Dick cheney, the influential Republican viceโฃ president underโ George W. Bush,โฃ has died at โthe age of โ81. A key architect of the Bush management’s foreign policy โadn a powerful figure in Washington forโฃ decades,Cheney‘s death marks theโฃ end โฃof an era defined by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and โa โคconservativeโฃ shift inโ American politics.
Cheney’s family confirmed his death in a statement, noting โขhis โextensiveโฃ career inโ public service, including rolesโข as White House chief of staff, congressman from Wyoming, Secretary of defense, โand Vice President of the United โStates. He was enjoying a lucrative career in โคthe businessโ world when Bush tapped him to evaluateโ potential vice presidential candidates, a process that ultimately led to โคhis own selection โas โBush’s running mate.
The pairโข arrived in the White House after a disputed 2000 election,โค with Cheney bringing meaningful experience to โa then-inexperienced president. While often caricatured as the true power behind the Bush administration, Cheney wielded enormousโค influence behind the scenes, notably โin the aftermath of theโ September 11th terrorist attacks.
Cheney served as โฃa central figure โขin shaping the administration’s response to 9/11, advocating for aโ broad expansionโ of presidential powerโ in the name of national security.Heโค was a โคstaunchโค proponent ofโข theโข invasion of Iraq in โค2003 and the use โof enhancedโฃ interrogation techniques, policies that remain highly controversial today.
Prior to his vice presidency, Cheney held โขseveral prominent โpositions. Heโฃ served as a U.S. Representative for โWyoming โขfrom 1979 to 1989,โ and later as Secretary of Defense under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, overseeing the Persian Gulf โWar.
His family’s statement also highlighted โhis personal life, noting that “Dick Cheney was aโข great man who instilled in โhis children and grandchildren a โฃlove for our country and a life of courage, honor, love, kindness and, above all,โข fly fishing.” โคThey added, “We are deeply โฃgratefulโ for everything Dick Cheney did for โour โขcountry. And we feel immensely blessed to have loved andโ been loved byโ this noble and imposingโ man.”
