Dick Cheney, former US Vice-President to George Bush, dies at 84: Details explored

Dick Cheney, America’s most powerful modern vice president and a key architect of the post-9/11 “war on terror,” passed away at the age of 84. According to CNN, his death was confirmed in a statement issued by his family.

Cheney became the 46th vice president under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. In his later years, the lifelong conservative grew increasingly estranged from his own party for his outspoken criticism of Donald Trump.

In their statement to CNN, Cheney’s family confirmed that the former vice president had died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones.

“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.

The statement further revealed that Cheney’s death was due to complications from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.

CNN also reported that Cheney had battled cardiovascular disease for most of his adult life, surviving a series of heart attacks. He underwent a heart transplant in 2012, later expressing that he would be “forever grateful for this lifesaving gift.”

Following his death, Dick Cheney’s family reflected on his life, describing him as a devoted husband, father, and patriot who inspired those around him to live with integrity and courage. Their statement read:

“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.”

---

What else do we know about Dick Cheney?

Dick Cheney with Obama (Image via Getty Images)

Dick Cheney was a key architect of the post-9/11 attacks and left behind a complex and controversial legacy

Dick Cheney was in office on September 11, 2001, when the terrorist attacks struck New York and Washington. As President George W. Bush was rushed to safety, Cheney assumed command alongside Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He then helped steer the immediate military and security response, and within weeks, U.S. troops were deployed to Afghanistan, targeting al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Reflecting on that morning, Cheney described how his worldview shifted in an instant after watching the plane hit the World Trade Center. He told CNN’s John King in 2002:

“At that moment, you knew this was a deliberate act.. This was a terrorist act.” (as per CNN)

That realization, he said, hardened his resolve to “avenge” the attacks and reassert American power in the Middle East through an aggressive new doctrine of preemptive war and regime change. He later admitted that the trauma of that day left him with “an overwhelming sense of responsibility” to ensure such an assault never happened again.

Dick Cheney (Image via Getty Images)

His legacy remained most tied to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Cheney and President Bush justified the invasion on the claims that Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction and had ties to al-Qaida.

Cheney had defended those actions in his 2011 memoir, In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, where he stressed America’s right to act decisively after 9/11.

“We were confident that we would have help in the effort ahead… Other nations would be with us as we responded to 9/11, but it was important, I said, that we not allow our mission to be determined by others. We had an obligation to do whatever it took to defend America, and we needed coalition partners who would sign on for that,” he wrote in his memoir.

The human cost of those wars was immense. Tens of thousands of lives were lost, and the U.S. faced harsh criticism for its treatment of prisoners in facilities like Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.

Out of office, Cheney continued to defend the use of what he called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which many viewed as torture, insisting that they had protected American lives.

Cheney’s career in public service spanned five decades. He served as a White House aide under Richard Nixon, became the youngest-ever White House chief of staff under Gerald Ford.

He was elected to Congress during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. He later led the Pentagon under George H.W. Bush, and finally served as vice president under him.

Following his death, former President George W. Bush's website shared a press release with a heartfelt statement from the former President. The statement read:

“The death of Richard B. Cheney is a loss to the nation and a sorrow to his friends. Laura and I will remember Dick Cheney for the decent, honorable man that he was. History will remember him as among the finest public servants of his generation — a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every position he held."

The statement recounted Cheney’s long history of service under multiple presidents, emphasizing that Cheney “earned the confidence and high opinion of five presidents.”

Dick Cheney (Image via Getty Images)

It also added that, in their search for the ideal vice president, Cheney’s “deep experience, mature judgment, character, [and] loyalty” made him the clear choice, a decision for which Bush said he remained “grateful.”

In his statement, Bush also remembered Cheney as “a calm and steady presence amid great national challenges,” whose “honest, forthright counsel” was invaluable in moments of crisis.

He praised his vice president’s unwavering convictions and devotion to “the freedom and security of the American people,” noting that Cheney’s “love for America was second only to his family.”

Cheney had been married to Lynne Cheney, 84, for 61 years at the time of his death. During his vice presidency, she served as the Second Lady of the United States and was an author and scholar in her own right.

In his later years, Cheney took an increasingly vocal stand against President Donald Trump.

During the 2024 election cycle, Dick Cheney endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris.

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Dick Cheney said at the time ( as per The Guardian).

He accused Trump of trying “to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power” and declared that the president “can never be trusted with power again.”

Though Cheney never became president, he briefly assumed the powers of the office twice, in 2002 and 2007.

---

As the nation reflected on his passing, Dick Cheney’s life emerged as a complex legacy, one defined by power, conviction, and enduring controversy. He was a man who shaped U.S. policy for generations, leaving behind an indelible mark on American politics.

Edited by Shayari Roy