After a long career in public service, Cheney became one of the most influential vice presidents in American history and exerted a significant influence on U.S. foreign policy in the administration of George W. Bush. Richard Bruce “Dick” Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. He earned bachelor’s (1965) and master’s (1969) degrees in political science from the University of Wyoming. He legally avoided service in the Vietnam War through a series of draft deferments. In 1969, Cheney was hired as a special assistant to Donald Rumsfeld in the Office of Economic Opportunity. In 1974, he was appointed to President Gerald R. Ford’s transition team after the resignation of Richard M. Nixon. A year later, Cheney became the youngest White House chief of staff.

After Ford’s loss in the 1976 election, Cheney briefly left public service. However, in 1978, he successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives. The future vice president remained a member of the House until 1989. In 1981, he was elected chair of the House Republican Conference and in 1988, he was chosen as the House minority whip. During his House service, Cheney was best known for his staunch support for domestic energy exploration and development.

In March 1989, Cheney was appointed secretary of defense in the administration of George H. W. Bush. Cheney oversaw the initial transition of the military from its Cold War posture to a more lean and flexible force structure. He preferred to concentrate on broad policy issues and to delegate basic management to his subordinates, including Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Paul Wolfowitz. Cheney recommended Gen. Colin Powell to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Powell assumed office in October 1989). Meanwhile, Cheney’s experience in Congress and his extensive personal relationships with individual members made him a highly effective lobbyist for the Bush administration’s foreign and security policies.

The United States had supported Panamanian dictator general Manuel Noriega during the height of the Cold War. However, tensions between the United States and Panama escalated over Noriega’s involvement in the drug trade and his annulment of democratic elections. In December 1988, Panamanian security forces shot and killed an American sailor. Bush ordered U.S. forces to invade Panama and depose Noriega. Cheney oversaw the planning and attack. An American force of 24,000 troops invaded Panama on 20 December 1989. The Americans quickly overran Panama, and Noriega was captured (he was subsequently sent to the United States and tried and convicted for drug trafficking). The invasion underscored the need for rapid reaction capabilities.

On 1 August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering the Persian Gulf War. Cheney had to first develop and implement a defensive strategy to protect Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states from a possible attack from Iraq. Concurrently, he and the senior defense and military officials were tasked to plan the liberation of Kuwait. Their mission was complicated by the multilateral coalition developed by Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker III. Cheney and his staff had to plan and coordinate their operation among the disparate militaries. Operation Desert Storm, the liberation of Kuwait, began on 17 January 1991, and coalition forces overran the Iraqi defenses. A cease-fire was signed on 3 March.

Following the Gulf War, Cheney unsuccessfully advocated U.S. military and diplomatic support for the breakaway republics of the former Yugoslavia. He also oversaw the deployment of 26,000 American troops in the Somalia intervention in 1992 as part of a United Nations–sponsored peacekeeping mission. When Bush lost the 1992 election, Cheney left office. In 1994, he was appointed the chief executive officer of the Halliburton Corporation.

George W. Bush chose Cheney to be his running mate in the 2000 presidential election. He managed Bush’s transition team, including the choice of senior cabinet and staff personnel. Cheney was influential in the selection of Powell as secretary of state and Rumsfeld as defense secretary. In addition, Wolfowitz was appointed a deputy secretary of defense, while another colleague, Stephen J. Hadley, was chosen as the deputy national security advisor. Cheney developed a close relationship with Bush and even integrated the vice presidential staff with the presidential staff to bolster coordination. The vice president’s constitutional duties as president of the Senate were especially important during the 107th Congress following the defection of Republican senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who in 2001 declared himself an independent and caucused with the Democrats, leaving the Senate with a 50–50 tie between parties. Cheney cast seven tie-breaking votes. The vice president also served as a major lobbyist for the administration in Congress. Cheney asked for and was given an office in the House building (as president of the Senate, he already had offices in the upper chamber).

Throughout his political career, there were concerns over Cheney’s health. He had four heart attacks before he became vice president. Once in office, he suffered three heart-related episodes and had to have a device similar to a pacemaker installed. Cheney’s ties to the energy sector also created controversy, especially after he was appointed to chair the National Energy Policy Development Group. Environmental and media groups sued the administration for the records of the group’s meetings, but the administration refused, citing executive privilege (in 2002, a federal court ordered the records released, but the administration appealed the decision).

The president came to rely on Cheney for advice and counsel in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. In the period immediately following the strikes, Cheney and his staff were moved away from Washington, D.C., as a means of protecting the succession in case of future attacks. Although physically separated, Cheney was in constant contact with Bush through telecommunications systems. He participated in all major strategy meetings, including sessions on Operation Enduring Freedom, the military response to the terrorist attacks. Cheney was also influential in developing the Office, later Department, of Homeland Security. The vice president urged Bush to appoint former Pennsylvania governor Thomas J. Ridge as its first director.

Cheney had more influence in foreign and security policy than any of his predecessors. In addition to his informal role as an advisor, Cheney was granted a range of formal powers. For instance, he was given the authority to chair sessions of the National Security Council (NSC) if Bush was not in attendance; Cheney’s staff also regularly attended NSC sessions. In addition, in 2003 Bush granted Cheney the power to classify national security documents. He was dispatched on diplomatic missions, including a March 2002 mission to the Middle East to reduce Israeli-Palestinian strife on the eve of the invasion of Iraq. Foreign dignitaries also regularly met with Cheney along with their sessions with Bush.

Cheney was the leader of the hawkish wing of the administration. He argued for an expansion of the war on terror and backed U.S. aid and assistance for countries facing terrorist threats. The vice president was the foremost advocate for the doctrine of preemption to forestall potential terrorist strikes (the Bush Doctrine). Cheney was also one of the strongest backers of the invasion of Iraq. He embarked on a two-level campaign to win support for military action. Cheney personally lobbied members of Congress and political leaders in the United States. Meanwhile, he conducted a series of speeches and public interviews to win approval for the use of force. The vice president regularly charged that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and was supporting terrorism. Cheney urged Bush to undertake military action with or without the support of a United Nations resolution and in spite of opposition by traditional American allies such as Germany and France.

While defense secretary, Cheney had supported the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the former countries of the Soviet bloc. As vice president, he endorsed the extension of the alliance to seven central and eastern countries in the NATO expansion of 2004. He also supported the Free Trade Area of the Americas as a way to remove trade barriers and counter the growing economic power and influence of the European Union.

During the 2004 presidential election, Bush rejected pressure to replace Cheney with a more popular political figure. During the campaign, Cheney emerged as the most vocal critic of the Democratic candidate, John F. Kerry. The vice president specifically challenged Kerry’s foreign and security policies. Cheney was also a popular campaigner for individual Republican candidates and an important fundraiser for the party.

The vice president’s relationship with Halliburton created ethical questions after the company was granted a wide range of contracts for the supply of the U.S. military in Iraq, as well as reconstruction efforts. Cheney’s public reputation was further damaged in 2005 following allegations that the vice president’s office had leaked the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Wilson in retaliation for her husband’s criticism of the Iraq War. The accusations were discounted in 2006 when former assistant secretary of state Richard Armitage announced that he had revealed the name of Wilson during a private media interview. In 2006, the vice president was involved in a hunting incident in which he accidentally shot a fellow hunter, Harry Whittington. Prior to the 2006 midterm elections, in which the Republican Party lost its majority in both houses of Congress, Cheney’s popularity was at an all-time low.

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