Cheney, Dick (1941– )

US Republican politician, vice-president from 2001. He was the youngest-ever chief of staff 1975–77 under President Gerald Ford, a member of Congress 1979–89, and defense secretary 1989–93 under President George H W Bush. He was selected in 2000 as the running-mate of Bush's son, George W Bush, to bring experience in federal matters and foreign policy to the electoral ticket. He became a powerful, ‘hands-on’ vice-president, taking an active role in cabinet meetings and policy formation. He was a strong supporter of the US-led war against Iraq which began in 2003.

A right-wing ‘Reagan conservative’ with personal ties to the Bush family, Cheney had a congressional record of support for large tax cuts, school prayer, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and military funding of the Contras in Nicaragua. He voted against the Equal Rights Amendment, a seven-day waiting period for handgun purchases, federally funded abortions, and sanctions against South Africa's apartheid government. During his period as defense secretary, he oversaw a 25% reduction in the number of military personnel, an invasion of Panama (‘Operation Just Cause’, in 1989) to overthrow General Manuel Noriega, and he helped put together the international military coalition, ‘Operation Desert Storm’, against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War of 1991.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney moved with his family at an early age to Wyoming. He dropped out of Yale University during his second year, but, after working two years on power lines in the Midwest, graduated in 1966 in political science from the University of Wyoming. From 1969 he held junior posts in the Nixon and Ford administrations. Between 1995 and 2000 he was chief executive officer of Halliburton Co., a Texas-based construction and engineering company that services the oil industry.