Former Vice President Dick Cheney Dead at Age 84

Dick Cheney, whose shadow loomed large over decades of U.S. policy and power, passed away at the age of 84. His family announced that he died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.

“Richard B. Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, died last night, November 3, 2025. He was 84 years old.
His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed. The former Vice President died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.
For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States.
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.
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.”

From his early years in the Ford White House to his defining role in the Bush administration, Cheney was a figure of immense influence and controversy. A master of political navigation, he wielded quiet but commanding authority that often shaped U.S. domestic and foreign policy for generations to come.

Cheney’s political journey began modestly, rising from a congressional fellowship in 1968 to become a trusted aide to Donald Rumsfeld. His ascent culminated in his appointment as chief of staff to President Gerald Ford at just 34 years old. He would later represent Wyoming in Congress for six terms, becoming known for his deep grasp of defense and energy issues.

As Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush, Cheney led the Pentagon through the Gulf War, orchestrating one of the swiftest and most decisive military victories in modern history. That triumph cemented his image as a strategic hawk and architect of American military might in the post-Vietnam era.

But it was as Vice President under George W. Bush that Cheney reached the zenith of his influence — and infamy. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, he helped craft America’s far-reaching War on Terror, championing aggressive policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and pushing for expanded executive powers, surveillance programs, and enhanced interrogation tactics.

To supporters, he was a fearless defender of national security. To detractors, he was the personification of secrecy and overreach. The tension between liberty and safety that defined that era bore Cheney’s unmistakable imprint.

His personal story was marked by resilience — surviving multiple heart attacks, a heart transplant, and long bouts of illness, only to return each time to public life with characteristic resolve.

Years after leaving Washington, Cheney again became a lightning rod, targeted by President Donald Trump after his daughter Liz emerged as one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics following the 2020 election and the January 6 Capitol protest. In a twist that would have stunned his old political foes, Cheney revealed last year that he had voted for Kamala Harris over Trump.

Known for his half-smile that critics derided as a smirk, Cheney once quipped about his secretive reputation: “Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It’s a nice way to operate, actually.”

His unwavering conviction, especially on Iraq, often left him standing alone. “He alleged links between the 2001 attacks against the United States and prewar Iraq that didn’t exist. He said U.S. troops would be welcomed as liberators; they weren’t.” In 2005, he even declared the insurgency in its “last throes” — long before the war’s bloody toll was over.

Despite the mounting criticism, Cheney remained undeterred. Admirers hailed his steadfastness as strength; critics saw obstinacy. Over time, his influence within the Bush administration waned, checked by courts and shifting political tides that rejected his push to expand presidential authority and employ harsher interrogation tactics.

In the chaotic hours of September 11, 2001, Cheney was the calm within the storm. As the nation reeled, he operated from secured, undisclosed locations to ensure continuity of government. He later recalled with dry humor the moment Secret Service agents literally lifted him off his feet and carried him to safety.

Bush and Cheney’s partnership was an unconventional one — a president comfortable delegating vast power to a vice president who had no political ambitions of his own. Cheney once explained, “I made the decision when I signed on with the president that the only agenda I would have would be his agenda, that I was not going to be like most vice presidents — and that was angling, trying to figure out how I was going to be elected president when his term was over with.”

That singular loyalty made him indispensable — and formidable. “He is constituted in a way to be the ultimate No. 2 guy,” said Dave Gribbin, Cheney’s lifelong friend. “He is congenitally discreet. He is remarkably loyal.”

Still, his penchant for secrecy invited suspicion. When he accidentally shot his friend Harry Whittington during a 2006 hunting trip, his slow disclosure of the incident only fueled the public’s caricature of him as a man who operated in the shadows. Cheney later called it “one of the worst days of my life.” Whittington recovered and forgave him; comedians did not.

Cheney’s political career was a tapestry woven with triumph, scandal, and loyalty. Before becoming Bush’s running mate in 2000, he was actually the man assigned to find a vice presidential candidate — until Bush decided that Cheney himself was the best fit.

After the protracted recount battle in Florida, Cheney oversaw the transition team and became the stabilizing hand that guided the new administration through a turbulent start. In Washington’s corridors, few doubted that Cheney’s voice carried as much weight as the president’s.

When he eventually left Washington for Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he stayed close to his daughter Liz, who would win his old House seat in 2016. Together, they became symbols of defiance within a Republican Party increasingly reshaped by Trump.

Liz Cheney’s choice to vote for Trump’s impeachment and her prominent role on the January 6 committee alienated her from much of her party, leading to her landslide primary defeat in 2022 — even as her father stood by her side.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney grew up in Casper, Wyoming, where he was senior class president and football co-captain. After a brief stint at Yale, he found his footing back home at the University of Wyoming, where he married his high school sweetheart, Lynne Ann Vincent.

He is survived by Lynne, his daughters Liz and Mary, and their families — leaving behind a legacy as one of America’s most consequential, controversial, and complex political figures.

{Matzav.com}