(AURN News) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the most influential and controversial figures in modern American politics, has died at 84. His family says he passed away from complications of pneumonia and heart disease.
Cheney spent more than 50 years at the center of power — from serving under Presidents Nixon and Ford, to leading the Pentagon during the Gulf War, and later shaping national security policy after the 9/11 attacks.As George W. Bush’s vice president, his belief in an unrestrained presidency helped define the early 2000s — from warrantless surveillance to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both feared and respected, Cheney was a strategist who rarely courted headlines but shaped them daily.
Even after leaving office, he remained a political force. In 2024, he defied Republicans by endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, calling Donald Trump a “grave threat to American democracy.”
President Bush remembered him as “a patriot and one of the finest public servants of his generation.”
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
