Richard Bruce Cheney was born in 1941 in Nebraska and grew up in Casper, Wyoming. He attended Yale University but dropped out during his sophomore year. In 1965, he earned a degree in political science at the University of Wyoming and then won a postgraduate fellowship. In 1964, Cheney married Lynne Vincent, who served two terms as chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

During Nixon's presidency, Cheney worked as a special assistant to Donald Rumsfeld, who was Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and, subsequently, White House counsel. When Nixon resigned in 1974 and Gerald Ford became president, Rumsfeld was invited to work at the Whitehouse as one of the president's assistants. Cheney went with him and at age 34 became Ford's Chief of Staff, serving from 1974 to 1977.

Cheney's career as a politician began in earnest in 1978 when he decided to run for a seat in the House of Representatives from the state of Wyoming. He was charged with carpetbaggery, having lived elsewhere since his college days, but he won the election and rapidly climbed the Republican ladder to become House minority whip.

In Congress, Cheney's voting record was staunchly conservative. Considered partisan on several issues, he opposed both abortion rights and welfare. When controversy over the environment arose in the early 1980s, he initially supported Interior Secretary James Watt's plan to open parts of the American wilderness to development by oil and gas companies. He reversed his position, however, when some of Wyoming's pristine land was considered for the project. Cheney served in Congress until he entered President Bush Senior's Cabinet in 1989.

Before joining the presidential campaign as George W. Bush's running mate, Cheney took a hiatus from politics in 1995 and worked in the private sector. He became chief executive of Halliburton Co., a Texas-based Fortune 500 company that specializes in the development of oil and gas production. He steered the company to its position as the largest oil-drilling, engineering and construction services provider in the world. Halliburton's acquisition of Dresser Industries Inc. in 1999 was considered a shrewd move in the business world.

Dick Cheney has had to contend with health issues throughout his career. He has suffered three heart attacks, the first of which was in the summer of 1978 during his campaign for a seat in Congress. The other two happened in the 1980s, and in 1988 he underwent quadruple bypass surgery.

With a PhD in English, Lynne Cheney has taught at numerous colleges and universities and is an author and former editor of Washingtonian magazine. The Cheneys have two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary.