As vice president to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney was serving his fourth Republican president, in addition to having been a strong congressional ally of President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. Born Richard Bruce Cheney on January 30, 1941, in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney grew up in Casper, Wyoming, where his father, Richard, worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cheney enjoyed hunting and fishing, captained his high school football team, and excelled academically. He did not fare so well when he went to college at Yale University. Feeling uncomfortable in New England, he left during his sophomore year and returned home.

Cheney worked for two years as a lineman for an electrical company before continuing college in 1963, this time at the University of Wyoming. He was partly motivated to return to school to keep up with his sweetheart, Lynne Vincent, who was showing great promise as a...