Former US vice president Dick Cheney has died aged 84, US media reported on Tuesday, citing a statement from his family. Serving two terms between 2001 and 2009, he became one of the most powerful Republicans in US history as George W. Bush's number two during 9/11 and catastrophic wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The former congressman and defense secretary "died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease," according to the family's statement cited by US media.
"For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming's Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States," it added.
Cheney is considered to have been one of the most powerful vice presidents in US history, a Machiavellian figure who wielded considerable influence behind the scenes.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 30, 1941, Cheney grew up mostly in the sparsely populated western state of Wyoming.
He attended Yale University but dropped out of the prestigious East Coast school and ended up earning a degree in political science back home at the University of Wyoming.
A Republican stalwart, Cheney went into politics himself in 1978, winning Wyoming's seat in the House of Representatives and holding on to it for the next decade.
Neo-conservative ideology
Cheney served father and son presidents, leading the armed forces as defense chief during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush before returning to public life as vice president under Bush's son, George W. Bush.
Between the two Bush administrations, Cheney led Dallas-based Halliburton Corp., a large engineering and construction company for the oil industry.
As vice president, Cheney brought his neo-conservative ideology to the White House and played a greater role in making major policy decisions than most of his predecessors in the role.
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Cheney is widely seen as one of the driving forces behind the decision to invade Iraq following the 11 September 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda on New York and Washington.
His inaccurate claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction fueled the drumbeat for war ahead of the 2003 US invasion.
Years after leaving office, he became a target of President Donald Trump, especially after daughter Liz Cheney became the leading Republican critic and examiner of Trump's desperate attempts to stay in power after his election defeat and his actions in the riot at the Capitol on 6 January, 2021.
"In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," Cheney said in a television ad for his daughter. "He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward."
In a twist the Democrats of his era could never have imagined, Dick Cheney said last year he was voting for their candidate, Kamala Harris, for president against Trump in 2024.
Cheney's professional life was punctuated by a series of health scares, mostly heart problems – he suffered five heart attacks between 1978 and 2010 and had his first pacemaker fitted in 2001.
(with newswires)
