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 1978–88, 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.
[[Image:Cheney3.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Mrs. Lynne Cheney welcomed their fifth grandchild, 2006]]