Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, a dominant figure in American politics and a key architect of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, has died at the age of 84. His family announced on Tuesday that he passed away on Monday from complications of pneumonia, cardiac, and vascular disease.
Cheney, a Republican, served as vice president under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009 and was widely regarded by presidential historians as one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history.
Before joining the Bush administration, Cheney had already been a major player in Washington, serving as a Wyoming congressman and as secretary of defence under President George H.W. Bush. In that role, he directed U.S. military operations that expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War.
As vice president, Cheney was a staunch advocate of expanding presidential authority, believing it had been weakened since the Watergate scandal. He built a strong national security network within his office, making it an influential centre of power during the Bush years.
A central figure in the Iraq War, Cheney was among those who insisted Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction—claims later proven false. He also defended the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” on terrorism suspects, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation, which were condemned internationally as torture.
Cheney’s uncompromising positions often put him at odds with senior administration officials, including Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. Yet he maintained that the Iraq invasion was justified based on the intelligence available at the time and the goal of removing Hussein from power.
Born Richard Bruce Cheney on January 30, 1941, in Lincoln, Nebraska, he was raised in Wyoming and earned degrees in political science from the University of Wyoming. He began his political career in the late 1960s and served as chief of staff to President Gerald Ford before being elected to Congress, where he developed a reputation as a staunch conservative.
He opposed abortion rights, gun control, and sanctions on apartheid-era South Africa, but later broke with his party by expressing support for same-sex marriage in defence of his daughter Mary, who is lesbian.
In 1995, Cheney became CEO of oil services company Halliburton, which later secured major government contracts during the Iraq War. His business ties drew criticism from political opponents who accused him of benefiting from the conflict.
Cheney’s health challenges were well known. He suffered his first heart attack at 37 and underwent a heart transplant in 2012.
In recent years, he and his daughter Liz Cheney emerged as vocal critics of President Donald Trump, denouncing his conduct after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Liz Cheney lost her congressional seat for opposing Trump, while her father publicly supported her stance, declaring that Trump posed “the greatest threat to the republic” in U.S. history.
Despite his controversies, Cheney remained one of the most influential figures in U.S. national security policy for over four decades. His complex legacy — combining fierce patriotism, secrecy, and unyielding conviction continues to shape debates about the limits of executive power.
He is survived by his wife Lynne and daughters Liz and Mary, who were with him when he died.
