Former President George W. Bush gave a tribute at the funeral for his former Vice President Dick Cheney.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: 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. 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. 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. Lynn 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. 25 years ago, I had a big choice to make, a big job to fill. I want 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 advisors 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 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 Lynn Vincent. She can recall a time in her college years when Dick, as he freely admitted, lacked direction and needed some straightening out. I think we had that in common. That was Lynn’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 on 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 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. 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. Of course, not every political counselor is cut out to be a political candidate. But Dick Cheney put himself to 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. 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 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 he 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. 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 in 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, 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. Rainer 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 did not 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. I wish I had been there. As a matter of fact, the teacher told Dick that that was the most exciting show and tell since the morning a little girl brought her cow to class. 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’ve 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.

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