Dick Cheney

Name at birth: Richard Bruce Cheney

Dick Cheney was elected vice president of the United States in 2000, as the running mate of George W. Bush. Cheney grew up in Wyoming, where he also earned his college degrees. A staff member in the administration of Richard Nixon, Cheney became the White House chief of staff under Gerald Ford. Cheney was elected to the House of Representatives from Wyoming in 1978 and quickly rose in the ranks of the Republican party; he also served as vice chairman of the committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Under President George Bush the elder, Cheney served as Secretary of Defense and played a major role in the Persian Gulf War. Cheney then worked in the oil industry as a top executive for the Halliburton Company before his return to government in 2000. His ties to Halliburton became a source of controversy in 2003, when the company received a major contract to help rebuild Iraq after the U.S. invasion there. Bush and Cheney were re-elected in 2004, narrowly beating a Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards.