Former Vice President Dick Cheney, Architect of Post-9/11 Power Presidency, Dies at 84

Dick Cheney’s death marks the end of an era in American geopolitics — the hard-charging strategist whose “Cheney Doctrine” reshaped U.S. foreign-policy posture and restored executive-branch muscle has passed away at 84 due to pneumonia and cardiac/vascular complications.

WASHINGTON | Dick Cheney, the 46th vice president of the United States and a defining figure in America’s war-on-terror era, has died at the age of 84. His family confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Cheney passed on November 3, 2025, surrounded by loved ones, due to complications from pneumonia as well as cardiac and vascular disease. 

Cheney’s career spanned four decades and several key roles in national security and government. He served as White House Chief of Staff under President Gerald Ford, was a long-time congressman from Wyoming, became U.S. Secretary of Defense under President George H.W. Bush, and ultimately served as vice president under President George W. Bush from 2001-2009. 

From the outset of his vice presidency, Cheney held the view that the executive branch needed to reclaim power after being constrained in the post-Vietnam era. He often viewed the presidency as requiring decisive, even preemptive, action in global hotspots. That worldview crystallised in what came to be called the “Cheney Doctrine” or “One Percent Doctrine” — the idea that if there is even a one-percent chance of a threat, the U.S. must treat it as a certainty and act accordingly.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Cheney became one of the central architects of the U.S. response. Working from the Presidential Emergency Operations Center in the White House, he was authorised by President Bush to shoot down any unidentified aircraft headed toward U.S. territory. 

The 2003 invasion of Iraq remains perhaps Cheney’s most enduring and controversial legacy. As vice president, he aggressively pressed for regime change and arguably rewrote the relationship between the White House, Congress, and the intelligence community. “He simply believed that the stakes were high and he was more capable than others,” wrote Barton Gellman in his study of Cheney’s years in office. 

Throughout his time in Washington, Cheney was a polarising figure. To his admirers, he was a strategic nerve centre of the Bush White House; to his critics, he symbolised the unchecked accumulation of executive power and aggressive foreign policy adventurism. In death, the reactions reflected that divide — tributes from former allies and praise for his years of service, alongside sharp criticism of his legacy from opponents. 

Cheney’s personal health struggles were well-documented. He endured five heart attacks over his lifetime, received a heart transplant in 2012, and lived long with cardiovascular disease. 

In his own words, at the unveiling of his vice-presidential bust in 2015, Cheney said: “Here was a believer in America … so fortunate in his life experiences, so blessed in his friends, so grateful in all his days to have served as vice president of the United States of America.”

His death leaves behind his wife of 61 years, Lynne Cheney, daughters Liz and Mary, and seven grandchildren. 

As the U.S. enters a new era of geopolitical competition and domestic political realignment, Cheney’s death offers a moment to reflect on how his tenure helped define not only the post-9/11 “forever war” era but also the shifting contours of American power in the 21st century. The question now: what comes next for a presidency no longer constrained by the boundaries that Cheney helped dismantle?

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-- By James W. Thomas

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