Dick Cheney — the 46th vice president who served alongside Republican President George W. Bushand an architect in America’s ”War on Terror” — has died.
He died of complications from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said in a statement.
Cheney grappled with ongoing cardiovascular problems for the majority of adulthood and underwent a heart transplant in 2012.
In a statement released Tuesday morning, his family called him “a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing.”
They added … “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
Cheney had a decades-long career in politics, serving in the U.S. House as a Republican from Wyoming and later tapped to be President Gerald Ford‘s White House chief of staff.
He served as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush before becoming Bush’s son’s VP.
Cheney is considered one of the most powerful veeps in history, molding the Bush administration’s foreign policy — particularly advocating for the American invasion of Iraq after the 9/11 attacks.
During his “Meet the Press” interview just 5 days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he famously said any nation, including Afghanistan, that provides “sanctuary to terrorists” will “face the full wrath of the United States.”
He turned heads during the 2024 presidential election when he declared now-President Donald Trump a threat to the republic and endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris.
