Former Vice President Dick Cheney dies at 84 : NPR

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<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap0007250996_slide-0d2200f8377b490352b6308594703b3e9408b56f.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap0007250996_slide-0d2200f8377b490352b6308594703b3e9408b56f.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="Richard B. "Dick" Cheney (right), his brother (second from left) and friends were on a baseball team together in Lincoln, Neb., in 1953. His family moved to Wyoming during the boys' childhood." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption Richard B. "Dick" Cheney (proper), his brother (second from left) and mates have been on a baseball crew collectively in Lincoln, Neb., in 1953. His household moved to Wyoming through the boys' childhood.

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<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap01121703389_slide-cb26e84aa8ae6e05af0dc39dc6ec4e442284c91a.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap01121703389_slide-cb26e84aa8ae6e05af0dc39dc6ec4e442284c91a.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="Cheney (center) was on the Natrona County High School football team in Casper, Wyo., in 1957." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption Cheney (middle) was on the Natrona County Excessive College soccer crew in Casper, Wyo., in 1957.

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Courtesy of Natrona County Excessive College/AP

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/562x375+0+145/resize/800/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2010%2F12%2F13%2Fap00072502592_custom.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/562x375+0+145/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2010%2F12%2F13%2Fap00072502592_custom.jpg" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="Cheney and his future wife, Lynne Vincent, attend their junior-senior prom at Natrona County High School in 1959." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption Cheney and his future spouse, Lynne Vincent, attend their junior-senior promenade at Natrona County Excessive College in 1959.

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Courtesy Casper Faculty Archives/AP

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/475x317+0+174/resize/800/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2010%2F12%2F13%2Fap6401010761_custom.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/475x317+0+174/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2010%2F12%2F13%2Fap6401010761_custom.jpg" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="In 1964, Cheney was a junior at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyo." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption In 1964, Cheney was a junior on the College of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyo.

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College of Wyoming by way of Casper Faculty/AP

<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/cheney_rumsfeld_slide-e6b8f943c77c24e18b8fa5fd43fe68d80b83e867.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/cheney_rumsfeld_slide-e6b8f943c77c24e18b8fa5fd43fe68d80b83e867.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="Cheney succeeded Donald Rumsfeld as President Gerald Ford's White House chief of staff in 1975 when Rumsfeld was named defense secretary." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption Cheney succeeded Donald Rumsfeld as President Gerald Ford's White Home chief of workers in 1975 when Rumsfeld was named protection secretary.

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<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/cheneyford_slide-043fc36ebe76a583eb60c47f174105534fdb7483.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/cheneyford_slide-043fc36ebe76a583eb60c47f174105534fdb7483.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="President Ford and Chief of Staff Cheney look over documents during a weekend trip to Camp David, Md., on Aug. 7, 1976." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption President Ford and Chief of Employees Cheney look over paperwork throughout a weekend journey to Camp David, Md., on Aug. 7, 1976.

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<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/cheney_reagan_slide-2f4878b496c46f1e89900f198442f49455828b0f.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/cheney_reagan_slide-2f4878b496c46f1e89900f198442f49455828b0f.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="President Ronald Reagan attends a meeting with Republican Minority Leader Bob Michael (left) and Rep. Cheney, R-Wyo., at the White House on March 22, 1983." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption President Ronald Reagan attends a gathering with Republican Minority Chief Bob Michael (left) and Rep. Cheney, R-Wyo., on the White Home on March 22, 1983.

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<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/cheney_bush_slide-8cbe8b0bd7d9fdbebca7c16008ec1955dfad5e51.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/cheney_bush_slide-8cbe8b0bd7d9fdbebca7c16008ec1955dfad5e51.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="In 1989, Cheney became defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption In 1989, Cheney grew to become protection secretary underneath President George H.W. Bush.

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<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap901221075_slide-9bbc2bd098ee870d234a01a88eca5e9ae7212620.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap901221075_slide-9bbc2bd098ee870d234a01a88eca5e9ae7212620.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="Defense Secretary Cheney and Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speak to members of the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing from Myrtle Beach, S.C., at their air base in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 21, 1990." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption Protection Secretary Cheney and Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, converse to members of the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing from Myrtle Seashore, S.C., at their air base in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 21, 1990.

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<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap00080402471_slide-18cf18f9ee65f784462d2a8ef20e6467b3dae487.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap00080402471_slide-18cf18f9ee65f784462d2a8ef20e6467b3dae487.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush is joined onstage by his wife, Laura, his running mate Cheney and Cheney's wife, Lynne, at the conclusion of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, on Aug 3, 2000." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush is joined onstage by his spouse, Laura, his working mate Cheney and Cheney's spouse, Lynne, on the conclusion of the Republican Nationwide Conference in Philadelphia, on Aug 3, 2000.

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<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap01091106831_slide-eaa52b6b0f3b9190b648c518a20bb4bf40ce45b9.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/12/13/ap01091106831_slide-eaa52b6b0f3b9190b648c518a20bb4bf40ce45b9.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="President Bush talks with Vice President Cheney in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Bush had returned to the White House from Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Neb." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption President Bush talks with Vice President Cheney within the Presidential Emergency Operations Middle after the terrorist assaults on Sept. 11, 2001. Bush had returned to the White Home from Offutt Air Pressure Base in Bellevue, Neb.

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<img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/01/02/dick-cheney-13_slide-1439c83db9c0a9d7d35b35a4160950d8e6e54c72.jpg?s=800&c=100&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/01/02/dick-cheney-13_slide-1439c83db9c0a9d7d35b35a4160950d8e6e54c72.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" data-format="jpeg" class="slideshowImage lazyOnLoad" alt="Cheney is interviewed by Neil Cavuto for his program "Cavuto," on the Fox Business Network, in New York on Dec. 9, 2013." loading="lazy"/> Disguise caption Cheney is interviewed by Neil Cavuto for his program "Cavuto," on the Fox Enterprise Community, in New York on Dec. 9, 2013.

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Richard Drew/AP

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who extolled the ability of the presidency, died Monday on the age of 84, his household mentioned in an announcement.

The trigger was problems of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular illness, the assertion mentioned. Cheney had handled a historical past of coronary heart issues.

"Dick Cheney was an important and good man who taught his youngsters and grandchildren to like our nation, and to stay lives of braveness, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing," the assertion mentioned. "We're grateful past measure for all Dick Cheney did for our nation. And we're blessed past measure to have beloved and been beloved by this noble large of a person."

In an announcement, former President George W. Bush, who picked Cheney as his vp, mentioned the dying "is a loss to the nation and a sorrow to his mates. Laura and I'll keep in mind Dick Cheney for the first rate, honorable man that he was."

Bush added that Cheney "was a peaceful and regular presence within the White Home amid nice nationwide challenges. I counted on him for his sincere, forthright counsel, and he by no means failed to offer his greatest."

An inauspicious starting There was little in Cheney's youth to foreshadow the immensely influential function he would sooner or later play on the highest ranges of American politics. Born the son of a authorities conservation employee in Lincoln, Neb., in 1941, he would flunk out of Yale College and work as a lineman for an influence firm in his new house state of Wyoming. Toss in a pair of drunken-driving convictions, and it is an inauspicious younger maturity.

However flip it round Cheney did: marriage to his highschool sweetheart, Lynn; two youngsters; a university diploma on the College of Wyoming; graduate college on the College of Wisconsin.

Whereas Cheney was turning his life round, the U.S. was caught within the throes of the Vietnam Conflict. Cheney supported that struggle however by no means fought in it. He obtained 5 army deferments. Critics would seize upon this a long time later, as Cheney helped lead the U.S. into one other controversial struggle — this one in Iraq.

Strange to extraordinary The longer term vp started his political profession as a congressional intern in 1969. That very same 12 months he went to work for a future companion within the Bush administration — Donald Rumsfeld, who ran an economics workplace within the Nixon White Home.

Cheney left the White Home earlier than Nixon's resignation, however in 1974 he was again working for the brand new president, Gerald Ford. Cheney moved up shortly, changing into Ford's chief of workers on the age of 34.

It was then that he started to develop a philosophy that might come to full flower within the White Home of George W. Bush. His perception was that the ability of the presidency should be not solely protected, but additionally restored. Within the Seventies, he watched as Congress enacted reforms in response to Watergate and to Vietnam.

"We have seen the Conflict Powers Act, an anti-impoundment management act, and time after time after time, administrations have traded away the authority of the president to do his job," he mentioned in a 2002 interview on Fox Information. "We're not going to do this on this administration. The president is certain and decided to defend these ideas and to cross on this workplace, his and mine, to future generations in higher form than we discovered it."

Conflict, a recurring theme In 1978, Cheney ran for Congress in Wyoming and gained. That was additionally the 12 months he suffered the primary of a collection of coronary heart assaults. He served in Congress for a decade and eventually gave up his seat to grow to be secretary of protection for President George H.W. Bush.

This job introduced Cheney's first confrontation with Saddam Hussein, when he directed Operation Desert Storm within the Center East. The struggle ended shortly after Iraqi troops have been evicted from Kuwait. On the time, there have been some who felt the U.S. ought to proceed all the best way to Baghdad and topple Saddam's regime. President Bush declined; in 1994, Cheney defended that call.

"The notion that we must now go to Baghdad and by some means take management of the nation strikes me as an especially critical one by way of what we would should do as soon as we obtained there," he mentioned. "You'd in all probability should put some new authorities in place. It is not clear what sort of authorities that might be, how lengthy you'd have to remain. For the U.S. to get entangled militarily in figuring out the result of the wrestle over who's going to control in Iraq strikes me as a traditional definition of a quagmire."

Cheney left the Pentagon when the primary President Bush misplaced to Invoice Clinton. Two years later, he flirted with a presidential run of his personal however as an alternative headed to the personal sector, becoming a member of the enormous vitality providers firm Halliburton.

Altering the vice presidency — and international coverage The job made Cheney a rich man, however he stayed concerned in conservative politics. In 2000, he was requested by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush to guide the seek for a working mate. Bush later made a shock announcement that he had chosen none aside from Cheney.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2419+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd2%2Fdc%2F6b2ea21143cb8d5b097205512a03%2Fgettyimages-52039140.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2419+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd2%2Fdc%2F6b2ea21143cb8d5b097205512a03%2Fgettyimages-52039140.jpg" class="img" alt="Dick Cheney and George W. Bush wave to the crowd during Bush's second inauguration on Jan. 20, 2005." loading="lazy"/> Dick Cheney and George W. Bush wave to the group throughout Bush's second inauguration on Jan. 20, 2005. Mark Wilson/Getty Pictures conceal caption

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Mark Wilson/Getty Pictures In workplace, Cheney grew to become a lightning rod for critics of the administration. Cheney additionally redefined the workplace of the vp. He grew to become President Bush's closest adviser and a dominant participant in shaping coverage. Critics alleged that Cheney was actually the person in cost on the White Home.

The occasions of Sept. 11, 2001, solely strengthened this notion. Whereas Bush was in Florida that day, Cheney was on the White Home. He was actually carried by Secret Service brokers to an underground bunker. In an interview years afterward NBC's Meet the Press, Cheney mentioned it was he who instructed Bush to not return to the White Home.

"I mentioned, 'Delay your return. We do not know what is going on on right here nevertheless it seems like, you realize, we have been focused,'" Cheney mentioned, including that "issues that we did afterward that day tied on to guaranteeing presidential succession."

After the Sept. 11 assaults, Cheney advocated an aggressive new international coverage during which potential threats could be met with swift, preemptive motion. Now not would the U.S. anticipate an enemy to strike first. He helped promote the Iraq Conflict by issuing dire warnings to the American individuals. On the similar time, he famously predicted that the mission itself could be comparatively straightforward.

On Meet the Press, Tim Russert, who then hosted the present, requested Cheney if the American individuals have been prepared for an extended, bloody battle.

"I do not assume it is prone to unfold that method, Tim, as a result of I actually do consider we might be greeted as liberators," Cheney mentioned.

Because the struggle dragged on, Democrats seized that assertion as proof of how Cheney's willpower to go to struggle had clouded his judgment. There was speak that his views had modified from his earlier days in politics.

Controversy follows Cheney Whereas Cheney's disposition was by no means significantly sunny, critics assailed the vp as a relentlessly grim determine. Late-night comics known as him Darth Vader. Even President Bush had enjoyable along with his vp's picture on Halloween one 12 months.

"This morning I used to be with the vp," Bush instructed reporters. "I used to be asking him what costume he was planning. He mentioned, 'Effectively, I am already sporting it,' after which he mumbled one thing in regards to the darkish facet of the pressure."

There have been different controversies that dogged Cheney because the Bush administration's reputation plummeted in its second time period. In 2007, his chief of workers and high adviser, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of perjury in an investigation into the leaking of the title of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. Cheney was not implicated within the case legally, however he was tainted by the scandal nonetheless.

Then, in what was one of many weirder incidents involving somebody as high-ranking an official as Cheney, he by accident shot and wounded a pal, lawyer Harry Whittington, within the face and chest with birdshot pellets throughout a 2006 weekend quail-hunting journey at a Texas ranch.

Even in a wierd story like this, among the traditional Cheney traits, equivalent to secrecy, have been on show. The story did not come out for 2 days, and when it lastly did, Cheney himself took days longer to talk about it, lastly doing an interview with Fox Information.

On Cheney's last day in workplace, he sat in a wheelchair, the results of an accident, bundled up towards the frigid chilly, and watched as President Barack Obama was sworn in.

Out of workplace, he emerged as a frequent and outspoken critic of the Obama administration, even accusing the president of not understanding that the U.S. was at struggle.

In February 2010 he made a shock look at CPAC, the conservative political motion convention in Washington. The group erupted.

It was one of many final moments of massive public adulation for Cheney. With the rise of Donald Trump, Cheney's model of politics and his interventionist international coverage fell out of favor within the occasion. Trump would usually lambaste Cheney for launching what he known as "perpetually wars."

It carried into the subsequent era as Trump attacked Cheney's daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), when she voted for Trump's impeachment after a riot on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

Now Cheney has died, leaving a legacy in authorities service, international coverage and the steadiness of energy between the branches of presidency, and leaving a private stamp on a presidency higher than any vp earlier than him.