Former US vice president Dick Cheney dies at 84
- Former Vice President Dick Cheney died at age 84 from complications of pneumonia and cardiac disease, his family announced on November 3, 2025.
- Across decades in Washington, Cheney served two terms as vice president under President George W. Bush and earlier as defense secretary and White House chief of staff, shaping national security.
- Cheney long battled cardiovascular disease and multiple severe heart attacks, underwent a heart transplant in 2012, and disabled his defibrillator’s wireless function years earlier.
- His family said he died with Lynne Cheney, wife of Dick Cheney, and daughters Liz Cheney and Mary Cheney at his side, calling him a ‘noble giant of a man’ and expressing gratitude.
- Known for his role after September 11, 2001, Cheney was a leading advocate for the Iraq War and later opposed Donald Trump, saying `There has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump`
Former US Vice President Cheney dies at age 84
Former US Vice President George Cheney has died at the age of 84, a family spokesman announced. The Republican served as Vice President from 2001 to 2009 during the presidency of George W. Bush. He was Secretary of Defense from 1989 to 1993 under Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush.
In the George W. Bush administration, Cheney acted practically like a CEO. He was instrumental in implementing all major decisions. Cheney consistently defended the extraordinary tools for monitoring, detaining, and interrogating terror suspects that the US government used in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. As a foreign policy hawk, he defended the renewed US invasion of Iraq even after the alleged connection between Iraq and the 9/11 terrorists, which had served as the justification for the war, proved false.
Attempt to expand the president’s power
During Bush’s second term, courts ruled against Cheney’s efforts to expand presidential powers and treat suspected terrorists particularly harshly. Bush also did not fully adopt his vice president’s hardline stance toward Iran and North Korea. Cheney dismissed his reputation as a behind-the-scenes manipulator with a joke. “Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole?” he asked. “It’s actually a nice way to operate.”
Referred to Trump
Cheney had a falling out with current President Trump years ago, particularly after his daughter Liz Cheney opposed Trump’s attempts to remain in office despite his 2020 election defeat. Following the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, Cheney’s father delivered a damning verdict. “In the 246-year history of our country, there has never been an individual who posed a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” he said in a television ad for his daughter. Before last year’s election, he announced his intention to vote for Democrat Kamala Harris.
Long-standing health problems
Cheney suffered from heart problems for decades. He survived five heart attacks and received a heart transplant after leaving office. He said his life was only borrowed. Every morning he woke up “with a smile on his face, grateful for the gift of another day,” he confessed in 2013. Cheney is survived by his wife Lynne Anne Vincent, whom he married in 1964, and his other daughter, Liz, as well as his second daughter, Mary.
