Former US Vice President Dick Cheney, who served under President George W. Bush and was widely seen as the architect of America’s “war on terror,” is dead. He aged 84.
Gatekeepers News reports that his family announced in a statement that Cheney died from complications of pneumonia and heart disease.
“His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed,” the statement said.
“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.”
Cheney served as vice president from 2001 to 2009 and was one of the most influential — and controversial — figures in modern American politics. He played a key role in shaping US foreign policy after the September 11, 2001 attacks, including the invasion of Iraq, later criticized as based on faulty intelligence.
In a 2002 interview, Cheney recalled the moment he realized the US was under attack.
“At that moment, you knew this was a deliberate act. This was a terrorist act,” he said.
A lifelong Republican, Cheney later broke with his party over Donald Trump, calling him a “coward” and “the greatest threat to the republic.” In 2024, he said he voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
Cheney had battled heart disease for most of his adult life and received a heart transplant in 2012, which he once described as “the gift of life itself.”
Before becoming vice president, Cheney served as White House chief of staff, defense secretary, and congressman from Wyoming.
