Dick Cheney

Quick facts

Key positions

Biography

Richard Bruce Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 30, 1941, and grew up in Casper, Wyoming, where his father worked as a soil conservation agent for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After leaving Yale, he completed his education at the University of Wyoming, earning a B.A. in 1965 and an M.A. in political science in 1966, and began but did not finish doctoral study. He married Lynne Vincent in 1964; their daughters include former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney.

Cheney’s rise ran through Donald Rumsfeld, who hired him as a special assistant in 1969 — the start of a four-decade partnership. He joined Gerald Ford’s transition team in 1974 and at 34 became the youngest White House chief of staff in U.S. history, a tenure that included the November 1975 “Halloween Massacre” reshuffle of the Ford cabinet. After six terms representing Wyoming in the House (1979-1989), where his conservative record included votes against a Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday and against divestment from apartheid South Africa, he served on the House select committee investigating Iran-Contra and co-authored the Republican minority report arguing for broad presidential authority in foreign affairs. He then served as secretary of defense (1989-1993), overseeing the 1989 Panama invasion and the 1991 Gulf War.

From 1995 to 2000 Cheney was chairman and CEO of Halliburton, the oil-services company, leaving in 2000 with a severance package reported at roughly $36 million and 433,333 stock options (per CorpWatch and CBS News). As vice president (2001-2009) he chaired the National Energy Policy Development Group — the “Energy Task Force” — whose closed meetings with industry and whose records he fought to keep secret all the way to the Supreme Court (litigation brought by the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch). Documents later released showed the task force reviewed maps of Iraqi oilfields in 2001. Over the Iraq War years, Halliburton and its subsidiaries received billions in U.S. contracts; one tally of Cheney’s retained options found their value rose 3,281% in a single year (per CorpWatch). Cheney signed a gift-trust agreement to donate after-tax option profits to charity, but the Congressional Research Service concluded that holding such options while in office still constitutes a “financial interest.” He publicly defended the Bush-era CIA interrogation program, calling waterboarding a “no-brainer” and saying he “would do it again in a minute,” and in 2006 accidentally shot attorney Harry Whittington during a Texas quail hunt.

Sources

• “Dick Cheney,” Wikipedia (accessed Oct. 31, 2025) — birth, education, family, positions, House voting record.
• “Dick Cheney Oral History,” Gerald R. Ford Foundation (accessed Oct. 31, 2025) — Ford-era roles and chief-of-staff tenure.
• “US: Cheney’s Halliburton Options Up 3,281% Last Year,” CorpWatch (accessed Oct. 31, 2025) — stock options and 3,281% figure.
• “Cheney’s Halliburton Ties Remain,” CBS News (accessed Oct. 31, 2025) — severance package and retained options.
• “Meetings With Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force,” Washington Post (accessed Oct. 31, 2025) — Energy Task Force composition and industry meetings.