Former US Vice President Dick Cheney dies aged 84
Second in command to George W Bush was a mainstay in US conservatism for years
Former US Vice President Dick Cheney has died at the age of 84.
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He served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under the George W Bush administration.
The Republican died due to complications with pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said in a statement on Tuesday.
Widely regarded as the architect of the United States' war on terror, Cheney played a central role in shaping US foreign policy during the Bush administration.
The statement added: “Richard B. Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, died last night, November 3, 2025. He was 84 years old. His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed.
"The former Vice President died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.
“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.
“Dick Cheney was 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. 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.”
Deeply conservative, Cheney worked to expand executive power under the guise of fighting terror, opened detention camps at Guantánamo Bay and helped legalise interrogation techniques now considered torture.
Dubbed the most powerful vice president in American history, many considered him the real authority during the Bush administration.
In recent years, he became a stout defender of his daughter, Liz Cheney, when she became the leading Republican critic and examiner of Donald Trump's actions surrounding the January 6 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
Cheney suffered five heart attacks throughout his life, with the war hawk declaring in 2013 he woke up every day “with a smile on my face, thankful for the gift of another day.”
Away from politics, Cheney led the oil, engineering and construction company Halliburton Corp.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, he was the son of an Agriculture Department worker and went on to study at Yale.