"Except for the occasional heart attack, I never felt better. "

He Won't Beat Around the Bush!

Dick Cheney was elected Vice President of the United States in 2000 and again in 2004. Prior to becoming V.P., he was the president of the Halliburton Company.

Cheney was raised in Casper, Wyoming with his brother, Bob, and sister, Susan. His father worked as a soil conservation agent for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and was a registered Democrat.

Cheney's political career began in the late 1970's when he was elected to represent Wyoming in the U.S. House of Representatives. Elected five times, he served in this position until 1989. In 1987 he was elected Chairman of the House Republican Conference. He served as Secretary of Defense from 1989 until 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. He directed Operation Just Cause in Panama and Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait.

In 1995 his focus was on his business career after he became CEO of worldwide energy services corporation Halliburton Company.

In the spring of 2000, George W. Bush asked Cheney to join the Republican ticket as the candidate for vice president. Cheney then resigned as CEO of Halliburton and put his shares into a blind trust. Cheney's net worth is estimated at between $30 million and $100 million.

Cheney directed the National Energy Policy Development Group, known also as the Energy Task Force. The group was made up of people in the energy industry, and included Enron executives. In July 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that the Department of Commerce make the group's documents public; the documents included information on companies who made agreements with Saddam Hussein for Iraqi oil. The documents included maps of oil deposits in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced an examination of Cheney's office in the Plame affair in October, 2005: an investigation of a former Marine security officer, who is now an FBI analyst, accused of passing information to members of opposition in the Philippines. Cheney's office, mainly his computer, was central to the investigation: Lewis Libby, his former chief of staff, was one of the main people under investigation, and was indicted on five felony charges.

On February 11, 2006, Cheney was involved in a hunting incident where he accidentally shot his hunting partner, Harry Whittington. The 78-year-old Texas attorney was shot in the upper torso, face and neck with pellets from a shotgun.

Many describe Cheney as being one of the most powerful vice presidents in American history. Supporters see him as a very intelligent and shrewd businessman who understands the functions of the U.S. government. Opponents accuse him of enriching the oil industry and improperly influencing the decision to use military force in Iraq.

A master of provocative and inflammatory political speech, in early September 2006 Cheney said that the United States would have invaded Iraq regardless of the evidence to support military action. In an appearance on the Larry King show on CNN on September 13, 2006, former President Jimmy Carter said that Cheney "has had a policy of deliberately misleading the American people by making false statements."

Cheney has not shown interest in a Republican presidential nomination, and plans to retire after his term as Vice President expires. He has a long history of cardiovascular disease, and needs urgent health care often. He began having heart attacks at the age of 37. More heart attacks followed in 1984, 1988, and 2001. He now lives with moderate contractile dysfunction of his left ventricle.

Cheney married his high school sweetheart Lynne Vincent, whom he met at the age of fourteen. The two were married in 1964. The couple has two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, and four grandchildren. Elizabeth in an international law attorney and Mary was her father's top campaign aide. Mary, a lesbian, gained a lot of public attention for her sexual orientation during the 2004 presidential election campaign and in light of the recent same-sex marriage debate.