Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a war hawk who served three GOP presidents, dies

WASHINGTON ‒ Dick Cheney, one of the most powerful vice presidents in United States history, a chief architect of the war in Iraq after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and a member of an old Republican Party guard that is quickly fading away, died on Monday night.

Cheney, whose death was confirmed by a statement from the Cheney family, was 84.

With his reputation as a war hawk, Cheney helped lead the push under President George W. Bush to invade Iraq based on intelligence ‒ later proven wrong ‒ that Saddam Hussein had amassed weapons of mass destruction.

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Tapped by Bush as his 2000 running mate for his decades of Washington experience, Cheney became a top target of Bush critics for the enormous role he played in shaping the administration’s foreign policy.

A Republican congressman from Wyoming in the 1980s and Defense secretary for the elder President George H.W. Bush, Cheney’s first prominent role in Washington was as deputy chief of staff and later White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford.

After his two terms as vice president ended in 2009, Cheney became one of the nation’s most prominent Republicans to oppose Donald Trump. Along with his daughter, Liz Cheney, a former congresswoman, Dick Cheney said that he voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. “There has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said before the election, which Trump won.

Follow along for live updates as the nation marks Cheney’s death.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dick Cheney, former vice president under George W. Bush, dies