When former Vice President Dick Cheney died on Monday at the age 84. He was surrounded by wife Lynne and their daughters Liz and Mary, according to People. His family said Cheney’s cause of death was complications from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.
It was the quiet close to a very loud life.
Cheney has an impressive five decades in America’s public service with an amazing array of political credentials within his career: from White House chief of staff, defense secretary, congressman, and finally the most influential vice president in modern U.S. history.
As The Washington Post noted, when 9/11 struck, Cheney reshaped the office itself by letting the American people into what was once a private space. Suddenly, the public had a front-row seat to how decisions were being made at such a crucial time in history.
But the same force that made him indispensable also made him divisive. To admirers, he was the steady hand that guided America through chaos. To critics, he was the architect of an era defined by war, secrecy, and surveillance.
Former President George W. Bush praised his former VP in his statement after his death. He said that Cheney was “a calm and steady presence in the White House amid great national challenges… a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence and seriousness of purpose to every position he held,” Reuters reported.
Mike Pence, a vice president who once cited Cheney as a model, wrote that he and his wife Karen were “saddened to learn of Vice President Cheney’s passing.” Pence further stated, “He was an American patriot who championed the men and women in our Armed Forces and the importance of maintaining a strong national defense for America’s security at home and abroad.”
Statement by President George W. Bush on Vice President Dick Cheney:
The death of Richard B. Cheney is a loss to the nation and a sorrow to his friends. Laura and I will remember Dick Cheney for the decent, honorable man that he was. History will remember him as among the finest… pic.twitter.com/fmx7hI4eFD
— George W. Bush Presidential Center (@TheBushCenter) November 4, 2025
However, not everyone was ready to eulogize and remember Cheney’s service for his country. The White House has so far remained silent, offering no formal statement. And that pointed silence speaks volumes. It is a heavy, wordless reminder of how hard it is to fit Cheney neatly into the American story.
And then there’s Donald Trump, another absent voice. The two men’s feud became one of the most dramatic Republican splits of the last decade.
Once the face of GOP establishment power, Cheney turned on Trump after January 6, saying there had “never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic.” AOL reported that Cheney even voted Democratic in 2020, a symbolic but stinging rejection of his party’s future under Trump.
Cheney said, “As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”.
For his part, Trump has long mocked Cheney and his daughter Liz, calling them “warmongers” and “losers.”
But why was Cheney so divisive?
Newsweek reported back in 2015 that his biggest lie was “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.” The unvetted speech led to a war and the loss of so many lives, both American and foreign.
His policies shaped a generation. Cheney’s decisions are still debated in classrooms, podcasts, and living rooms.
Cheney remains divisive even after his death. And maybe that’s the truest measure of his impact, a man whose shadow was never meant to fade quietly.
