Overview
- He died Monday night surrounded by his wife Lynne and daughters Liz and Mary, according to the family statement.
- He served as vice president under George W. Bush after earlier roles as defense secretary during the 1991 Gulf War, White House chief of staff, and Wyoming congressman.
- A principal architect of the U.S. response to 9/11, he championed the Afghanistan war plus the 2003 Iraq invasion driven by WMD claims later disproven.
- He pressed for expanded presidential power that underpinned warrantless surveillance, detentions, and “enhanced” interrogations later condemned as torture.
- Long plagued by heart disease, he survived multiple heart attacks and received a 2012 heart transplant, later breaking with Trump by saying in 2024 he would vote for Kamala Harris.