Conservative historian Craig Shirley said Sunday on Newsmax that former Vice President Dick Cheney, who died last week at age 84, should be remembered for his lifetime of service, not just the Iraq War, a subject of harsh debates.
“Dick Cheney made mistakes, but ultimately he was acting in what he thought was the best interest of America,” Shirley told Newsmax, arguing that his actions came from a place of patriotism and fear in a post-9/11 America.
Shirley said Cheney’s legacy must be judged “by the totality of his life,” not through what he called “presentism,” or judging past decisions by today’s moral standards.
He noted that after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the nation was “really scared” and expected another major attack within months, creating conditions in which tough and sometimes flawed decisions were made.
He recalled his interviews with Cheney that he held while working on his books about former Presidents Ronald Reagan and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and said Cheney was “a good and decent man.”
Shirley noted that the office of vice president was viewed as insignificant or even tedious until the modern era.
He pointed out that Richard Johnson, who served under President Martin Van Buren, was reportedly so bored in the role that he returned to Kentucky to manage an inn.
Likewise, John Nance Garner, who served as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first vice president, famously dismissed the position as “not worth a bucket of warm spit,” said Shirley.
It wasn’t until Walter Mondale served under President Jimmy Carter, Shirley said, that the office gained true executive authority.
Mondale was the first vice president to take an office inside the White House, marking a turning point that made the role far more influential in policy and governance than it had ever been.
But, said Shirley, “with the expansion of power comes mistakes.”
But Cheney’s intentions, he stressed, were guided by what he believed was best for the nation’s security at a perilous time.
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