Dick Cheney, the former United States vice president who helped shape America’s response to the September 11 attacks and led the push for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has died aged 84.
His family said he died on November 3 from complications of pneumonia and heart disease, surrounded by his wife Lynne and daughters Liz and Mary.
A dominant figure in American politics for decades, Cheney served as vice president under George W Bush from 2001 to 2009, secretary of defence under George H. W. Bush, and White House chief of staff to Gerald Ford in the 1970s.
Cheney was a key architect of the ‘war on terror’ and one of Washington’s most influential hawks, advocating the invasion of Iraq on claims that Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction and had ties to al-Qaeda – claims later disproved.
Before re-entering government, Cheney led energy services giant Halliburton. In his later years, he broke with the Republican mainstream, endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election and calling Donald Trump ‘a threat to the republic.’
His family described him as ‘a great and good man’ who ‘served our nation for decades’ and ‘lived a life of courage, honour, and love.’