 Sheet
23Biographic overview of Dick Cheney who
was the keynote speaker at the banquet |
DICK CHENEY
Former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney is currently a
Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) hi Washington,
D.C.. In addition to his work at AEI, he is lecturing across the country
on a variety of issues and serving as a member of the Board of Directors
of a number of companies.
Mr. Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska and grew up
in Casper, Wyoming where he graduated from Natrona County High School in
1959. He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Wyoming and
spent two years as a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin.
Mr. Cheney's government service began with an
internship in the Wyoming State Legislature in 1965 and subsequent
service on the staff of Governor Warren Knowles and Congressman William
Steiger, R-Wisconsin.
In 1969, Mr. Cheney joined the Nixon Administration
and served in a number of positions at the Cost of Living Council, the
Office of Economic Opportunity and the White House. In 1973, he left the
government to become Vice President of Bradley, Woods and Company, an
investment advisory firm.
In August 1974, when Gerald R. Ford assumed the
Presidency, Mr. Cheney was invited to serve on the transition team and
later as Deputy Assistant to the President. In November 1975, he was
named Assistant to the President and White House Chief of Staff, a
position he held throughout the remainder of the Ford Administration.
Returning to his home state of Wyoming in 1977, Mr.
Cheney was elected to serve as the state's sole congressman in the U.S.
House of Representatives in 1978. He was re-elected five tunes. At the
end of his first term, his Republican colleagues selected him to serve
as Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. He subsequently was
elected unanimously to be Chairman of the Republican Conference and then
House Minority Whip, the second-ranking Republican leader. During his
career in the House, Mr. Cheney served on the Interior Committee, on the
Intelligence Committee, and as the ranking Republican on the Select
Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Deals with Iran.
In nearly four years as Secretary of Defense (March
17, 1989 to January 20, 1993) Dick Cheney was responsible for shaping
the future of the U.S. military in an age of profound and rapid change
in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere around the
world. He directed two of the nation's largest military campaigns in
recent history — Operation Just Cause in Panama in December 1989, and
Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, from August 1990 through most
of 1991. For his leadership in the Persian Gulf War, President Bush
awarded him the Medal of Freedom on July 3, 1991.
Mr. Cheney married Lynne Vincent of Casper on August
29, 1964. They have two daughters.
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