The Ideal Running Mate for the 2000 Presidential Election - Essay Example

Campaign Finance Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney, forty-sixth vice president of the United States, has over three decades of experience in political service. Formerly a US representative and secretary of state, many saw Cheney as the ideal running mate for the relatively inexperienced George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election. Early Life & Education Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on January 30, 1941, the son of Marjorie and Richard H. Cheney. He was raised in Casper, Wyoming, where the elder Cheney worked as a soil conservationist for the Department of Agriculture. After graduating from a local high school, Cheney earned a scholarship and traveled east to attend Yale University in Connecticut. He dropped out of school during his second year, due to his poor academic performance, and returned to Wyoming. Cheney went to work for a brief time before returning to school, first at Casper College and later at the University of Wyoming. In 1964, he married his high-school sweetheart, Lynn Anne Vincent. Cheney finally graduated two years later with a master's degree in political science. Early Political Career After graduation, Cheney received an educational deferment to avoid military service during the Vietnam War. He enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin, and launched his long political career in 1968, when he went to Washington DC to work for Representative William Steiger (R-Wisconsin) as a congressional fellow. Cheney was soon recruited by Representative Donald Rumsfeld, the head of President Richard Nixon's Office of Economic Opportunity, to work as his assistant. (Carney 82) Throughout the early 1970s, Cheney held a number of positions alongside Rumsfeld, who had become a mentor to the young political hopeful. He served as deputy White House counsel, assistant director of the Cost of Living Council, and deputy chief of staff for President Gerald Ford. To supplement his income, Cheney also served as vice president of investment group Bradley, Woods, & Co. Cheney's biggest break came in 1975, when he replaced his mentor as White House chief of staff after Rumsfeld was appointed as secretary of defense. At the age of 34, Cheney was among the youngest men ever to hold this position, which he held until 1976. During this time, he earned a reputation as a prominent player in the Republican Party. Washington Insider Beginning in 1979, Cheney served six terms in the House of Representatives, as a representative from Wyoming. Before his election to the House, he suffered a heart attack, the first of three coronary episodes he would endure before the age of 50. As chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee for most of his tenure, Cheney was known as a conservative, and voted strictly along party lines. When Republican Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, Cheney and his right-wing House colleagues were steadfast supporters of the new White House agenda. In addition to his vocal support for the "Star Wars" missile defense system, Cheney was in favor of military backing for the "Contra" rebels in Nicaragua, as well as for rebel fighters in Afghanistan and Angola. In the late 1980s, when he sat on the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Deals with Iran during the Iran-Contra scandal, Cheney defended the controversial actions of the Reagan administration and his fellow Republicans. On the domestic issue front, Cheney was opposed to gun control and abortion and in favor of prayer in public schools. He voted against the Equal Rights Amendment and re-funding the Clean Water Act. As a result of his loyalty to the party, Cheney became minority whip, the second-most influential position in the House, in 1988. His wife, meanwhile, served as the chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986-1993. Under Reagan's successor, George Bush, Cheney served as secretary of defense, and played a key role in directing the nation's military during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The popular success of the operation in the public's eyes elevated Cheney to national prominence, and toward the end of president Bill Clinton's first term, in 1995, there were rumors that Cheney would seek the Republican presidential nomination in the next election. Instead, he withdrew from politics and became the chief executive of Halliburton Company, a Texas-based oil business. The Campaign Trail After five successful years at Halliburton, Cheney resigned in 2000 to help Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush search for a running mate. That summer, Cheney himself accepted the party's nomination as the vice presidential candidate. The choice shocked observers, since Cheney had resisted running for higher office on several previous occasions. He was only five years older than Bush, but his wealth of political experience, as well as his greater "gravity" and seriousness, were seen as assets to the Republican campaign. Liberals began raising questions about Cheney's extremely conservative voting record, and supporters worried that his views would alienate moderate voters. Critics also questioned Cheney's medical background, and his fitness to serve out a full term as vice president. In addition to his frequent heart trouble, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1988. The Bush campaign, however, investigated Cheney's health, and got a statement from his physician saying that he was "up to the task of the most sensitive public office." The Vice Presidency After one of the most unusual and disputed elections in US history, Bush and Cheney were finally declared the winners on December 13, 2000, defeating their Democratic opponents Al Gore and Joe Lieberman by a dubious margin. In March 2001, not long after being inaugurated as vice president, Cheney complained of chest pains and was admitted to the hospital. Many feared that his history of coronary artery disease would interfere with his ability to run the country. However, after a procedure to re-open a partially blocked artery, Cheney was once again declared fit to return to his duties. After the September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC, Cheney was instrumental in organizing the US military offensive against terrorist targets in Afghanistan. His experience as secretary of defense made him uniquely suited to the task. Scandal Early in 2002, Cheney found himself at the center of an investigation into the bankruptcy of energy trader Enron Corp. The previous year, Cheney headed a presidential task force to draft a proposal for a national energy plan. In a series of discussions, several cabinet members met with representatives from the energy industry, as well as labor, consumer, and environmental groups, in an effort to form a coherent energy policy for the Bush administration. During the course of the meetings, executives from Enron, at the time one of the largest energy traders in the world, as well as a generous supporter of the Republican Party and the Bush/Cheney campaign, met personally with the vice president. It wasn't until the company went bankrupt, leaving thousands of workers without retirement funds, that questions began to arise regarding Enron's possible influence on the Bush administration's energy recommendations, or whether the White House had any advance knowledge of the company's financial difficulties. (Pitt 54) In January 2002, the collapse of Enron was being probed by a number of government agencies, trying to determine what led to the company's collapse. The US General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative branch of Congress, asked Cheney for his notes from the energy task force meetings, hoping they would shed some light on the relationship between the administration and Enron. Cheney refused, however, and the GAO threatened to sue to obtain the documents. In 2003, the Bush administration announced to the United Nations that there was intelligence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The announcement was met with both skepticism and concern, but Bush received enough support for an U.S. invasion of Iraq. In March 2003, the Iraqi government was overturned by U.S. and British forces, and in November of the same year, Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. troops. In 2004, Secretary of State Colin Powell stood before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and stated that the United States received faulty intelligence regarding Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction. Powell, who had been reluctant to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq, later resigned the same year and was replaced by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. (Allman 58-64) George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were reelected in the 2004 elections against Democrats Senator John Kerry and Senator John Edwards. However, the war in Iraq remains a very controversial topic in America, and has lead to a decrease in popular support for Bush and Cheney. Works Cited Carney, James; Bacon Jr., Perry; Dickerson, John F.; Duffy, Michael; Roston, Eric; Thompson, Mark; Tumulty, Karen; Waller, Douglas; Donnelly, Sally B. 7 Clues to Understanding Dick Cheney, Time Canada, 12/30/2002-1/6/2003, Vol. 160/161 Issue 27/1, p82, 7p, 6c Pitt, David. Booklist. The Dick Cheney Code (Book). By:, 9/1/2004, Vol. 101 Issue 1, p54-54 Allman, T.D. The Curse of Dick Cheney. Rolling Stone, 9/16/2004 Issue 957, p58-64, Read More