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Saturday July 10, 2004 |
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USINFO >
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 Richard B. Cheney, a distinguished public servant and businessman, is the vice president of the United States. Cheney, a familiar face on the Washington political scene, has served under several U.S. presidents -- George W. Bush will be the fourth -- and as an elected official. Bush selected Cheney as his vice presidential running mate in July 2000, citing Cheney's insight, judgment, and experience. "Dick Cheney has served our country as chief of staff to a president, served in the United States Congress, and [served] as secretary of defense. He's a man of integrity who is respected by Republicans and Democrats." Cheney has said that he sees his role in the administration as that of a frank but discreet adviser to Bush. In accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination, Cheney stated that he looks forward to serving with a president who will work to "get things done by reaching across the partisan aisle and working with political opponents in good faith and common purpose." Richard Bruce Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 30, 1941, the son of Richard Herbert Cheney and the former Marjorie Lauraine Dickey. When he was 13 years old, he moved with his family to Casper in the western state of Wyoming, where his father directed the local soil conservation district for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Following his graduation from Natrona County High School, where he was captain of the football team and senior class president, Cheney headed to Yale University in Connecticut on a scholarship. After less than two years at Yale, Cheney decided to continue his education in his home state, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from the University of Wyoming. He then moved to the state of Wisconsin, to work on a doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin. As a graduate student, he won a congressional fellowship and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1968. Cheney worked first in the office of a young Republican congressman from Wisconsin, William Steiger, and then for Donald H. Rumsfeld, who headed the Office of Equal Opportunity. When President Richard M. Nixon selected Rumsfeld as White House counselor in 1970, Cheney joined him as his deputy. In August 1974, Gerald Ford assumed the presidency and asked Rumsfeld to be his chief of staff. Rumsfeld immediately sought out Cheney. "What I saw was a young fellow, intelligent, purposeful, laid back," Rumsfeld is quoted as saying by Newsweek magazine. "He would take a problem, worry it through, and move things to a conclusion." When Rumsfeld left the White House in November 1974, Cheney moved up to become assistant to the president and White House chief of staff. Cheney was 34 years old at the time, the youngest person ever to assume the job. He held the position throughout the remainder of the Ford administration. In 1977, Cheney again returned to Wyoming, where he launched his political career as a member of the Republican Party. In 1978, Wyoming voters elected Cheney to serve as the small state's sole congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was re-elected for another five two-year terms. Cheney quickly established himself in the House and was selected by his colleagues to serve as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee from 1981 to 1987. He was elected chairman of the House Republican Conference in 1987 and House Minority Whip, the second-ranking post in his political party's hierarchy, in 1988. Cheney left the Congress in 1989 when President George Bush, father of the current president, tapped him to become secretary of defense. Cheney held that cabinet position until January 1993. During his tenure, he directed two of the largest military campaigns in recent history -- Operation Just Cause in Panama and Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East. For his leadership in the Gulf War, Cheney was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the United States' highest civilian honor, which recognizes exceptional meritorious service -- in July 1991. General Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Cheney, has recalled that: "In very difficult circumstances in the Panama invasion, during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Dick Cheney showed great strength of character, great understanding of the challenges." In 1995, Cheney signed on as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Halliburton Company, an oil field services firm based in Dallas, Texas, that employs 100,000 people in 20 countries. Although he thought briefly about running for president in 1996, Cheney opted instead to remain at Halliburton, which he did until his selection as George W. Bush's running mate. Cheney married his secondary school sweetheart, Lynne Ann Vincent, in 1964. Lynne Cheney has had her own career in public service, having served as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993. More recently, she has been senior fellow in education and culture at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Vice President and Mrs. Cheney have two children, daughters Elizabeth and Mary, and three granddaughters.
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