In Vice President Dick Cheney’s later years, former detractors sometimes expressed puzzlement about his political trajectory. The onetime designated villain of the Iraq War had somehow mutated into a hero of the anti-Trump constitutional resistance. Had he changed? Or had they misjudged him?

People do change. Perspectives can shift. But oftentimes the secret to later-life decisions is encoded in early experiences.

Richard Bruce Cheney arrived in Washington in 1968 as a 27-year-old congressional intern. Within seven years, he rose to become White House chief of staff.

That spectacular ascent owed much to Cheney’s talents and work ethic. It owed more to the catastrophes and traumas of Vietnam and Watergate. As more senior staff resigned in disgrace or faced indictment, the way lay open fo

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