by Dick Cheney
It was not easy surgery and I was in the intensive care unit for many weeks. I received wonderful medical attention and love and care from Lynne, Liz, and Mary. The mind is an amazing thing, and during the weeks I was unconscious, I had a prolonged dream, more vivid than any I’ve ever had, about a beautiful place in Italy. It was in the countryside, a little north of Rome, and it really seemed I was there. I can still describe the villa where I passed the time, the little stone paths I walked to get coffee or a batch of newspapers. It was a lengthy and very pleasant stay, far preferable to a daily awareness of where I really was and what was really happening.
My Italian holiday ended about the time I came off the ventilator and my eyes focused on the face of a doctor calling my name. When he saw that I was coming to, he said, “How do you feel, Mr. Cheney? You’re looking good.” I knew enough to doubt him and am afraid I did not reply as graciously as I should have. But my rather rude response got a laugh from the doctor and everyone else in the room. I was on my way back.
Like a lot of people who face life-threatening illness and walk in the sunshine again, I couldn’t dismiss the possibility that more than the skill of doctors, the luck of the draw, or my own will to live had pulled me through. I do know that my cause was pleaded in some earnest prayers. On the phone with my old friends John and Mary Kay Turner in Wyoming, Liz asked them to light a candle for me. “We’ll do more than pray,” John told her. “We’ll storm Heaven.”
I have some medical choices to make in the future, but I’m doing well for now. I’ve gotten used to the various contraptions that are always with me, and I’m working and traveling, I’ve hunted a time or two, and I have some fishing planned.
With Lynne, Liz and Phil and our granddaughters, Kate, Elizabeth and Grace near our home in Wyoming, my favorite place on earth. (Official White House Photo/Dav id Bohrer)
My forward strategy is to assume an abundance of good days ahead. Since the age of thirty-seven, when I first learned I had coronary artery disease, my attitude has been to place all bets on a long future and so far it’s worked. But however many tomorrows there are, I know well how fortunate I am to have had the years I’ve had. I have reached the biblical three score and ten, and a man who can look back on the things I have seen and the people I have known has no grounds for complaint.
In my time, I have known and even been saluted by men given far shorter lives who gave far more in service to their country. What a privilege it was to have spent so much of my career in the company of the men and women of the United States armed forces.
At Fort Stewart, Georgia, July 21, 2006, thanking members of the 3rd Infantry Division and the Georgia National Guard's 48rh Brigade Combat Team for their service in Iraq. (Official White House Photo/David Bohrer)
As a young man, and again half a lifetime later, I had a place in the room when great issues were debated and big questions decided. That chance was more than I expected when I headed to Washington more than forty years ago. And how lucky I am to have had Lynne, Liz, and Mary as my companions on that journey and now my grandchildren as well.
At Andrews Air Force Base with granddaughter, Elizabeth Perry and her luggage, getting ready to board Air Force II. (Official White House Photo/David Bohrer)
A seventh has joined us now, Mary and Heather’s daughter Sarah Lynne, the apple of her grandmother’s eye.
With our newest grandbaby, Sarah Lynne, in McLean, Virginia, spring 2011. (Photo by David Bohrer)
Giving grandson Sam a ride on the vice presidential helicopter, Marine II, with Mary and Heather. (Official White House Photo/David Bohrer)
I’ve seen some high-achieving people go far in the world more at the expense of their families than with their families, and to do that is to miss out on one of life’s finest experiences. As a family we’ve shared the work, the joys, and the laughter, the setbacks and the successes, and for that I am a grateful man.
I am a firm believer in America and its work in the world. Our political battles are messy, shrill, and sometimes cruel, and yet for all of that, the system has a way of producing courageous and compassionate action when it is needed most. We have stood firm in the face of evil and defied history in the selfless way we have done it. Instead of seeking empire, we have sought freedom for others.
There have been nearly ten generations since the country’s founding, and each succeeded in overcoming great challenges. All that I have seen in my time tells me that we will as well—but it is not inevitable. We hear warning after well-founded warning that we are living beyond our means, but we have not shown the political will to change that. Therein lies a danger not only for us but for generations to come whom we are burdening in ways our forebears would never have thought to burden us. And the technology that has eased our lives—indeed, that has saved mine—has a deadly downside. It has always been easy for those who are evil to kill, but now it is possible for a few to do so on an unimaginable scale. This is a danger all too easy to put out of mind, but one we simply cannot grow careless about.
The key, I think, is to choose serious and vigilant leaders, to listen to the men and women who want us to entrust them with high office and judge whether they are saying what they think we want to hear or whether they have the larger cause of the country in mind. It’s not always easy to move beyond pleasing promises, but in the case of America, the greater good is so grand. We’re not a perfect country, but our founding ideals, right and true, have allowed human potential to unfold and creativity to thrive in ways never before seen on earth. We are so fortunate to be Americans. And we have a duty as clear as any I know to pass on this great nation, its possibilities undimmed, to the rising generations.
With Lynne and our dog, Dave, on the porch of the vice president’s residence. (Official White House Photo/David Bohrer)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My daughter Liz was my collaborator and the CEO of our book team. Working with her has been a joy. I deeply appreciated her energy and enthusiasm for the project, her talent, her knowledge, and her sense of humor. It is a rare blessing to have reason to spend so many hours of quality time telling your daughter about your life and work. My wife, Lynne, and my daughter Mary helped with the book as well, making this truly a family project, as so much of my public life has been. Lynne and Mary know my story and are both accomplished writers, which made their editorial suggestions invaluable.
Liz assembled an outstanding team to assist her. Robert Karem, who served on my national security team during my time as vice president, did stellar work researching, editing, and fact-checking, as well as ably keeping me up to speed on today’s national security issues. Alexandra Jajonie, a recent graduate of Virginia Tech, kept us all organized, oversaw much of the fact-checking, and demonstrated an ability to juggle tough assignments in a cool and collected manner that belied her years. Jim Steen, who lived through many of the chapters of this book, was invaluable in answering questions—in particular, about my days in Congress and as secretary of defense. His recall and ability to produce obscure documents instantaneously was singularly impressive. John McConnell and Matthew Scully, two of the best speechwriters I have ever known, provided valuable assistance for this book, and I would like to thank them for all they have added to it. I am also grateful for their assistance over the years. In my speeches as vice president, they helped me capture crucial aspects of an historic time. Frank Gannon, whom I first met during the Nixon administration and who is a wonderful storyteller, was a wise and steady hand as I worked on this book. He brought the experience of having worked on previous memoirs as well as knowledge and memories of what Washington was like in the turbulent years of the early 1970s. I also want to thank Peter Long, who served as my assistant at the American Enterprise Institute and was an important part of the book team; Cara Jones, a former navy officer and graduate student at Johns Hopkins, who helped immensely in the research and fact-checking of the secretary of defense and vice presidency chapters; and Will Speicher, who also provided assistance checkin
g facts in the early stages of the manuscript. Victoria Coates also provided key research assistance, particularly for the Nixon and Ford chapters of the book.
At the National Archives, our work was aided tremendously by Nancy Smith and Stephannie Oriabure, who answered questions, procured photos, and tracked down information from presidential libraries. Christian C. Goos at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and historian Donald A. Ritchie of the U.S. Senate Historical Office Staff also provided important research assistance. I want to thank them, and also Bill Leary of the National Security Council, who was instrumental in reviewing and expediting clearances for this book.
Mary Matalin has lived this project since its inception and her contributions are too numerous to list. We all treasure her wise counsel and her friendship. I am also grateful that Kara Ahern, who helped manage my vice presidential campaign in 2004, came back to help oversee events and travel for me. She has once again become a key member of the Cheney team.
A number of people reviewed early versions of parts of this book and made many useful suggestions. Even when I did not heed their advice, I was often prompted to rethink and rewrite, and I’m grateful for the inspiration provided by David Addington, Eric Edelman, John Hannah, Scooter Libby, Terry O’Donnell, Neil Patel, Samantha Ravich, Pete Williams, and Paul Wolfowitz. Many of the photos in the book were taken by David Bohrer, vice presidential photographer for eight years, and I am grateful not only for his amazing work but for his help in overseeing the photo selection process for In My Time. I appreciate as well Pete Williams’s assistance in helping us choose photos. David Kennerly, who has taken incredible shots at key moments of our lives over many years, is also well represented in this book, and I am grateful for his talent and friendship.
I’d like to thank the American Enterprise Institute, with which I’ve been long associated, and its outstanding and visionary president Arthur Brooks for the many forums the organization has provided over the years for debate about the most important policy issues of our times. Both Lynne and I are grateful for Cristina Allegretti’s skillful attention to detail in managing our AEI office. Debbie Heiden, who worked for me at the White House, continues to help keep my life in order. Gus Anies also played an important role in keeping me organized through the process of writing this book.
Bob Barnett was a skillful representative as we launched this project, and we have benefited from his sage counsel every step of the way. I would also like to thank the terrific team at Simon & Schuster, starting with CEO Carolyn Reidy, whose interest in this project was evident from day one. Our outstanding editor, Mitchell Ivers, made a number of trips to Washington to read the manuscript and make important edits. Louise Burke, Anthony Ziccardi, Jennifer Robinson, and Jean Anne Rose have all made it a pleasure to work with Simon & Schuster. I am also appreciative of the efforts of Sally Franklin, Al Madocs, Tom Pitoniak, Lisa Litwack, Michael Nagin, and Natasha Simons.
While I was campaigning for the vice presidency and serving in office, I was lucky to have a number of talented and dedicated personal aides. My daughter Mary was the first of these during the 2000 campaign. Brian McCormack, Jen Field, Charlie Durkin, and Lucy Tutwiler all served in this post during my vice presidency. I want to thank them for their tireless work handling any and all tasks thrown their way. I also want to acknowledge my longtime friend Ron Walker, who got on the plane with us in 2000 and helped us get our campaign legs back.
It is somewhat unusual, I realize, to thank medical teams for their help, but in my case, it would be a serious oversight if I failed to do so. I am grateful to the doctors at George Washington University Hospital for their tremendous care over the years, and I particularly want to thank Dr. Jonathan Reiner and Dr. Jehan El-Bayoumi. Dr. Lew Hofmann traveled with me around the world several times when I was vice president and I would like to thank him, as well as Dr. Sean O’Meara and the group at Guardian 24/7 that has provided me such useful guidance since. I am also indebted to the team at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia, particularly Dr. Shashank Desai, Dr. Nelson Burton, Dr. Anthony Rongoni, Dr. Jason Vourlekis, and the coordinators Lori Edwards, Tonya Elliott, and Carolyn Rosner.
Lynne and I have been blessed with a loving family, our parents, our brothers, my sister, our children, and our grandchildren, and I see this book as a tribute to them all. Lynne and I are also grateful for the many friends with whom we have shared our lives in Wyoming, Washington, and around the world. Many are mentioned in this book, but too briefly to reflect the depths of our gratitude, and I would like to conclude by acknowledging to all of them how much their support has meant. We are fortunate to have such friends.
NOTES
All links were active as of June 26, 2011
2 shortly before 10:00 a.m.: Many timelines have been constructed for 9/11, and there is variation among them. The times in the Prologue are based on The 9/11 Commission Report (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004), notes taken that day by Lynne Cheney, and my recollections.
60 wigs and toupees: Federal Register, vol. 36, no. 220, November 13, 1971, p. 21789.
62 effort to freeze prices: Allen J. Matusow, Nixon’s Economy: Booms, Busts, Dollars, & Votes (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998), p. 231.
87 in the Oval Office: Rumsfeld Papers, Memorandum for Don Rumsfeld from Dick Cheney, July 8, 1975, http://library.rumsfeld.com/doclib/sp/158/07-08-1975%20From%20Dick%20Cheney%20re%20Solzhenitsyn.pdf.
90 pretty frank document: Rumsfeld Papers, Memorandum for the President from Donald Rumsfeld and Richard Cheney, October 24, 1975, http://library.rumsfeld.com/doclib/sp/174/1975-10-24%20To%20Gerald%20Ford%20re%20Re-elec tion%20and%20Rumsfeld%20and%20Cheney%20Resignations.pdf.
219 pilots called it “tank plinking”: Rick Atkinson, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993), p. 264.
220 from using its WMD: Keith Payne, Deterrence in the Second Nuclear Age (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1996), pp. 83–84.
221 “too dear and too high”: Ibid.
233 “on a rational basis”: Colin Powell, My American Journey (New York: Random House, 1995), p. 541.
235 DPG represented a shift: For more on the 1992 Defense Planning Guidance and our post–Cold War defense posture, see chapters by Paul Wolfowitz and Eric Edelman in In Uncertain Times: American Foreign Policy after the Berlin Wall and 9/11, eds. Melvyn P. Leffler and Jeffrey W. Legro (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011).
269 “softest of sells”: Ronald Brownstein, “A Strong Case for Change Is Played Down,” Los Angeles Times, August 1, 2000.
276 “nine days of hell”: Mary Cheney, Now It’s My Turn: A Daughter’s Chronicle of Political Life (New York: Threshold Editions, 2006), p. 64.
286 by 5 percent: Karl Rove, Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight (New York: Threshold Editions, 2010), p. 193.
301 “shook our hands”: Linda D. Kozaryn, “President Hosts Nation’s Combat Heroes,” American Forces Press Service, January 23, 2001, http://www.defense.gov/specials/outreachpublic/hosts.html.
307 attend very often: Robert A. Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002), p. 1038.
316 “nation’s energy security”: National Energy Policy Development Group, National Energy Policy: Reliable, Affordable, and Environmentally Sound Energy for America’s Future, May 16, 2001, http://www.ne.doe.gov/pdffiles/nationalenergypolicy.pdf.
316 during the biofuels craze: Michael Grunwald, “The Clean Energy Scam,” Time, March 27, 2008.
319 “first line of defense”: Nicholas Lemann, “The Quiet Man: Dick Cheney’s Discreet Rise to Unprecedented Power,” The New Yorker, May 7, 2001.
326 right thing to do: See Richard B. Cheney, Remarks at the Heritage Foundation Dinner Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, March 11, 2008, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/03/print/20080311–9.html.
&n
bsp; 346 never exceeding four thousand: Douglas J. Feith, War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), p. 88.
348 was collecting intelligence: Michael V. Hayden, Address to the National Press Club: What American Intelligence & Especially the NSA Have Been Doing to Defend the Nation, January 23, 2006, http://www.dni.gov/speeches/printer_friendly/20060123_speech_print.htm.
349 a related terrorist organization: For additional information on the terrorist surveillance program, see Michael V. Hayden, Hearing Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, May 18, 2006, http://intelligence.senate.gov/109808.pdf.
349 “identified them as such”: Hayden, Address to the National Press Club.
350 lawful approximately twenty times: Letter from Shannen Coffin, Counsel to the Vice President, to Senator Patrick Leahy, August 20, 2007; Authorizations for the program dated October 4, November 2, and November 30, 2001; January 9, March 14, April 18, May 21, June 24, July 30, September 10, October 15, and November 18, 2002; January 8, February 7, March 17, April 22, June 11, July 14, September 10, October 15, and December 9, 2003; January 14, 2004.
353 “should have been published”: Byron Calame, “Banking Data: A Mea Culpa,” New York Times, October 22, 2006.
354 riot at Qala-i-Jangi: Alex Perry, “Inside the Battle at Qala-i-Jangi,” Time, December 1, 2001.
354 and medical care: Thomas Joscelyn, “The Real Gitmo: What I Saw at America’s Best Detention Facility for Terrorists,” Weekly Standard, December 28, 2009.
355 “endanger civilians in war”: Ronald Reagan, Message to the Senate Transmitting a Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, January 29, 1987, http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/012987B.HTM.