Easton Press Dick Cheney books
Vice President Dick Cheney
Cheney was raised in Casper, Wyoming. He began his political career as an intern for Congressman William A. Steiger, eventually working his way into the White House during the Ford administration, where he served as White House Chief of Staff. In 1978, Cheney was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming; he was reelected five times, eventually becoming House Minority Whip. Cheney was selected to be the Secretary of Defense during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, holding the position for the majority of Bush's term. During this time, Cheney oversaw the 1991 Operation Desert Storm, among other actions.
Cheney joined the Bush administration in 2000, after Bush selected him as his running mate. After becoming Vice President, Cheney remained a very public, influential and controversial figure.
Early life and education
Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, the son of Marjorie Lorraine (née Dickey) and Richard Herbert Cheney. He is of predominantly English, Irish and Welsh ancestry. Although not a direct descendant, he is collaterally related to Benjamin Pierce Cheney (1815-1895), the early American expressman. He attended Calvert Elementary School before his family moved to Casper, Wyoming, where he attended Natrona County High School. His father was a soil conservation agent for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and his mother was a softball star in the 1930s; Cheney was one of three children. He attended Yale University, but, as he stated, "[he] flunked out." Among the influential teachers from his days in New Haven was Professor H. Bradford Westerfield, whom Cheney repeatedly credited with having helped to shape his approach to foreign policy.[10] He later attended the University of Wyoming, where he earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in political science. He subsequently started, but did not finish, doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
In November 1962, at the age of 21, Cheney was convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI). He was arrested for DWI again the following year. Cheney said that the arrests made him "think about where I was and where I was headed. I was headed down a bad road if I continued on that course."
In 1964, he married Lynne Vincent, his high school sweetheart, whom he had met at age 14.
When Cheney became eligible for the draft, during the Vietnam War, he applied for and received five draft deferments. In 1989, The Washington Post writer George C. Wilson interviewed Cheney as the next Secretary of Defense; when asked about his deferments, Cheney reportedly said, "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service." Cheney testified during his confirmation hearings in 1989 that he received deferments to finish a college career that lasted six years rather than four, owing to sub par academic performance and the need to work to pay for his education. Initially, he was not called up because the Selective Service System was only taking older men. When he became eligible for the draft, he applied for four deferments in sequence. He applied for his fifth exemption on January 19, 1966, when his wife was about 10 weeks pregnant. He was granted 3-A status, the "hardship" exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents. In January 1967, Cheney turned 26 and was no longer eligible for the draft.
Is Liz Cheney related to Dick Cheney?
Yes, Liz Cheney is the daughter of Dick Cheney. Elizabeth Lynne Cheney, commonly known as Liz Cheney, was born on July 28, 1966, in Madison, Wisconsin. She is an American attorney, politician, and member of the Republican Party. Liz Cheney has been involved in various aspects of public service, including serving as the U.S. Representative for Wyoming's at-large congressional district since 2017.
Political career
Cheney's political career began in 1969, as an intern for Congressman William A. Steiger during the Richard Nixon Administration. He then joined the staff of Donald Rumsfeld, who was then Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity from 1969–70. He held several positions in the years that followed: White House Staff Assistant in 1971, Assistant Director of the Cost of Living Council from 1971–73, and Deputy Assistant to the president from 1974–1975. It was in this position that Cheney suggested in a memo to Rumsfeld that the Ford administration should use the US Justice Department in a variety of legally questionable ways to exact retribution for an article published by The New York Times investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.Cheney was Assistant to the President under Gerald Ford. When Rumsfeld was named Secretary of Defense, Cheney became White House Chief of Staff, succeeding Rumsfeld. He later was campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign as well.
Congress
In 1978, Cheney was elected to represent Wyoming in the U.S. House of Representatives and succeed retiring Congressman Teno Roncalio, having defeated his Democratic opponent, Bill Bailey. Cheney was reelected five times, serving until 1989. He was Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee from 1981 to 1987 when he was elected Chairman of the House Republican Conference. The following year, he was elected House Minority Whip.House Minority Whip
In December 1988, the House Republicans elected Cheney as Minority Whip, the second spot under the Minority Leader. He served for two and a half months before he was appointed Secretary of Defense instead of former Texas Senator John G. Tower, whose nomination had been rejected by the Senate in March 1989.Secretary of Defense
President George H. W. Bush nominated Cheney for the office of Secretary of Defense immediately after the US Senate failed to confirm John Tower for that position. The senate confirmed Cheney by a vote of 92 to 0 and he served in that office from March 1989 to January 1993. He directed the United States invasion of Panama and Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East. In 1991 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bush.Private sector career
Between 1987 and 1989, during his last term in Congress, Cheney was a director of the Council on Foreign Relations foreign policy organization.With the new Democratic administration under President Bill Clinton in January 1993, Cheney left the Department of Defense and joined the American Enterprise Institute. He also served a second term as a Council on Foreign Relations director from 1993 to 1995. From 1995 until 2000, he served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton, a Fortune 500 company and market leader in the energy sector.
Cheney's record as CEO was subject to some dispute among Wall Street analysts; a 1998 merger between Halliburton and Dresser Industries attracted the criticism of some Dresser executives for Halliburton's lack of accounting transparency.[48] During Cheney's tenure, Halliburton changed its accounting practices regarding revenue realization of disputed costs on major construction projects. Cheney resigned as CEO of Halliburton on July 25, 2000. As vice president, he argued that this step removed any conflict of interest. Cheney's net worth, estimated to be between $30 million and $100 million, is largely derived from his post at Halliburton, as well as the Cheneys' gross income of nearly $8.82 million.
In 1997, along with Donald Rumsfeld, William Kristol and others, Cheney founded the Project for the New American Century, a neoconservative think tank whose self-stated goal is to "promote American global leadership." He was also part of the board of advisors of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) before becoming vice president.
Vice Presidency
2000 electionIn early 2000, while serving as the CEO of Halliburton, Cheney headed George W. Bush's vice-presidential search committee. On July 25, after reviewing Cheney's findings, Bush surprised some pundits by asking Cheney himself to join the Republican ticket. Halliburton reportedly reached agreement on July 20 to allow Cheney to retire, with a package estimated at $20 million.
Cheney campaigned against Al Gore's running mate, Joseph Lieberman, in the 2000 presidential election. Cheney, who had been typecast as being aloof during most of the campaign, was remarkably lively during his visit to Chicago, where he rode the L, danced the polka, served attendees kielbasa with stuffed cabbage and addressed a cheering crowd.
While the election was undecided, the Bush-Cheney team was not eligible for public funding to plan a transition to a new administration. So, Cheney opened a privately funded transition office in Washington. This office worked to identify candidates for all important positions in the cabinet.[54] According to Craig Unger, Cheney advocated Donald Rumsfeld for the post of Secretary of Defense to counter the influence of Colin Powell at the State Department, and tried unsuccessfully to have Paul Wolfowitz named to replace George Tenet as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
First term
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Cheney remained physically apart from Bush for security reasons. For a period, Cheney stayed at an undisclosed location, out of public view.On the morning of June 29, 2002, Cheney served as Acting President of the United States under the terms of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, while Bush was undergoing a colonoscopy. Cheney acted as President from 11:09 UTC that day until Bush resumed the powers of the presidency at 13:24 UTC.
Iraq War
Following 9/11, Cheney helped shape Bush's approach to the "War on Terrorism". Despite contrary claims from the Pentagon, Cheney continued to assert a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda prior to the Iraq War in several public speeches, drawing criticism from some members of the intelligence community and leading Democrats. He also made numerous public statements alleging Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, and made repeated personal visits to CIA headquarters, where he questioned mid-level agency analysts on their conclusions about that.Following the US invasion of Iraq, Cheney remained steadfast in his support of the war, stating that it would be an "enormous success story", and made many visits to the country. He often criticized war critics, calling them “opportunists” who were peddling “cynical and pernicious falsehoods” to gain political advantage while US soldiers died in Iraq. In response, Senator John Kerry asserted, “It is hard to name a government official with less credibility on Iraq [than Cheney]."
Second term
Bush and Cheney were re-elected in the 2004 presidential election, running against John Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards. During the election, the pregnancy of his daughter Mary and her sexual orientation as a lesbian became a source of public attention for Cheney in light of the same-sex marriage debate.[65] Cheney has stated that he is in favor of gay marriages but that each individual state should decide whether to permit it.
Cheney's former chief legal counsel, David Addington, became his chief of staff and remained in that office until Cheney's departure from office. John P. Hannah served as Vice President Cheney's national security adviser. Until his resignation in 2005, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr. served in both roles.
On the morning of July 21, 2007, Cheney once again served as Acting President for about two and a half hours. Bush transferred the power of the presidency prior to undergoing a medical procedure, requiring sedation, and later resumed his powers and duties that same day.
After his term began in 2001, Cheney was occasionally asked if he was interested in the Republican nomination for the 2008 elections. However, he always maintained that he wished to retire upon the expiration of his term, and indeed he did not run in the 2008 presidential primaries, the GOP nominating Arizona Senator John McCain instead.
In My Time - A Personal and Political Memoir
In
this eagerly anticipated memoir, former Vice President Dick Cheney
delivers an unyielding portrait of American politics over nearly forty
years and shares personal reflections on his role as one of the most
steadfast and influential statesmen in the history of our country.
The
public perception of Dick Cheney has long been something of a
contradiction. He has been viewed as one of the most powerful vice
presidents secretive, even mysterious, and at the same time opinionated
and unflinchingly outspoken. He has been both praised and attacked by
his peers, the press, and the public. Through it all, courting only the
ideals that define him, he has remained true to himself, his principles,
his family, and his country. Now in an enlightening and provocative
memoir, a stately page-turner with flashes of surprising humor and
remarkable candor, Dick Cheney takes readers through his experiences as
family man, policymaker, businessman, and politician during years that
shaped our collective history.
Born into a family of New Deal
Democrats in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney was the son of a father at war
and a high-spirited and resilient mother. He came of age in Casper,
Wyoming, playing baseball and football and, as senior class president,
courting homecoming queen Lynne Vincent, whom he later married. This
all-American story took an abrupt turn when he flunked out of Yale
University, signed on to build power line in the West, and started
living as hard as he worked. Cheney tells the story of how he got
himself back on track and began an extraordinary ascent to the heights
of American public life, where he would remain for nearly four decades:
He
was the youngest White House Chief of Staff, working for President
Gerald Ford the first of four chief executives he would come to know
well.
He became Congressman from Wyoming and was soon a member of
the congressional leadership working closely with President Ronald
Reagan.
He became secretary of defense in the George H. W. Bush
administration, overseeing America’s military during Operation Desert
Storm and in the historic transition at the end of the Cold War.
He was CEO of Halliburton, a Fortune 500 company with projects and personnel around the globe.
He
became the first vice president of the United States to serve out his
term of office in the twenty-first century. Working with George W. Bush
from the beginning of the global war on terror, he was and remains an
outspoken defender of taking every step necessary to defend the nation.
Eyewitness
to history at the highest levels, Cheney brings to life scenes from
past and present. He describes driving through the White House gates on
August 9, 1974, just hours after Richard Nixon resigned, to begin work
on the Ford transition; and he portrays a time of national crisis a
quarter century later when, on September 11, 2001, he was in the White
House bunker and conveyed orders to shoot down a hijacked airliner if it
would not divert.
With its unique perspective on a remarkable
span of American history, In My Time will enlighten. As an intimate and
personal chronicle, it will surprise, move, and inspire. Dick Cheney’s
is an enduring political vision to be reckoned with and admired for its
honesty, its wisdom, and its resonance. In My Time is truly the last
word about an incredible political era, by a man who lived it and helped
define it with courage and without compromise.
Exceptional - Why the World Needs a Powerful America
Former
vice president Dick Cheney, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, and
his daughter Liz Cheney, former deputy assistant secretary of state,
explain the unique and indispensable nature of American power, reveal
the damage done by President Obama’s abandonment of this principle, and
show how America can and must lead again.
Since World War II,
American power and leadership have been an unmatched force for the
defense of freedom around the globe. For seventy years, presidents both
Republican and Democratic have shared a dedication to maintaining
American power and leadership. President Obama has abandoned this
bipartisan tradition, choosing instead to “lead from behind” as he
abandons America’s allies, appeases our enemies, and apologizes for this
great nation.
When the former vice president spoke out on the
topic last year, the Wall Street Journal declared, “Dick Cheney is still
right,” and the Washington Post lauded his comments, adding that
“unless we have a president who understands that proactive, early action
and a robust military force are essential to national security, we will
forever be racing to catch up to our enemies.”
Now the former
vice president and his daughter, former deputy assistant secretary of
state Liz Cheney, team up to explain how President Obama has drastically
broken with the bipartisan foreign policy consensus that enabled
America to prevail in World War II, to win the Cold War, and to triumph
in the first decade of the War on Terror. The Cheneys reveal the damage
done by President Obama’s policies and demonstrate how his unwillingness
to defend and protect American power has weakened the nation and
diminished the ability of future presidents to defend us.
Finally,
the Cheneys do what no one before them has chart a path forward to
restoring American power and strength, explaining what must be done to
reverse course, to fight and win the war on terror, to rebuild our
military and reassure our allies that they can once again rely on
American leadership. A critical, frank, and much-needed touchstone,
Exceptional should stand as a guiding principle for the potential
presidential candidates in 2016 and for policymakers today and beyond.
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