After eight-years as vice-president, the man widely seen as the architect of President Bush’s “war on terror” left office in January 2009.
He became a critic of the Obama administration’s national security policies, opposing plans to close the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
He lashed out at his vice-presidential successor, Joe Biden, calling him “dead wrong” for saying another attack on the scale of 11 September 2001 was unlikely.
After a full heart transplant in 2012, he remained an active political figure. And, despite decades working for Republican presidents, he became a bitter opponent of President Donald Trump.
Having initially endorsed him in 2016, Cheney was appalled by allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election and Trump’s seemingly casual attitude towards Nato.
He supported his older daughter, Liz, as she became a leading Republican ‘never Trump’ in the House of Representatives – and condemned the refusal to accept the result of the 2020 election.
Dick Cheney later published a statement that he would vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
It was an action that guaranteed that he will be remembered with mixed emotions on both sides of the political aisle.
For years, Cheney was a hero to the Republican right for his forthright manner and dry-as-dust ideological beliefs – and reviled by the left, who accused him of working for the interests of the oil industry.
But, he ended up supporting gay marriage and a Democratic presidential candidate – while his frequent attacks on Trump destroyed his relationship with his former party.