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Dick Cheney
Biography
(1941–)
Dick Cheney served four Republican presidents and spent six terms in the House. The former vice president specialized in defense, energy and the Middle East.
Who Is Dick Cheney?
Dick Cheney entered politics in 1965. Beginning as an intern for the Senate, Cheney quickly rose to power by first becoming an aide to the Wisconsin governor, then working for President Richard Nixon's administration in 1969. He served as Gerald Ford's chief of staff from 1975 to 1977, then served six terms in Congress before being appointed secretary of defense by President George H.W. Bush in 1989. About 10 years later, he worked for another Bush administration, this time as vice president to President George W. Bush in 2000 for two terms. As vice president, Cheney was known for taking on a prominent role in the Bush administration, being a more active vice president than what had ever been seen in the Oval Office before.
Early Life
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney was born on January 30, 1941, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to parents Richard Herbert Cheney, a soil-conservation agent, and Marjorie Lauraine Dickey Cheney, a former softball player. Both of his parents were Democrats. Cheney grew up in Casper, Wyoming, a town he would later describe as being idyllic with a classic 1950s feel. It was there that he met his high school sweetheart and future wife, Lynne Vincent.
Upon graduating from high school, Cheney was accepted to Yale University and offered a full-ride scholarship. He enrolled, but eventually dropped out due to poor grades. While attending classes, he worked as a power lineman in a working-class town. Although Yale had not suited Cheney, he decided to pursue college once more. He enrolled at the University of Wyoming, where he received a B.A. in political science in 1965 and an M.A. in political science in 1966.
During his time as a student, Cheney applied for and received five draft deferments and thus avoided being drafted in the Vietnam War, stating that he "had other priorities in the '60s than military service."
Early Political Career
With two degrees under his belt, Cheney started his political career in 1965. He worked as a part-time legislative intern to the Wyoming Senate legislature, which had a Republican majority. Cheney and his wife, both of whom had been raised in Democratic households, began professionally associating as Republicans. After Cheney won a national writing contest for student political scientists, he was offered a position as an aide to Wisconsin governor Warren Knowles.
Cheney and Lynne both enrolled in PhD programs at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Lynne received her doctorate in English, but Cheney had not yet finished his dissertation when he received a fellowship to work in Washington, D.C., for Congressman Bill Steiger, a Wisconsin Republican.
Cheney later indicated that he wanted to go into politics because of his dissatisfaction with ivory tower academia: "I was always struck, because [there were] a lot of complaints about the administration, the management of the university, oftentimes about the students — sort of critical of everybody out there, because the place was chaotic at that time. There were days when the National Guard was out with its tear gas trying to control the protesters. These folks were unhappy with what was happening, but in all the time I'd been in Wisconsin not one of these folks had ever stood up and been counted on either side of the debate. They were totally disengaged."
Wife
Cheney and Lynne married in 1964 and went on to have two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary.
Donald Rumsfeld and Seat in Congress
While serving as Steiger's aide, Cheney wrote an administrative memo discussing how then-Congressman Donald Rumsfeld should handle his confirmation hearings to become the director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. Steiger showed the memo to Rumsfeld, who promptly hired Cheney. This was the beginning of a powerful Washington relationship that informed every subsequent Republican administration into the 2000s. By 1976 Cheney was chief of staff of the Gerald Ford White House.
When Ford lost to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election, Cheney moved back to Wyoming to run for the state's sole seat in the House of Representatives. His high-stress political life was beginning to take a toll, though: Cheney suffered his first heart attack during the campaign, at only 37 years of age. Successful nonetheless, Cheney became a powerful Republican congressman. He won re-election five times, serving as chairman of the House Republican Conference and becoming House Minority Whip in December 1988.
Secretary of Defense
https://www.biography.com/political-figure/dick-cheney