Former President George W. Bush remembered his Vice President, Dick Cheney, as being “devoted to protecting the United States,” in a eulogy at his funeral in Washington, D.C., Thursday, which was attended by former presidents and vice presidents – but not President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Cheney, who served under Bush from 2001 to 2009 as one of the most influential – and controversial – vice presidents in modern American history, died earlier this month aged 84.
Two former presidents, Bush and Joe Biden, stood in attendance, along with four former vice presidents, Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle, as Cheney was remembered for his decades of public service and dedication to the country.
Sitting presidents typically attend the funerals of former presidents and vice presidents, but Trump and Vance were not invited to attend the memorial service Thursday morning at Washington National Cathedral, a source told CNN.
The apparent snub reflected the dramatic falling-out between the Cheney family and Trump following the events of January 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol to try to disrupt the formalizing of Biden’s victory in the previous year’s election.
While delivering his eulogy on Thursday morning, Bush recalled how Cheney had been helping him choose a running mate when he “realized the best choice for the vice president was the man sitting in front of me.”
"At such a moment, most in this position would have jumped at the chance. But Dick stayed detached and he analyzed it. Before I made my decision, he insisted on giving me a complete rundown of all the reasons I should not choose him," Bush said.
"In the end, I trusted my judgment. I remember my dad's words when I told him what I was planning. He said, 'Son, you couldn't pick a better man,'" he added.
Bush said that in 2004, Cheney had offered to resign if Bush, who was seeking re-election, wanted to replace him, but “after four years of seeing how he treated people, how he carried responsibility, how he handled pressure and took the hits, I arrived back at the conclusion that they do not come any better than Dick Cheney.”
Meanwhile, Cheney’s daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said her dad “knew you couldn't truly appreciate what it means to live in freedom if you didn't understand the sacrifices of the generations who came before,” noting that he made sure his daughters and grandchildren knew as well.
She told mourners that her father "thought deeply about what this blessing meant, about the duties it imposed."
"My dad's devotion to America was deep and substantive," she added.
Appearing to reference the divide in the Republican Party that pitted her against Trump, and even led to her losing her congressional seat in Wyoming, she praised her father as someone who “knew that bonds of party must always yield to the single bond we share as Americans.”
Tributes were also shared by several of Cheney’s grandchildren, who appeared emotional when speaking about their grandfather’s impact on their lives. Cheney’s longtime cardiologist, Jonathan Reiner, and former NBC News correspondent Pete Williams, who was Cheney’s spokesman at the Pentagon, also spoke his praise.
Cheney, whose political career spanned five decades, died earlier this month from complications related to pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, which he battled most of his adult life. He was 84.
In addition to serving as Bush’s vice president, Cheney was also the defense secretary for President George H.W. Bush and chief of staff for President Gerald Ford. He also served 10 years as Wyoming’s sole representative to the House, a job his daughter, Liz, later took on.
While Cheney was a longtime conservative who endorsed Trump’s 2016 campaign, he spent the final years of his life speaking out against the current administration.
Cheney and his daughter Liz became regular targets of Trump during his most recent re-election campaign due to their fierce criticism of the then-former-president. His daughter had long been a target of Trump’s after holding a prominent role in the congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Despite rarely appearing in public during his later years, Cheney was featured in a political advertisement for his daughter in 2022 to denounce Trump.
“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said, calling the now-president a “coward.”
“A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters. He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it. He knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know,” Cheney said in the advertisement.
According to his daughter, Cheney endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Meanwhile, the current president, Trump, said little about Cheney following his death on November 3. Trump didn’t make a statement about Cheney’s death and did not issue a presidential proclamation, which typically follows the death of notable figures.
After Cheney’s death, the White House lowered its flags to half-staff, which press secretary Karoline Leavitt said was “in accordance with statutory law.”
Cheney was considered by many to be one of the most influential vice presidents in recent history, although some of his policies proved highly controversial, especially in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S. in 2001.
He was seen as one of the architects of the War on Terror, which included the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the implementation of the Patriot Act – which extended the government’s surveillance powers – and the use of “enhanced interrogation” techniques, condemned as torture by critics, against terror suspects.
Earlier in his career, as defense secretary in 1991, he helped plan U.S. involvement in the First Gulf War, following Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait.
The 2003 invasion of Iraq in particular proved a catalyst for fierce opposition both in the United States and around the world. President Bush’s administration and its allies were accused of building a false pretext for invasion by claiming that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction and that he may be linked to Al-Qaeda, the terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks.
The war saw thousands of combatants and civilians killed and wounded and was blamed for devastating the region and eventually leading to the rise of the Islamic State terror group.
Cheney later stood by the decision to invade Iraq, telling the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2014: “I would do it again in a minute.”
He is survived by his wife, Lynne; his daughters, Liz and Mary; and seven grandchildren.
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