Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the most influential and controversial figures in American politics, has died at the age of 84.
Cheney passed away Monday from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family announced Tuesday.
A dominant force in Republican politics for decades, Cheney served as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush during the 1991 Gulf War and later as vice president under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009.
Known for his powerful behind-the-scenes role, Cheney helped shape key post-9/11 policies, including the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the expansion of presidential powers and intelligence operations. He defended the use of harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects — practices later condemned as torture.
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“History will remember him as among the finest public servants of his generation,” former President George W. Bush said in a statement. “His death is a loss to the nation.”
In his later years, Cheney broke ranks with his party, condemning Donald Trump as a “greater threat to our republic than any individual in history” and supporting his daughter Liz Cheney’s opposition to the former president.
A survivor of multiple heart attacks and a heart transplant in 2012, Cheney often said he was grateful for “the gift of another day.”