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| US Election - Guide to Candidates |
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| Profile - Dick Cheney By Carola Hoyos Published: October 3 2000 09:43GMT | Last Updated: November 16 2000 14:25GMT |
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 George W. Bush turned to Dick Cheney - President Bush's defense secretary and an old family friend - to cast a wide net in the search for a suitable running mate. After weighing pros and cons, the two decided the best choice would be none other than Mr Cheney himself. On Tuesday, the two prepared to make an official afternoon announcement disclosing the choice in Austin, Texas. But Mr Cheney accepted the offer several hours earlier. Mr Bush has said he admires Mr Cheney's judgement and character. But one attribute may be even more important than unswerving loyalty: an ability to hide any differences of opinion from the general public. If Mr Bush wins the election, Mr Cheney's famous poker face ought to serve them both well. The 59-year-old Wyoming native, who has spent most of his career hopping from the White House to Capitol Hill and back, was known among the Pentagon officials he worked with as Deadpan Dick for his ability to give away nothing in arguably the most gossipy capital of the world. The Bush/Cheney combination has already proven very successful. Mr Cheney served as President George Bush's defense secretary between March 1989 and January 1993. On his watch, the US defeated Iraq in the Persian Gulf war and Mr Bush saw his approval rating climb to new highs. Though going to war is not an option this time around, Mr Cheney's task as popularity-booster has not changed. Mr Cheney, who once briefly considered running for president in 1996, apparently had a change of heart about becoming the Republican vice presidential candidate: He reportedly declined Mr Bush's offer at least once in the past. Mr Cheney's past speaks volumes about his qualification for the job. After leaving the defense department in 1993 with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in his pocket, Mr Cheney hit the lecture circuit and even mulled running for president himself, but eventually decided to turn his back on politics. The man with a passion for flyfishing and military history left Washington for Texas and became chairman and chief executive of Halliburton, the energy service company based in Dallas. That decision moved him closer to the Bush family, geographically and ideologically. But it may prove too close for comfort for the American public, which blames the oil industry for the meteoric rise in gasoline prices this year. Mr Cheney had planned to stay at Halliburton until the end of his career. But seasoned politicians are known for changing their minds. What is clear is that Mr Cheney has become one of Mr Bush's closest confidants. Like Mr Bush, Mr Cheney attended Yale University. But he did not graduate from the Connecticut-based Ivy League institution; he quit Yale after two years and returned home to the University of Wyoming, where he received bachelors and masters degrees. Mr Cheney's career began to take off when, armed with the experience of only a couple of political internships in Wisconsin and Washington, he became the protege of Donald Rumsfeld, one of President Richard Nixon's advisors. Mr Cheney proved his knack for timing when he moved to a Washington investment firm in 1973 - shortly before the Nixon administration became embroiled in the Watergate scandal. Once the dust settled, Mr Cheney took the first opportunity to return to the White House. He joined President Gerald Ford's administration in 1974, rising within a year to the lofty rank of White House chief of staff. In 1977 Mr Cheney moved back to Wyoming and, for the first time since successfully running for class president his senior year in high school, made a bid for elective office. A heart attack - eventually followed by two others - did not stop him from winning Wyoming's sole congressional seat in the House of Representatives in 1978, though he did moderate his vast intake of coffee and nicotine, and get out his tennis racket. By then a father of two, Mr Cheney was re-elected five times and served as chairman of the Republican Conference and as House Minority Whip, becoming the second-ranking Republican leader. His next job heading President George Bush's defense department made Mr Cheney a household name. George W Bush may have thought it would be difficult to convince Mr Cheney to join him as a running mate, but Mr Cheney's denials seem to have turned out to be just another example of Deadpan Dick's pockerfaced façade. |
