Richard B. Cheney is the penultimate death of an era that shaped American and global affairs from the Nixon administration, through the Reagan presidency and into the first decade of the 21st century.

Dick Cheney was in his late twenties when he took up a series of mid-level positions in the Nixon administration. His patron was Donald Rumsfeld, who became Gerald Ford’s chief of staff after Richard Nixon’s resignation. When Rumsfeld was appointed secretary of defence in October 1975, Cheney succeeded him as chief of staff, then only 34 years old. The two would become principal protagonists of the George W. Bush administration 25 years later, Cheney as vice-president and Rumsfeld back for a second tour at the Pentagon.

The late Nixon and Ford period included figures that would dominate Rep

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