00:00Lynn, Liz, and Mary and all the Cheney family, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen.
00:06I appreciate this chance to say a few words about a man I was proud to call my vice president and my friend.
00:15Though not a happy assignment, I do consider it an easy one because there was so much to like and admire about Dick Cheney.
00:23Dick was a stoical man, and I doubt he left his life with any complaints about the time given to him or its end.
00:34He was also a grateful man, grateful above all for three loyal, loving women who shared in his journey.
00:40As I quickly discovered in 2000, when you choose one Cheney, you get four.
00:48His busy and purposeful life was an adventure they experienced together.
00:53In a family so close, you dread the day when the circle is broken.
00:58Lynn and the girls, Heather, Phil, and all the grandchildren, he sure loved you all.
01:03And he was proud of his family.
01:06I hope it helps to know that many people in this country share your sense of loss.
01:11And we're here today as your friends.
01:1525 years ago, I had a big choice to make.
01:17A big job to fill.
01:19I wanted to know all my options, so I enlisted the help of a distinguished former White House Chief of Staff and Secretary of Defense to lead my search for running mate.
01:30Dick Cheney and I went through the files name by name.
01:34We talked over the various qualities I was looking for in a vice president.
01:38Preparedness, mature judgment, rectitude, and loyalty.
01:41Above all, I wanted someone with the ability to step into the presidency without getting distracted by the ambition to seek it.
01:52After weeks of these meetings, I began to have a thought I could not shake.
01:56I realized the best choice for the vice president was the man sitting right in front of me.
02:01And I told him that.
02:02At such a moment, most in this position would have jumped at the chance.
02:08But Dick stayed detached.
02:11And he analyzed it.
02:13Before I made my decision, he insisted on giving me a complete rundown of all the reasons I should not choose him.
02:21He also heard one of my top advisors was against the choice.
02:25So Dick invited him to make the case.
02:27As he did so, he sat there unfazed and expressionless.
02:34In the end, I trusted my judgment.
02:37I remember my dad's words when I told him what I was planning.
02:40He said, son, you couldn't pick a better man.
02:45The way this all unfolded followed a pattern in Dick Cheney's life.
02:50Summing up his career a few years ago, he said,
02:53A few breaks came my way, and one job always led to another.
02:57And in a life that's taken me far to more places than I ever expected.
03:02That was Dick's typically understated version of events, but there's a little more to the story.
03:09His abilities were self-evident without need of calculation or self-promotion.
03:13His talent and restraint exceeded his ego.
03:16Even before the Cheney name reached the national stage, people always saw something in the man.
03:24Solid, reliable, and rare.
03:28One of the first to really notice was Lynn Vincent.
03:32She can recall a time in their college years when Dick, as he freely admitted,
03:37lacked direction and needed some straightening out.
03:41I think we had that in common.
03:42That was Lynn's kind of project, and it did not take her long.
03:51He said many times that his life would have turned out a whole lot different if he had never met her.
03:57It may explain how, in just over a decade, a guy can go in from laying transmission lines outside Cheyenne
04:03to serving as chief of staff of the President of the United States.
04:07In Dick's telling, those years working for Gerald Ford were special and formative.
04:14He cherished the association, and the high regard went both ways.
04:20In his memoir, President Ford described Dick's steadiness, his low-key style, and his absolute loyalty.
04:27I know exactly what he meant.
04:29These are not traits easy to come by in Washington.
04:34Being calm, reticent, undramatic, and untrustworthy are not everyone's formula for success in politics.
04:41But they were the Cheyney way, and they worked.
04:45I'm reminded of a renowned senator who once gave this advice to a junior colleague.
04:49Perhaps he said you could occasionally allow yourself the luxury of an unexpressed thought.
04:59Dick Cheney was like that, sparing and measured with words.
05:05In a profession that attracts talkers, he was a thinker and a listener.
05:09And when he did speak up, conveying thoughts in that even tone of voice, that orderly, unexcitable manner,
05:18you knew you were getting the best of a highly disciplined mind.
05:22No colleague, no legislator, no foreign leader who ever met Dick Cheney ever doubted
05:27that they were dealing with a serious man.
05:31Of course, not every political counselor is cut out to be a political candidate.
05:34But Dick Cheney put himself to the test and never lost an election.
05:40In fact, it happens that he and I both ran for Congress in 1978.
05:45And let me just say the Republican wave didn't reach West Texas that year.
05:52He told me a few times what it's like to campaign in Wyoming.
05:56Lots of small gatherings and long drives.
05:58It's easy to imagine the impression that young Dick Cheney made when he was asking for the vote.
06:06I wish more Americans got to know Dick Cheney the way the folks in Casper, Cody, and Laramie got to know him.
06:12Smart and polished, without airs.
06:16Courteous and approachable, seeing everyone as an equal,
06:19a gentleman by nature, and a true man of the West.
06:24Dick was funny and easygoing in a style that his public image never caught up with.
06:29Though we can all agree he wasn't your standard-issue politician.
06:33If any voters came hoping for a kind word and a hug,
06:37they'd have to settle for the kind word.
06:42But you can't question the appeal
06:44of the only person from America's Mountain West
06:49ever elected to national office.
06:51On that score, history should record that I chose my vice president not once, but twice.
07:00In 2004, he offered to step aside in case I wanted to replace him.
07:04I thought about it for a while.
07:07But after four years of seeing how he treated people,
07:10how he carried responsibility,
07:13how he handled pressure and took the hits,
07:16I arrived back at the conclusion
07:17that they do not come any better than Dick Cheney.
07:22Colleagues from every chapter of his career will tell you
07:25that he lifted the standards of those around him
07:27just by being who he was,
07:30so focused and so capable.
07:32In our years in office together,
07:35on the quiet days and on the hardest ones,
07:38he was everything a president should expect
07:40in his second-in-command.
07:42In moments of testing,
07:44Dick Cheney was the model of concentration,
07:47alertness, and composure.
07:50His memoir was titled My Time.
07:53His time produced an old breed of public servant,
07:56defined by their substance and character.
07:59This was a vice president totally devoted
08:02to protecting the United States and its interests.
08:06There was never any agenda or angle beyond that.
08:10You did not know Dick Cheney unless you understood
08:13his greatest concerns and ambitions were for his country.
08:18Across 40 years of service,
08:21across 40 years his service was consistent,
08:25faithful, and noble.
08:26All in all,
08:29not a bad showing for a career and a life,
08:31especially when you consider his sheer physical endurance.
08:35As Dr. Rayner pointed out,
08:37he became an authority on cardiovascular disease
08:39and a marvel at what resourceful doctors
08:42and one very determined patient can accomplish.
08:47Dick had faced down fears and hardships,
08:49but he really didn't speak about them.
08:52The reward was more of a life than he ever expected,
08:54including seven grandchildren to complete the picture.
08:59One of them, Richard, even asked his grandfather
09:01to attend kindergarten class for a show-and-tell.
09:06I wish I'd have been there.
09:09As a matter of fact,
09:10the teacher told Dick that that was the most exciting show-and-tell
09:13since the morning a little girl brought her cow to class.
09:15That might have been among Dick's last moments in the spotlight.
09:22In his final years,
09:24he was content to go his way.
09:27At a rare public appearance in 2022,
09:30he offered a kind of parting reflection.
09:33He said,
09:33even when you can look back on a lifetime in politics and government
09:36and what you value most are the friendships,
09:40then I guess you've done all right.
09:43A lot of us know that feeling as we say,
09:45an affectionate farewell to the 46th vice president of the United States.
09:50It's something to be cherished when a man of his caliber
09:52has been your colleague and friend.
09:54The son of Wyoming,
09:57son of Marjorie and Richard Cheney of Casper,
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