Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President

by Stephen F. Hayes

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During a forty-year career in politics, Vice President Dick Cheney has been involved in some of the most consequential decisions in recent American history. He was one of a few select advisers in the room when President Gerald Ford decided to declare an end to the Vietnam War. Nearly thirty years later, from the presidential bunker below the White House in the moments immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, he helped shape the response: America's global war on terror.

Yet for all of his influence, the world knows very little about Dick Cheney. The most powerful vice president in U.S. history has also been the most secretive and guarded of all public officials. "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole?" Cheney asked rhetorically in 2004. "It's a nice way to operate, actually."

Now, in Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President, New York Times bestselling author and Weekly Standard senior writer Stephen F. Hayes offers readers a groundbreaking view into the world of this most enigmatic man. Having had exclusive access to Cheney himself, Hayes draws upon hundreds of interviews with the vice president, his boyhood friends, political mentors, family members, reticent staffers, and senior Bush administration officials, to deliver a comprehensive portrait of one of the most important political figures in modern times.

The wide range of topics Hayes covers includes Cheney's withdrawal from Yale; his early run-ins with the law; the incident that almost got him blackballed from working in the Ford White House; his meteoric rise to congressional leadership; his opposition to removing Saddam Hussein from power after the first Gulf War; the solo, cross-country drive he took after leaving the Pentagon; his selection as Bush's running mate; his commanding performance on 9/11; the aggressive intelligence and interrogation measures he pushed in the aftermath of those attacks; the necessity of the Iraq War; the consequences of mistakes made during and after that war; and intelligence battles with the CIA and their lasting effects. With exhaustive reporting, Hayes shines a light into the shadows of the Bush administration and finds a very different Dick Cheney from the one America thinks it knows.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

Very Good Bio of Dick Cheney!, 2008-10-10
I read this book because I saw the documentary called "Cheney's Law" on PBS and was interested in learning more about Cheney.

This was a very good read in the life of Dick Cheney. How his life before meeting his wife was one of misdirection, and how Mrs. Cheney would be a huge influence on him to get his life together. Because of her, he went back to school to earn his BA and MA in Political Science, which created the interest which would propel him to be Vice President.

The book tells how he won a seat to congress and how his views would ferment into his view of a strong executive branch, that would form with the Presidency of George W. Bush. How he met Donald Rumsfeld and this friendship would create a dynamic duo that would change the face of Washington and the Presidency.

The book portrays Cheney as reluctant to take the VP slot, he was doing very well in the private sector and was reluctant to go back to Washington after the defeat of Bush in '92. GWB really wanted Cheney to be his VP, and kept involving Cheney in the campaign.

As VP, Cheney had suspicious view of the Media, which is why he hardly ever talks to them. He sees them has vultures who want to shred the next person and expose them as the next major headline. Also Cheney is very private person as well. He believes that the presidency should be able to do what it can to protect the American Republic, he views the laws that limited the presidency, such as the Church laws that restricted the CIA and laws that limited the presidency to 60 days of war before going to congress.

He believes the Presidency should be very limited with the interaction of congress. I did not get the impression that he wants a superior branch for the Executive, but a branch that has the authority and power to do what is needed to protect America, without getting bogged down by partisan wrangling in congress and partisan media bias, that may find actions by the president to be "harmful" to American interest.

He views the Media has done more damage to the Presidency and that Congress has created such a rift between the two branches that every action by the Executive Branch as suspicion. Since Watergate, the media has tried to bring down every president with scandal. Reagan with Iran Contra and Clinton with Monicagate and now Bush with "lying to the American people" ect.

These seem to be the reason why the Bush Administration is so secretive and why Cheney is rarely seen in public. But this is also the irony of the Administration, their philosophy of keeping things quiet have created a scandal all its own.

So this is a good book on the power behind the presidency of George W Bush and the rise of Dick Cheney.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

The True Story of a Great American!, 2008-08-03
Amazon's choice of TAGS for this book are absolutely appalling! I couldn't believe what I saw. This is shocking and disgraceful! My wife and I have been satisfied customers of Amazon, but now, we will NEVER order anything from Amazon again.

This is a very well written book that depicts the life of a man who has dedicated over 40 years of service to his fellow man. After reading this book, you will gain a better understanding of a complex man that has achieved a level of greatness in spite of being vilified by politicians, the news media and NOW AMAZON. Shameful!

Jere F Sumrall

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1 out of 5 stars

Cheney, the still untold story, 2008-01-31
This book appears to have been ghost written by Dick Cheney as it contains nothing but arguments always in support of his career despite the facts of his career. The author is no more than an apologist for Dick and should be ashamed of his cherry picking facts to suit his argument.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3 out of 5 stars

About what one would suspect, 2007-11-05
I suppose that when compared to other Vice President's books that Cheney is enthralling. The political scientists, who can tolerate some conservative bias, will be pleased. He is a mysterious man and this book illuminates some of our recent years with him.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

Suspected, But Never Certain, 2007-11-04
There were many things that I suspected about Cheney, but never really knew, until now. The book is easy reading and very informative. It is one of the rare instances

Yes, there are a few elephants in the room that are not addressed in depth, but at least they are referred to. In fact, in 20 years, they will be much less important than they seemed 5 and 10 years ago. Making this book somewhat of a glimpse into the future of how Cheney will be "remembered by history."

I wish more biographies were written this well, regardless of who the subject is.

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