Dick Cheney, One of the Most Powerful and Polarizing Vice Presidents in US History, Dies at 84

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 10: Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney attends the Conservative Political Action conference (CPAC), on February 10, 2011 in Washington, DC. The CPAC annual gathering is a project of the American Conservative Union. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — In Dick Cheney’s hands, the vice presidency became a nexus of influence and manipulation — no longer the timid office where its occupants had tended their boss’s ambitions. For George W. Bush’s vice president, bunkering in secure undisclosed locations after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was less an inconvenience than a metaphor for a life of power that he exercised to maximum effect from the shadows. Cheney died Monday at age 84. Cheney defended until his death the extraordinary tools of surveillance, detention and inquisition employed after the 9/11 attacks. The Republican also became a fierce critic of President Donald Trump, branding him a “coward” who tried to steal the 2020 election.