisan loyalty, and enduring controversy over the decisions that defined the early 21st-century U.S. response to global terrorism. Known for his unflinching advocacy of expansive executive power and preemptive military action, Cheney reshaped the office of the vice presidency into one of unprecedented authority.
“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,” the family statement read, as provided by spokesperson Jeremy Adler. “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.”
Born on January 30, 1941, in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney grew up in Casper, Wyoming, where his family relocated when he was a teenager. He attended Yale University briefly before transferring to the University of Wyoming, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1965 and a master’s in political science in 1966. He began doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin but left academia to pursue a career in public service.
Cheney’s entry into national politics came in 1969 when he joined the Nixon administration as a staff assistant. He rose quickly under Donald Rumsfeld, who became White House chief of staff. When Rumsfeld was appointed Secretary of Defense in 1975, Cheney succeeded him as the youngest chief of staff in history at age 34, serving President Gerald Ford during the turbulent post-Watergate period. In that role, he helped manage the final months of the Vietnam War, the fall of Saigon, and Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon.
After Ford’s 1976 election loss, Cheney returned to Wyoming and successfully ran for the state’s sole U.S. House seat in 1978. He served six terms, from 1979 to 1989, rising to House Republican Conference Chairman and then House Minority Whip. Known for his deep knowledge of defense and intelligence issues, Cheney voted consistently with conservative priorities: supporting Reagan-era military buildup, opposing sanctions on apartheid South Africa, and backing the 1986 bombing of Libya.
In 1989, President George H.W. Bush nominated Cheney to be Secretary of Defense following the withdrawal of John Tower’s nomination amid controversy. Confirmed unanimously by the Senate, Cheney oversaw the U.S. military during a period of historic transition. He managed the drawdown of forces after the Cold War while leading Operation Just Cause, the 1989 invasion of Panama to remove Manuel Noriega. Most notably, he directed Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990–1991, expelling Iraqi forces from Kuwait in a 100-hour ground war that solidified the U.S. military’s reputation for technological dominance.
After leaving the Pentagon in 1993, Cheney joined the American Enterprise Institute and later became CEO of Halliburton, the oilfield services conglomerate, from 1995 to 2000. During his tenure, Halliburton’s subsidiary KBR secured major government contracts, and the company expanded globally. Cheney’s compensation included stock options that would later draw scrutiny when he returned to government.
In 2000, George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, selected Cheney to lead his vice-presidential search committee. Cheney ultimately recommended himself, and the ticket prevailed in the contentious election decided by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bush v. Gore. Sworn in on January 20, 2001, Cheney brought decades of Washington experience to an administration entering office with a razor-thin mandate.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, fundamentally altered Cheney’s vice presidency. From secure locations on that day, he authorized the shoot-down of suspicious aircraft and helped coordinate the initial response. In the weeks that followed, he became the leading voice for a muscular, unilateral approach to counterterrorism. He championed the USA PATRIOT Act, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and the establishment of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
Cheney was instrumental in building the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He repeatedly asserted that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and maintained operational ties to al-Qaeda—claims later disproven by the Iraq Survey Group and the 9/11 Commission. In a 2002 speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, he declared, “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.” The March 20, 2003, invasion, launched without United Nations Security Council authorization, removed Hussein from power in three weeks but ignited a protracted insurgency.
The war’s human and financial toll became a defining issue of the Bush presidency. Over 4,400 U.S. service members and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. The conflict cost an estimated $2 trillion, according to Brown University’s Costs of War Project. Cheney defended the decision unapologetically, arguing in his 2011 memoir In My Time that removing Saddam prevented a greater catastrophe and spread democracy in the Middle East.
Domestically, Cheney advocated for enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, which he described as a “no-brainer” in a 2007 interview. The CIA’s “black sites” and the military prison at Guantanamo operated under legal memos drafted by administration lawyers, including John Yoo, justifying expansive presidential authority during wartime. The 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA methods condemned many practices as torture and ineffective; Cheney dismissed the findings as “full of crap.”
Health challenges shadowed Cheney’s later years. He suffered his first heart attack at age 37 in 1978 and underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1988. Additional heart attacks followed in 2000 and 2010. In 2012, at age 71, he received a heart transplant, extending his life by over a decade. Despite frailty, he remained politically active, endorsing Republican candidates and criticizing Democratic foreign policy.
Cheney’s influence extended to energy and environmental policy. As chairman of Bush’s National Energy Policy Development Group in 2001, he met extensively with industry executives, producing a report favoring increased domestic drilling and deregulation. The proceedings drew lawsuits alleging secrecy; the Supreme Court ultimately shielded the records from full disclosure.
His relationship with Bush evolved from mentor-protégé to near co-presidency. Cheney hand-picked much of the national security team, including Rumsfeld and Scooter Libby. When Libby was convicted in 2007 of perjury in the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation, Cheney lobbied unsuccessfully for a pardon. Bush commuted the sentence but allowed the conviction to stand—a rare public rift.
After leaving office in 2009, Cheney remained a vocal defender of the administration’s record. He criticized President Barack Obama’s withdrawal timetable for Iraq, warning it would squander hard-won gains—a prediction echoed when ISIS seized Mosul in 2014. In 2013, he co-founded the Alliance for a Strong America to advocate robust defense spending.
Cheney’s later years saw him break with the Republican Party on several fronts. He endorsed Democratic candidates in 2020 and 2022 to oppose election deniers, including his daughter Liz Cheney’s primary challenger in Wyoming. Liz, a three-term congresswoman and vice chair of the House January 6 Committee, was ousted in 2022 after voting to impeach Donald Trump. Dick Cheney appeared in her campaign ads, declaring Trump “a coward” and “the greatest threat to our republic.”
The Cheneys’ political divergence underscored a broader GOP schism. While Dick remained a neoconservative icon to many, his warnings about democratic backsliding alienated MAGA loyalists. In a 2024 documentary, The Last Republican, he reflected on his career with characteristic bluntness: “I did what I thought was right for the country.”
Cheney is survived by his wife of 61 years, Lynne Vincent Cheney, a former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities and author; daughters Elizabeth and Mary Cheney; and several grandchildren. Mary, who is gay, prompted Dick to become an early Republican advocate for same-sex marriage, a stance he articulated in 2009.
Funeral arrangements remain private, though a public memorial service is expected at the National Cathedral. President Biden ordered flags lowered to half-staff at federal buildings. In a statement, Bush called Cheney “a man of conviction and courage who served our nation with honor.”
Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Cheney’s “strategic vision,” while former Defense Secretary Robert Gates lauded his crisis leadership. Critics, including CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, reiterated opposition to the Iraq War but acknowledged his consequential role in history.
Cheney’s death closes a chapter in American politics defined by the post-Cold War unipolar moment and the War on Terror. His career—spanning Congress, the Pentagon, corporate boardrooms, and the West Wing—embodied a belief in American exceptionalism and the necessity of hard power. Whether viewed as a steadfast patriot or the engineer of tragic miscalculations, Dick Cheney undeniably shaped the trajectory of the 21st century.
As the nation reflects on his life, the debates he ignited—over preemption, executive authority, and the costs of intervention—remain unresolved. In an era of renewed great-power competition and domestic division, Cheney’s legacy serves as both caution and compass for leaders grappling with an uncertain world.
