Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, a towering figure in American politics who reshaped the vice presidency and played a pivotal role in the country’s post-9/11 trajectory, died on Monday, November 3, 2025, at the age of 84. His family announced the cause as complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to Reuters. Cheney’s death marks the end of an era for a man whose influence extended far beyond the traditional boundaries of his office, leaving a legacy both lauded and fiercely debated.
Cheney’s ascent through the ranks of Washington was anything but accidental. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 30, 1941, to Marjorie Lorraine and Richard Herbert Cheney, he was the first Republican in his family in generations, as he shared in his memoir, "In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir." The family soon moved to Wyoming, where Cheney eventually attended Yale University. He admitted, “I was a mediocre student, at best,” and dropped out before returning home to work on power stations and eventually earning degrees from the University of Wyoming.
His early political career began in earnest as a congressional intern in 1969, leading to a series of influential roles during the Nixon and Ford administrations. Cheney succeeded his mentor, Donald Rumsfeld, as President Gerald Ford’s chief of staff and would later serve a decade as Wyoming’s sole congressman, consistently voting in line with conservative values, including opposition to abortion rights and gun control. He even voted against the release of Nelson Mandela, a decision that would later draw criticism.
By the time George W. Bush tapped him as his running mate in the 2000 presidential race, Cheney was already a Washington heavyweight. He had served as secretary of defense under President George H.W. Bush, directing the U.S. military operation that expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait in the first Gulf War. Yet, during that conflict, Cheney was wary of a full-scale invasion of Iraq, warning it could become a “quagmire.”
Cheney’s return to the political stage was accompanied by controversy. Before becoming vice president, he received a $35 million retirement package from Halliburton, the oil services firm he had led from 1995 to 2000. Halliburton would later become a major government contractor during the Iraq war, prompting criticism from opponents who questioned the intersection of business and policy.
As vice president from 2001 to 2009, Cheney redefined the office, building a national security team that operated as a power center within the Bush administration. According to The Washington Post, he “recast an understudy’s job into an engine of White House power,” becoming the chief architect of the post-9/11 war on terrorism. He fiercely advocated for expanding presidential authority, believing it had been eroding since the Watergate scandal. Cheney’s efforts led to policies that bypassed restrictions against torture and domestic espionage, with Barton Gellman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, chronicling these moves in his best-selling book "Angler."
Cheney was a relentless proponent for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, warning of Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. "We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators," he predicted, asserting that the operation would "go relatively quickly ... weeks rather than months." These claims, widely reported at the time, proved overly optimistic. No weapons of mass destruction were found, and the troop deployment stretched for nearly a decade. A commission on the 9/11 attacks later discredited the theory that Iraq had links to al Qaeda and the attacks on the United States, yet Cheney maintained that the invasion was justified based on available intelligence and the removal of Hussein.
His tenure was also marked by fierce internal battles with other top officials, including Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. Cheney staunchly defended the administration’s use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation. While Cheney described these measures as necessary for national security, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the U.N. special rapporteur on counter terrorism and human rights labeled them "torture."
Controversy seemed to follow Cheney outside the policy realm as well. In 2006, he accidentally wounded his friend, Texas lawyer Harry Whittington, in a hunting accident that made headlines nationwide. Later, the 2018 biographical film "Vice," starring Christian Bale, painted an unflattering portrait of the former vice president, with Bale quipping at the Golden Globes, “Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration on how to play this role.” Cheney, never one to shy from criticism, once predicted his memoir would leave heads “exploding” all over Washington.
Despite his reputation as a hardline conservative—late-night comedians even dubbed him "Darth Vader"—Cheney occasionally broke with party orthodoxy. His second daughter, Mary, is a lesbian, and Cheney spoke supportively of same-sex relationships, a stance that put him at odds with the Bush administration’s push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. That amendment ultimately failed.
Cheney’s family remained prominent in politics. His daughter Liz Cheney was elected to the House of Representatives in 2016, known for her hawkish foreign policy views. However, she lost her seat after opposing Donald Trump and voting to impeach him following the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Remarkably, Cheney himself declared he would vote for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, stating, “In our nation’s 248 year-history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.”
Cheney’s health was a persistent concern throughout his life. He suffered his first heart attack at 37 and endured several more over the years, ultimately receiving a heart transplant in 2012. Yet, he rarely let health setbacks slow his political ambitions or his willingness to wade into controversy.
His wife Lynne, his high school sweetheart, and daughters Liz and Mary survive him. All three were with him when he died, his family said. Cheney’s complex legacy—marked by power, controversy, and a willingness to defy expectations—will continue to be debated for years to come. As the U.S. reflects on his passing, the nation is reminded of the profound impact one vice president can have on the course of history.