In brief
Dick Cheney, the former Vice President who played a pivotal role in shaping US foreign policy during the George W. Bush administration, has died at the age of 84. His career was marked by his staunch advocacy for military intervention and his controversial legacy surrounding the Iraq war. Cheney passed away on Monday night, with his family confirming that complications from pneumonia and heart conditions contributed to his death. Cheney was a divisive figure in both politics and public life, later becoming an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and the direction of the Republican Party.
Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney, a key architect of George W Bush's 'war on terror' and an early advocate of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, has died at the age of 84.
He died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease on Monday night, his family said.
Cheney served as Gerald Ford's White House chief of staff in the 1970s, before later becoming one of the most powerful US vice presidents in history under Bush.
In his later years, he became a bitter critic of the Republican party under the leadership of Donald Trump.
Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honour, love, kindness, and fly fishing, his family said in a statement.
Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1941 and later attended the prestigious Yale University on a scholarship but failed to graduate. He went on to gain a Master's degree in political science from the University of Wyoming.
His first taste of Washington came in 1968, when he worked for William Steiger, a young Republican representative from Wisconsin. Cheney became chief of staff under Ford when he was just 34, before spending a decade in the House of Representatives.
As secretary of defence under George Bush Snr, he presided over the Pentagon during the 1990-91 Gulf War, in which a US-led coalition evicted Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
Cheney was a leading advocate of US military action in both Afghanistan and Iraq. In the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, he argued that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed so-called weapons of mass destruction, although such weapons were never found.
He also claimed there were links between Iraq and al-Qaeda, the terror group involved in the 9/11 attacks.
Despite decades working for Republican presidents, he later became a bitter opponent of President Donald Trump. He publicly criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy and endorsed his daughter Liz Cheney’s staunch opposition to Trump's influence in the party.
In an unusual final twist, Cheney, who had built a reputation as a conservative stalwart, received some praise from the political left for his outspoken criticism of Trump in his later years.
