Dick Cheney was possibly the most disliked vice president of all. He was the co-architect of the Iraq war and an unabashed defender of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques after the attacks of 9/11. Cheney, along with his partner Bush, helped pave the way for the populist revolution of Trump and his MAGA movement. Yet at the time Cheney wore his dismal approval rating like a badge of honor and relished being caricatured as Darth Vader.
But there was another Cheney—a kinder, gentler one, recalled in eulogies by his cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Reiner and notably by George W. Bush. In remarks that never mentioned 9/11, Iraq, or the 2008 financial meltdown, Bush praised Cheney’s judgment, reticence, loyalty, and humor. In a touching tribute, Cheney’s granddaughter Grace Perry spoke movingly of how much Grandpa loved driving her to rodeos across Wyoming in his pickup truck (without using GPS).
