Dick Cheney, One of the Most Polarizing Veeps in U.S. History, Dies at 84

Dick Cheney, the hard-charging conservative who became one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in U.S. history and a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq, has died at age 84, Calvin Woodward reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The quietly forceful Cheney served both father and son presidents, leading the armed forces as defense chief during the Persian Gulf War under President George H. W. Bush before returning to public life as vice president under Bush’s son, George W. Bush. (Photo: Gage Skidmore Flickr)

Cheney died Monday night due to complications from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from family spokesman Jeremy Adler.

The quietly forceful Cheney served both father and son presidents, leading the armed forces as defense chief during the Persian Gulf War under President George H. W. Bush before returning to public life as vice president under Bush’s son, George W. Bush.

Cheney was, in effect, the chief operating officer of the younger Bush’s presidency.

He had a hand—often a commanding one—in implementing decisions most important to the president and some of surpassing interest to himself—all while living with decades of heart disease and, post-administration, a heart transplant, Mead Gruver also reported for AP.

Cheney consistently defended the extraordinary tools of surveillance, detention, and interrogation employed in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Years after leaving office, he became a target of President Donald Trump, especially after daughter Liz Cheney became the leading Republican critic and examiner of Trump’s desperate attempts to stay in power after his election defeat and his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.