By Arjun Singh
Contributing Writer
The 46th Vice President of the United States of America, the late Richard Bruce Cheney, was honored with a funeral in Washington on Thursday after dying on Nov. 3 at the age of 84.
Many dignitaries attended the funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, a site frequently used for state funerals of former presidents, although Cheney’s was not a state funeral. In attendance were former U.S. Presidents Joe Biden and George W. Bush, the latter under whom Cheney served as vice president for eight years from 2001 to 2009, and who delivered a eulogy for Cheney.
In addition to Biden himself, who succeeded Cheney as vice president in 2009, former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle also attended.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance — both public critics of Cheney — were not invited to the funeral. They did not release statements of condolence upon his death.
Other prominent attendees included the chief justice of the United States and members of the Supreme Court, and multiple members of Congress. Several notable figures, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and MSNBC television host Rachel Maddow, also attended the Republican’s funeral.
In his eulogy, Bush paid tribute to Cheney’s years of public service as well as his experience and counsel rendered to Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which occurred 10 months into Bush’s presidency.
Cheney previously served as the country’s 17th secretary of defense under Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush; as White House chief of staff to President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977; and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming for 10 years, with two years in leadership as chairman of the House Republican Conference.
“They do not come any better than Dick Cheney. … He was everything a president should expect in a second-in-command,” Bush said. “No colleague, no legislator, no foreign leader who ever met Dick Cheney ever doubted that they were dealing with a serious man.”
Bush recounted his decision to choose Cheney as his running mate in the 2000 election. Cheney was asked by Bush, then the governor of Texas, to lead the process of selecting a running mate for Bush, before Bush decided to choose Cheney himself.
“I began to have a thought I could not shake: I realized the best choice for vice president was the man sitting right in front of me,” Bush said.
Other eulogists were three of Cheney’s seven grandchildren; former Assistant Secretary of Defense Pete Williams, who was one of Cheney’s top aides for decades; and Cheney’s cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner. Cheney had cardiovascular health issues for many years and survived five heart attacks throughout his life, eventually receiving a heart transplant in 2012.
Cheney’s daughter, former Rep. Elizabeth “Liz” Cheney, R-Wyo., delivered the final eulogy for her father. Apart from the House seat, Liz Cheney also succeeded her father as chair of the House Republican Conference from 2019 to 2021, when Republicans voted to remove her.
“My dad’s devotion to America was deep and substantive … [he] was a giant to the end. A lion of a man who loved and served this great Republic,” Liz Cheney said, concluding the service. She said that the last words of Cheney’s life were “to tell my mother he loved her,” and that the family replied: “Goodnight, sweet dad. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
