Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who grew up in Casper, will be put to rest Thursday morning at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Cheney died on Nov. 3 due to complications from pneumonia coupled with cardiac and vascular disease. He was 84.
Widely considered the most powerful vice president in modern American history, Cheney’s funeral is expected to draw state and national dignitaries who were associated with him during his many years of public service culminating with him serving as the 46th Vice President of the United States.
Cheney also served as the 17th U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1989 to 1993.
The service, which is not open to the public, is scheduled for 9 a.m. MT. Security is expected to be tight, and a list of attendees has not been made public.
President Donald Trump has not publicly commented on whether he will attend Cheney’s funeral.
The two were at odds after Trump endorsed Harriet Hageman over Cheney’s daughter, then-U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, in the 2022 Republican primary for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat. Hageman won the general election and has been serving as Wyoming’s U.S. representative since.
Once a strong supporter of Trump, Liz Cheney broke with him after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Dick Cheney called Trump the greatest “threat to our republic” and endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
Will Trump Attend?
Trump has not commented on Cheney’s death, but the White House did lower flags to half-staff upon his passing.
Liz Cheney is expected to speak at the funeral, according to the National Cathedral website. Former President George W. Bush, under whom Cheney served as second-in-command from 2001-2009, is also expected to speak.
According to Ari Geller, a spokesman for the Washington National Cathedral, the Cheney family is overseeing invites to the funeral.
“The only names that have been shared are on the cathedral website,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Cheney family did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment.
Longtime Wyoming legislator Eli Bebout said he and his wife, Lorraine, were invited to the funeral but are unable to attend because of scheduling conflicts.
“I sure wish I could be there,” Bebout told Cowboy State Daily.
Bebout got to know Dick Cheney when Cheney served as a state legislator and would visit Riverton.
“I was always impressed with his knowledge of issues,” said Bebout, whose career as a Wyoming politician spanned more than 30 years. “I never questioned his integrity, his honesty, his commitment.”
The two fished together and hunted pheasants.
Retired Wyoming lawyer and rancher Ray Hunkins said he remembers Cheney as a man who kept his commitments.
In 1988, Cheney promised the Platte County School District No. 1 in Wheatland that he would give the commencement address for the graduating class of 1989.
When President George H.W. Bush appointed Cheney as his secretary of defense in March 1989, Hunkins said he figured that meant Cheney would not be giving Wheatland High School the commencement address that year.
Hunkins called the office of the secretary of defense, and within 24 hours, his call was returned with the message that Cheney had every intention of keeping his commitment.
“And he showed up,” Hunkins said.
Wyoming Native Son
Richard Bruce “Dick” Cheney grew up in Casper and played on the Natrona County High School football team.
After flunking out of Yale and working as a lineman in Wyoming, he went on to serve as White House chief of staff, secretary of defense and vice president.
He served as President Gerald Ford’s top adviser at age 34, making him the youngest presidential chief of staff in history. He and his wife Lynne — his high school sweetheart — were married for 61 years.
Former Secretary of State James Baker III, who served with Cheney in the George H.W. Bush administration and owns a ranch near Pinedale, is on the funeral’s invite list but will not attend, said his policy assistant, John Williams.
According to a statement Baker wrote after Cheney’s death, “You got what you saw in Dick. … Although the two of us did not always agree on policy, our friendship remained strong for 50 years. I will dearly miss his steadfast opinions, hearty laugh, and crooked smile.”
Cheney’s cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Reiner is also among those expected to speak at the funeral.
Cheney suffered from heart problems and had a heart transplant in 2012. Bebout recalled being in Washington, D.C., for an energy meeting with Cheney once, when Cheney’s heart trouble became real.
“We were supposed to meet with him in the Roosevelt Room,” Bebout said. “But then we heard all these sirens and saw all these black vehicles pull up. We didn’t know what it was. Then we heard, ‘The vice president has been detained.’ That was one of his first heart attacks.
“We didn’t get to see him that day,” Bebout said.
Bebout said he is not aware of any public remembrances in Wyoming scheduled for Cheney but said he would sure hope there would be one.
“He was our gift to our country and the world,” Bebout said. “He was really a world leader.”
Cheney’s funeral service will be livestreamed on the cathedral’s website and on its YouTube channel.
