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CNN Live Event/Special

The Funeral of Vice President Dick Cheney. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired November 20, 2025 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:00]

(MUSIC)

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: President and Dr. Biden, President and Mrs. Bush, Vice President Harris, Pence, Quayle, and Gore, distinguished guests and friends, we gather today in this holy and magnificent space one week before Thanksgiving to give thanks for the life of Richard Bruce Cheney, the 46th vice president of the United States, and to thank his family, Mrs. Cheney, Liz, Mary, Phil, Heather, Elizabeth, Kate, Grace, Sam, Philip, Sarah, and Richard.

Thank them for sharing him with us. I'm Jonathan Reiner, and I was privileged to be the vice president's cardiologist. I will admit I'm not very good at letting go. But it can take a village to care for a complicated patient.

And I want to acknowledge the many doctors and nurses here with us today who took such magnificent care of the vice president. Over a span of 27 years, Vice President Cheney gifted me with his trust. And there's nothing more sacred between a doctor and their patient than trust.

I'm happy to report that I haven't given many eulogies.

(LAUGHTER)

REINER: No one wants a doctor who's great at funerals.

(LAUGHTER)

REINER: But I stand here this morning deeply honored to tell you about my remarkable patient Dick Cheney.

Twenty years before I met the vice president, his career in elected office almost ended before it began when he suffered a heart attack during his first campaign for Congress. He was only 37. What Dick Cheney didn't know at the time, because his doctors never told him, was that they thought it would be best for him to withdraw from the race, that, after the heart attack, a vigorous campaign might be too much for him.

They didn't know Dick Cheney, or, more likely, maybe they did know Dick Cheney and no one had the guts to tell him to quit. So after a period of rest, he told Wyoming's voters that he was up for the challenge. He said a little hard work never hurt anybody.

And later in the summer, he resumed his campaign, won that election, and then five more. For a man with very complex heart disease, the vice president was the easiest patient to care for. He was meticulously compliant with his prescribed treatment. As it pertained to his health, he lived by the motto, when in doubt, check it out.

He never allowed politics to influence his personal health care decisions. And not once in all my time as his doctor did he try to write or change a single word of a statement I issued.

There was only one time in my entire tenure with the vice president that he said no to a medical recommendation from me. It was on September 11, 2001. I had an appointment to see him that day at the White House for a schedule checkup. I don't typically make house calls, but, sometimes, I'm willing to make an exception.

[11:35:12]

(LAUGHTER)

REINER: In advance of the visit, my colleague Colonel Lou Hoffman (ph), the vice president's wonderful full-time White House doctor, had arranged for some routine blood tests. But before the tubes could be sent to the lab, our world changed.

Amazingly, even with the chaos and horror of that day, somehow, late in the afternoon, the blood samples found their way to a lab. In the early evening, while the vice president was on the move to an undisclosed location, Lou called to tell me that our patient's potassium level was dangerously, maybe even lethally high.

I thought that the result was probably erroneous, an artifact of the prolonged delay in processing the blood. But we needed to be sure. I was worried about him. I asked Lou if we could repeat the test right away, but the vice president firmly said: "No, not today."

I didn't think that was the day to argue with him. You might think that taking care of a public figure, particularly one who carried nuclear launch codes, could be a bit intimidating, but the vice president was an unassuming man. His calls to me, even when originating from the White House, always began in the same modest way: "Hi, John. It's Dick Cheney."

Prior to the 2000 election, one of my young cardiology fellows who somehow had never heard of Dick Cheney asked the soon-to-be vice president of the United States what he did for a living.

(LAUGHTER)

REINER: The soon-to-be vice president answered: "Government work."

(LAUGHTER)

REINER: He was also very grateful and very generous. Prior to taking office in 2001, the vice president And Mrs. Cheney quietly donated a large gift to George Washington University, which became the founding support for our Heart Institute, enabling us to provide defibrillators to churches in the poorest parts of the nation's capital and pacemakers to patients in the poorest parts of the world.

In his 2006 eulogy for President Ford, Vice President Cheney referred to his boss, the 38th president of the United States, as the still point in the turning wheel. It's a beautiful image derived from a passage in a T.S. Eliot poem. I remember hearing his words then and thinking how aptly the phrase described the vice president himself.

In all our time together, in moments of true existential risk for him, the vice president was always the calmest person in the room, including me. One evening in July 2010, as he laid literally dying in the cardiac surgical intensive care unit, I told the vice president that the mechanical heart assist device scheduled for the next day couldn't wait until morning. It would be too late.

He looked for a moment towards Ms. Cheney, Liz and Mary, and then said calmly: "OK, let's do it." That's all he said: "OK, let's do it."

Months later, as he recalled that night, he said that he thought he would probably die and he was at peace with it. The Latin word for heart is cor. It's also the source for the word courage. To have heart is to have courage. I don't think courage is necessarily the absence of fear.

Rather, it's the ability to persevere even in the presence of fear. Time and time again, that's what Vice President Cheney was able to do. His wasn't a false courage cloaked by a thin veneer of bravado, but, rather, a genuine fortitude in the face of true mortal peril.

He lived most of his life, adult life, chased by a relentless disease intent on killing him, but he never looked over his shoulder. He only looked ahead. The hospitalization to implant the ventricular assist device was long and complicated.

He was in the ICU for more than a month, but not for a single moment without his family watching over him. When I entered his ICU room on his sickest days, I would often find Mrs. Cheney at the base of the bed rubbing his feet.

Liz and Mary took turns sleeping in the hospital. He just barely survived. But the device ultimately enabled him to recover and last the 20 months until he was gifted with a new heart. Today, as we remember the vice president's life, I ask you also to think about the anonymous family who, in their time of terrible grief 13 years ago, donated the heart of someone they treasured to a stranger they would never know.

[11:40:02]

It was a blessing and an act of love, a gift that gave him many more summer afternoons on the Snake River with his fly rod and, most profoundly, precious time to watch his seven grandchildren grow up.

This was what was most important to Dick Cheney. At a recent birthday party, he told them: "I am so proud of all of you."

He was an American patriot and a man who loved his family. I was honored to be his doctor. It was an even greater honor to be his friend.

PETE WILLIAMS, FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS: As someone who grew up in the same town, Casper, went to the same high school and enjoyed the same wide open spaces, I can't think of anybody who better embodied Wyoming values than Dick Cheney.

He was comfortable in the saddle on horseback. He judged people by what they accomplished and what they stood for. He loved the state where he grew up and met Lynne. And Wyoming loved him back, electing him six times to the House of Representatives. He enjoyed the solitude of the Wyoming wilderness too, and was an expert at finding the best places to deploy a fly rod.

In fact, if you wanted his attention in the office and you saw that the Orvis catalog was open on his desk, you knew to come back some other time.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: For my 50th birthday, he offered to let me come with him for a day's fly-fishing in the Tetons. I told him that the best gift I could give in return was to respectfully decline, because I'm no fisherman, and I knew that if I spoke even 10 words all day, he would say I talk too much.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: When I was his press secretary, I once wrote a news release that contained the word bureaucrat. He crossed it out and substituted federal official.

As the son of a man who worked for the Agriculture Department, he respected people who chose to serve their country. Many Americans got their first look at Dick Cheney during the Gulf War, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. My office at the Pentagon was the place where letters made their first stop, and one in particular stands out in my memory.

A woman in Indiana wrote to say this: "During these difficult times for our country, it is reassuring to turn on the television and see someone in charge of our military who is plain-speaking, resolute and strong." And then she added: "I find these qualities to be very attractive."

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: "I'm not sure whether you're married, but if you're ever in Indianapolis, you can look me up."

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: I showed this letter to Secretary Cheney, and he took it home to brag about it.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: Shortly after Dick Cheney became secretary of defense, one of our senior policy officials had a request from me as the Pentagon spokesman.

A "New York Times" reporter wanted to know more about a new effort by the George H.W. Bush administration to reach a nuclear weapons agreement with the Soviet Union. The official sought permission to give "The Times" some background. I relayed the request to Secretary Cheney, who gave his OK, but he said: "Make absolutely sure our guy talks it over with the White House first to get a clear idea of what he can say."

The following Sunday morning, the paper revealed that the president would soon propose a new negotiating tactic. The problem was that the president planned to reveal that strategy in a speech on Monday, and he was none too pleased to see it spelled out beforehand.

[11:45:06]

I received a call at home on Sunday informing me that this official and I were to report to Secretary Cheney's office first thing Monday morning. We walked in and sat down, braced for the worst.

The secretary said: "I have got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?"

So I asked for the bad news.

He looked at us sternly and he said: "The bad news is that the president of the United States is very angry with you both."

And then I asked for the good news. And he said: "I only have to fire one of you."

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: I could tell he was joking. I'm not sure the senior official realized it.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: And then Secretary Cheney said: "It's OK,guys. I told the president it was my idea."

He could have told President Bush that it was our fault, but he took the blame and saved us from ourselves. When the boss that you serve cleans up after your mistakes, you can bet that inspires loyalty. And Dick Cheney demonstrated that kind of decency and concern for all the people who served him during his more than 40 years in public life.

In 1991, a magazine planned to run a story outing me. I knew it was coming, so I went up to his office and offered to resign. He wouldn't hear of it. And for several days after that article appeared, he would call me on the direct line to my desk at the Pentagon to ask how I was doing and to tell me to get on with the job.

Washington attracts ambitious people driven by a desire to serve their country, but many of those who become big names acquire staffers and then cast them aside as they rise in stature. Not Dick Cheney. Throughout his life, on his steady rise through the corridors of power, his circle of friends kept growing. He did not abandon those who helped him along the way.

And when George W. Bush chose him to be the vice presidential candidate in 2000, their first campaign stop together was Casper, a demonstration of Dick's loyalty to his home state. I don't think he was worried about locking up Wyoming's three electoral votes.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: Those of us fortunate to work for him knew that he had a sly sense of humor. He loved to tell a story about attending a political event when he ran for reelection as Wyoming's congressman.

He said he walked up to one old rancher, stuck out his hand, and said: "I'm Dick Cheney, I'm running for Congress, and I'd like to have your vote."

And the rancher replied: "You got it. That guy we got in there now is no damn good."

In my seven years of working for him in the Congress and at the Pentagon, I seldom came away from a meeting with him without thinking that I'd learned something about politics and government. Lynne captured that experience perfectly when she introduced him at the 2000 Republican Convention.

Here's what she said: "Conversations with Dick have a way of taking unexpected turns. Problems get redefined, and you find yourself thinking about things in new ways." And she added: "I cannot imagine the discussion that would not benefit from his presence."

Dick Cheney was a good and decent man. He loved his family and his home state. His highest aspiration with serving the country, and I'm so lucky and so deeply grateful that I was along for part of that ride.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Lynne, Liz and Mary and all the Cheney family, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate this chance to say a few words about a man I was proud to call my vice president and my friend.

[11:50:02]

Though not a happy assignment, I do consider it an easy one, because there was so much to like and admire about Dick Cheney. Dick was a stoical man, and I doubt he left his life with any complaints about the time given to him or its end.

He was also a grateful man, grateful, above all, for three loyal, loving women who shared in his journey. As I quickly discovered in 2000, when you choose one Cheney, you get four.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: His busy and purposeful life was an adventure they experienced together.

In a family so close, you dread the day when the circle is broken. Lynne and the girls, Heather, Phil, and all the grandchildren, he sure loved you all, and he was proud of his family.

I hope it helps to know that many people in this country share your sense of loss, and we're here today as your friends.

Twenty-five years ago, I had a big choice to make, a big job to fill. I 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. Dick Cheney and I went through the files name by name.

We talked over the various qualities I was looking for in a vice president, preparedness, mature judgment, rectitude, and loyalty. Above all, I wanted someone with the ability to step into the presidency without getting distracted by the ambition to seek it.

After weeks of these meetings, I began to have a thought I could not shake. I realized the best choice for the vice president was the man sitting right in front of me, and I told him that. At such a moment, most in this position would have jumped at the chance, but Dick stayed detached, and he analyzed it.

Before I made my decision, he insisted on giving me a complete rundown of all the reasons I should not choose him. He also heard one of my top advisers was against the choice, so Dick invited him to make the case. As he did so, he sat there unfazed and expressionless.

In the end, I trusted my judgment. I remember my dad's words when I told him what I was planning. He said: "Son, you couldn't pick a better man."

The way this all unfolded followed a pattern in Dick Cheney's life. Summing up his career a few years ago, he said: "A few breaks came my way and one job always led to another, in a life that's taken me far, to more places than I ever expected."

That was Dick's typically understated version of events, but there's a little more to the story. His abilities were self-evident without need of calculation or self-promotion. His talent and restraint exceeded his ego.

Even before the Cheney name reached the national stage, people always saw something in the man, solid, reliable, and rare. One of the first to really notice was Lynne Vincent.

She can recall a time in their college years when Dick, as he freely admitted, lacked direction and needed some straightening out. I think we had that in common. (LAUGHTER)

BUSH: That was Lynne's kind of project, and it did not take her long. He said many times that his life would have turned out a whole lot different if he had never met her. It may explain how, in just over a decade, a guy can go in from laying transmission lines outside Cheyenne to serving as chief of staff of the president of the United States.

In Dick's telling, those years working for Gerald Ford were special and formative. He cherished the association, and the high regard went both ways. In his memoir, President Ford described Dick's steadiness, his low-key style, and his absolute loyalty.

I know exactly what he meant. These are not traits easy to come by in Washington. Being calm, reticent, undramatic, and un -- untrustworthy are not everyone's formula for success in politics, but they were the Cheney way, and they worked.

I'm reminded of a renowned senator who once gave this advice to a junior colleague. "Perhaps," he said, "you could occasionally allow yourself the luxury of an unexpressed thought."

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: Dick Cheney was like that, sparing and measured with words.

In a profession that attracts talkers, he was a thinker and a listener. And when he did speak up, conveying thoughts in that even tone of voice, that orderly, unexcitable manner, you knew you were getting the best of a highly disciplined mind. No colleague, no legislator, no foreign leader who ever met Dick Cheney ever doubted that they were dealing with a serious man.

[11:55:19]

Of course, not every political counselor is cut out to be a political candidate, but Dick Cheney put himself through the test and never lost an election. In fact, it happens that he and I both ran for Congress in 1978. And let me just say, the Republican wave didn't reach West Texas that year.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: He told me a few times what it's like to campaign in Wyoming, lots of small gatherings and long drives. It's easy to imagine the impression that young Dick Cheney made when he was asking for the vote.

I wish more Americans got to know Dick Cheney the way the folks in Casper, Cody and Laramie got to know him, smart and polished, without airs, courteous and approachable, seeing everyone as an equal, a gentleman by nature and a true man of the West.

Dick was funny and easygoing in a style that his public image never caught up with, though we can all agree wasn't your standard-issue politician. If any voters came hoping for a kind word and a hug, they'd have to settle for the kind word.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: But you can't question the appeal of the only person from America's Mountain West ever elected to national office.

On that score, history should record that I chose my vice president not once, but twice. In 2004, he offered to step aside in case I wanted to replace him. I thought about it for a while, but after four years of seeing how he treated people, how he carried responsibility, how he handled pressure and took the hits, I arrived back at the conclusion that they do not come any better than Dick Cheney.

Colleagues from every chapter of his career will tell you that he lifted the standards of those around him just by being who he was, so focused and so capable. In our years in office together, on the quiet days and on the hardest ones, he was everything a president should expect in his second command.

In moments of testing, Dick Cheney was the model of concentration, alertness, and composure. His memoir was titled "My Time." His time produced an old breed of public servant, defined by their substance and character.

This was a vice president totally devoted to protecting the United States and its interests. There was never any agenda or angle beyond that. You did not know Dick Cheney unless you understood his greatest concerns and ambitions were for his country.

Across 40 years of service -- across 40 years, his service was consistent, faithful, and noble, all in all, not a bad showing for a career and a life, especially when you consider his sheer physical endurance. As Dr. Reiner pointed out, he became an authority on cardiovascular disease, and a marvel at what resourceful doctors and one very determined patient can accomplish.

Dick had faced down fears and hardships, but he really didn't speak about them. The reward was more of a life than he ever expected, including seven grandchildren to complete the picture. One of them, Richard, even asked his grandfather to attend kindergarten class for a show-and-tell.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: I wish I'd have been there.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: As a matter of fact, the teacher told Dick that was the most exciting show-and-tell since the morning a little girl brought her cow to class.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: That might have been among Dick's last moments in the spotlight. In his final years, he was content to go his way. At a rare public

appearance in 2022, he offered a kind of parting reflection. He said: "When you can look back on a lifetime in politics and government and what you value most are the friendships, then I guess you have done all right."

A lot of us know that feeling as we say an affectionate farewell to the 46th vice president of the United States. It's something to be cherished when a man of his caliber has been your colleague and friend.

The son of Wyoming, son of Marjorie and Richard Cheney of Casper, went far in this world and in our own lives left a very fine mark. We are grateful for his good life. We honor his service. And we pray that, somewhere up the trail, we will meet him again.