Richard Bruce (Dick) Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on January 30, 1941. The politician has English, Welsh, Irish and French roots. Cheney's great-grandfather in the 8th generation came to the US from England in the 17th century. Another ancestor, a Huguenot who fled first from France to the UK and then to Maryland, makes the politician related to Harry Truman and Barack Obama.

In addition to Dick, the family had two more children. Father Richard Herbert Cheney worked for the USDA, and mother Marjorie Lorraine, née Dickey, was a softball star in the 1930s. The future politician attended Calvert Elementary School until the family left the Corn State and moved to Casper, Wyoming's second largest city. He continued his further education there, at the Natron County School.

After school, the young man began his studies at Yale University, but in his youth, Dick often had problems with learning, and he was expelled from the 2nd year. Cheney eventually graduated from the University of Wyoming with a bachelor's degree in political science. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Richard entered his doctoral program, but did not complete it.

In November 1962, Dick was arrested and subsequently convicted of drunk driving. A year later, the situation repeated itself. According to Cheney, trouble with the police made him wonder what he was doing with his life.

During the Vietnam War, Cheney was of military age and could go to the front, but due to his marriage and the birth of daughters, he received 5 deferrals. In January 1967, the man turned 26 years old, and, according to the law, he was no longer subject to conscription. Later, Dick admitted that, among other things, he needed delays to complete his education: he studied at the undergraduate level not for 4 years, but for 6 due to poor academic performance and the need to combine study with work.

Dick Cheney opened his political biography in 1969 by becoming an intern with Congressman William Steiger during the presidency of Richard Nixon. From that time until 1976, the politician changed several positions in the White House, including Deputy Assistant to the President.

When Donald Rumsfeld, for whom Cheney started working, became secretary of defense, the politician was appointed chief of staff of the White House. In 1976, a man led Ford's presidential campaign. Two years later, in 1978, Dick was elected to represent Wyoming in the US House of Representatives, replacing Teno Roncalio in this position, and was subsequently re-elected 5 times in a row until 1989.

During this period, he voted against the creation of the US Department of Education as a separate structure, considering it economically inexpedient. Dick Cheney also voted against Head Start, a program that helps children from low-income families. However, in 2000 he changed his mind.

In 1983, the politician changed his mind about the holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., against the introduction of which he was in 1978. In 1987, Cheney became chairman of the Republican Conference in the House of Representatives, and on March 20, a man was appointed US Secretary of Defense. This happened after the US Senate rejected the candidacy of John Bauer, who did not please politicians with his bad habits and support for the movement for women's rights to abortion.

Under his leadership, such operations as the Iraqi "Desert Storm" and "Just Cause" in Panama were carried out. In 1991, President George W. Bush awarded Cheney the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a little later, the man was awarded the US Senator John Heinz Award for outstanding public service. The politician himself believes that during his work at the Pentagon, he was most useful to the country.

During his tenure, Dick Cheney cut the Ministry's budget and troop levels as Reagan significantly increased the size of the army during his Cold War policy. The great achievement of the US Department of Defense under the leadership of Cheney was the establishment of military bases in Saudi Arabia. This was the reason for the success of the Gulf War.

After leaving office, Dick left the White House for a while and was mainly engaged in business, becoming chairman of the board of directors of the Halliburton oilfield company. But in 2000, George W. Bush called Cheney to his election campaign, and he agreed. On January 20, Bush took office as President of the United States, and Cheney became Vice President.

After the September 11 tragedy, the politician played a big role in justifying the resumption of hostilities against Iraq - his regular public statements that the enemy state has weapons of mass destruction had an effect. Cheney argued that Saddam Hussein had ties to al-Qaeda, although secret materials were published on September 21, 2001, according to which intelligence did not find any evidence of this connection.

The second time Dick Cheney held office was until 2009. Later, in an interview, the vice president noted that during this time their relationship with Bush Jr. had deteriorated significantly.