Dick Cheney, the former U.S. vice president who served under President George W. Bush and was one of the most influential, and controversial figures in modern American politics, has died at the age of 84.
His family announced his passing in a statement on Tuesday, saying he died from complications related to pneumonia and long-standing cardiac and vascular disease.
“His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed,” the family said. “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.”
A dominant force in U.S. national security policy, Cheney reshaped the role of the vice presidency during his tenure from 2001 to 2009, wielding unprecedented influence over the Bush administration’s response to the September 11 attacks and its ensuing “war on terror.”
He was a key architect of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, warning that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction — claims that were later discredited when none were found. Despite widespread criticism, Cheney long defended the decision, arguing it was justified by the intelligence available at the time and noting that it ended Hussein’s rule.
Before becoming vice president, Cheney served as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush, overseeing U.S. forces during the Persian Gulf War. Earlier in his career, he held senior roles in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Throughout his political life, Cheney championed a robust and expansive vision of executive power, believing it had been weakened since the Watergate scandal. As vice president, he built a formidable national security team that often rivaled other power centers within the Bush White House.
His advocacy for “enhanced interrogation techniques” — including waterboarding and sleep deprivation — drew fierce condemnation at home and abroad. Both the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee and the United Nations labeled the practices as torture.
In later years, Cheney found himself at odds with former President Donald Trump, who publicly attacked both him and his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney, after she became a leading Republican critic of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Cheney himself appeared in a 2022 campaign ad calling Trump “a greater threat to our republic than any other individual in our nation’s history.”
In a rare move for a lifelong Republican, Cheney later announced he would vote for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Cheney had battled heart disease for most of his adult life, suffering his first heart attack at 37 and undergoing a heart transplant in 2012.
