Richard and Liz Cheney in Conversation with Steve Clemons

Encyclopædia Britannica Article

Cheney, Dick

(born Jan. 30, 1941, Lincoln, Neb., U.S.) U.S. politician. Cheney grew up in Casper, Wyo., and received bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Wyoming. He became a deputy assistant to Pres. Gerald Ford in 1974 and served as his chief of staff from 1975 to 1977. In 1978 Cheney was elected from Wyoming to a Republican seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; he served six terms. As secretary of defense (1989–93) in the administration of Pres. George Bush, he presided over reductions in the military following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Following Bush's electoral defeat in 1992, Cheney became a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, and later chairman and chief executive officer of the Halliburton Company, a supplier of technology and services to the oil and gas industries. He was elected vice president on a ticket with George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

Cheney, Dick on britannica.com

© 2010 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.