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'''Richard B. Cheney''' served as the 46th [[Vice President]] of the [[United States]], 2001-20092001–2009. He was elected as a [[Republican]] in 2000 with President [[George W. Bush]]. Cheney was re-elected along with President [[George Bush|Bush]] in 2004.
Though somewhat [[conservative]] in his early days as a congressman, Cheney subsequently reaped tens of millions of dollars from a multinational corporation associated with a policy of foreign interventionalism by the United States. Cheney then became an aggressive cheerleader for the [[neocon]] agenda of foreign wars and even the [[NSA]] domestic spying program.<ref>[https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cheney-defends-nsa-programs-says-snowden-a-traitor-obama-lacks-credibility Cheney defends NSA programs, says Snowden a 'traitor,' Obama 'lacks credibility']</ref> With his neocon positions, Cheney's approval rating hovered at about only 30% as Vice Presidentvice president,<ref>[https://news.gallup.com/poll/28159/americans-ratings-dick-cheney-reach-new-lows.aspx Americans' Ratings of Dick Cheney Reach New Lows]</ref> dropping to 13% when he left office.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/remembering-why-americans-loathe-dick-cheney/244306/ Remembering Why Americans Loathe Dick Cheney]</ref>
== Life and Family ==
== Political career ==
Cheney assumed his first political post as an assistant to [[Wisconsin]] Governor Warren P. Knowles in the early 1960s, at the age of 28 when he became an intern near the beginning of the [[Nixon]] Administration. He quickly came to the attention of [[Donald Rumsfeld]], then directing the Office of Economic Opportunity, and was promoted to a paid position in 1971. When [[Watergate]] forced Nixon's resignation in 1973, Cheney became vice president of an investment firm for a year, but Rumsfeld convinced [[Gerald Ford]] upon the latter's accession to the presidency that Cheney was indispensable, and he was recalled to public service. Eventually Cheney replaced Rumsfeld as [[Chief of staff|Chief of Staff]] to Ford as Rumsfeld was promoted to [[Secretary of Defense]]. In 1978-881978–88, Cheney served in Congress from Wyoming, becoming the Republican Whip (the #2 job).
Cheney served as Secretary of Defense for President [[George H. W. Bush]] in the late 1980s. In the 1990s Cheney worked for the big oil-supply company Halliburton, becoming CEO in 1995. After he left the company with a retirement package of $33 million (which went into a blind trust which Cheney does not control), leftist critics alleged that he twisted American foreign policy for the benefit of Halliburton. There is little or no evidence to backup such claims, however.