Fantastic to hear a new perspective! Of course I'm far too young to know about a Dick Cheney beyond the heartless personification of war-mongering chicken hawks he became in his elderly years.
It doesn't seem fair to give credit for a shift in perspective when something they previously decried happens to them or their family. Like McCain "heroically" returning from serious medical treatment to veto a bill that would've taken away the same privilege from millions of Americans, Cheney's own daughter's experience was needed to wake him up to the experience millions of other Americans have every day.
"Perhaps others ARE worthy of empathy, even if they differ from me" is a pretty sad realization for a man in his 70s to make - isn't that a developmental step we expect from 5-10 year olds?
Aug 6, 2022·edited Aug 6, 2022Liked by James Fallows
For me, the only way to think of Dick Cheney in anything resembling a charitable state of mind is to consider his life a tragedy. Starts off honorable (albeit misguided). The character flaw of ambition leads him to misuse a position of trust to manipulate a waif who could not think for himself. Finding himself empowered, the ambition grows with a desire to overmatch all those in whose service he once was, showing them all he has the steel to lead. He thus engages in heinous acts. He is overmatched by events and shown to be both cruel and ineffective. The bullying style he exemplified while in power itself empowers those who should be his allies to instead turn into enemies who attack his family. He flails about trying to protect his family when they act with the honor he long ago abandoned to his ambition. All that is left is the final heart attack and the curtain to close. The irony may be that only James Fallows is left to deliver the eulogy.
Mr. Fallows, this one hit me like a ton of bricks. Thank you. Most important, you made it clear that you weren't repeating what you heard - you were speaking of personal experience with Mr. Cheney, rendering a legitimacy to your words that few can match.
I call myself a "Gerald R Ford Republican" though GHW Bush was the last Republican I voted for. I turn 70 tomorrow, and though I've lived 40 minutes away for the past 4 years I just visited the GR Ford Museum for the first time last week. I grew up in West Michigan; my mother attended South High School, Ford's HS. I was working for Amway Corporation in Ada when Ford became president; two of his closest pals were the co-owners of Amway. I could go on, but you get the idea.
When I was nearing the end of my Ford Museum visit, sitting listening to the eulogies, I had tears streaming down my face. Ford & Carter became fast friends while campaigning opposite one another, and Carter's eulogy was what prompted the waterworks. Both men exemplified an era that we Americans have thrown to the pigs: a time when America chose men and women of integrity and character to be our leaders, instead of the grotesque carnival barkers we see in office today. The difference between then and now could not be more profound.
And so yes, it is encouraging, after his many sins during the Bush II years, for Dick Cheney to at least appear to be the same sort of man of character I remember Ford and Carter to be. Like you, I disagree with just about everything he and his daughter stand for, but I respect both for their principled stand against the most evil charlatan this nation has ever seen. So thanks again for this brief but moving personal reflection.
PS - your quote on young/old, liberal/conservative goes way back, and has passed through a number of iterations. I once referred to Churchill's alleged version when saying my life followed the opposite trajectory, which would seem to indicate that I have neither heart nor soul. So perhaps my 70's - and Cheney's 80's - will bring just a tiny glimpse of that wisdom that is supposed to come with age.
I agree with you although I have always been a left of center Democrat. Clearly I didn’t travel the path James describes. From what I have read Carter and Ford became friends when they flew together to Anwar Sadat’s funeral in 1981. Their wives also became friends and the Carters frequently visited the Fords home before Ford’s death.
I didn’t vote for Ford but I never believed he had made a deal with Nixon that he would pardon him if Nixon resigned. I remember what a relief it was when that pardon made the obsession with Nixon go away and we could move one and I was happy Ford had made that possible. However, I now think that pardon might have been a mistake given what Trump has gotten away with. On the other hand I am not sure it would have mattered because Trump has always gotten away with breaking the law and he knew today’s Republicans would be unlikely to stand up to him the way Republicans stood up to Nixon.
As for Cheney I can’t decide if he has really mellowed of if he has only spoken up because this has become personal.
Cheney is a complex figure. What Fallows writes here adds a very important, perhaps surprising, note to one's assessment of this important figure. I have to agree that, despite a clear willingness to be a maverick, Cheney's stances have often coincided nicely with his own self interests, whether that was "identifying" himself as a VP candidate or defending his daughters against attacks from other GOP figures. Nonetheless, given the extreme shortage of Republicans willing to criticize Trump in even the mildest terms, his current ad looks almost heroic by comparison. It certainly doesn't erase the shame of Abu Graib and Gitmo, but it is a brave gesture and a welcome bit of honesty regarding Trump's ongoing effort to cancel the election results. I hope (with limited optimism) that he may inspire a few others to speak out.
Yes, thanks. I agree on the mixed picture here. Dick Cheney can't change the record of the past 20+ years. But what he is doing right now is vastly better than remaining silent, or being actively complicit like so many in his party.
Thanks so much for this detailed and eloquent reply. On the Carter campaign we were going all-out to beat Gerald Ford, because every political campaign is by definition a zero-sum, win-or-lose operation. But what you say about the basic decency of both Carter and Ford rings true.
I must admit my first temptation when I saw Dick Cheney's comments on Trump was to dismiss them because like Jim Fallows, I have long considered his actions as Vice President to have been profoundly dangerous and corrosive to American democracy.
But I held off saying (or Tweeting) anything and after reading this piece, I'm glad I did.
Yes, coming to recognize both Liz and (all the more) Dick Cheney, for what they have decided to say and do — while remaining aware of what especially he has done as VP — is a challenge. But it matters that they both are taking these stands now.
I hope, but don't necessarily expect, that it would be an example to others.
Both Dick and Liz have shown greater political courage here than 90% of their fellow Republicans. If that's what it takes to salvage what is left of American democracy, it's a price worth paying, however loathsome I might find their other positions.
I think your piece also brought home the need for everybody to be less judgmental and act with a touch more grace and humility. Our system would be much healthier if we embraced your wisdom here.
thank you for sharing the personal flashbacks, so interesting!
Liz Cheney has the courage to stand up, and many intelligent, responsible GOP Members do not. At the precipice, where our country is at risk, VP Cheney is speaking out. Respect must be paid.
Legacy of a war hawk, why we were marching in 1968:
"War Hawk, in U.S. history, any of the expansionists primarily composed of young Southerners and Westerners elected to the U.S. Congress in 1810, whose territorial ambitions in the Northwest and Florida inspired them to agitate for war with Great Britain. The War Hawks, who included such future political leaders as Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, fiercely and aggressively resented American economic injuries and national humiliation during the Napoleonic Wars. They were further indignant over British encouragement of Indian hostilities toward settlers in the Northwest and hoped to use war with England to wrest Florida from Spain, Britain’s ally. The nationalistic fervour and anti-British sentiment whipped up by the War Hawks was a contributing cause to the War of 1812." Britannica
August 2, 2022: “Humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday.
- Humanity at "Doom's Doorstep" Says Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
"The Doomsday Clock, a symbol of "how close we are to destroying our world," remains at 100 seconds to midnight."
article: Top scientists responsible for the "Doomsday Clock" issued a stark warning Thursday about how close the world is to catastrophe due to the climate emergency, nuclear weapons, and "disruptive technologies in other domains."
"The Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to be done to ensure a safer and healthier planet."
Launched by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947 as a symbol for "how close we are to destroying our world," the clock remains at 100 seconds to midnight for the third year straight. The closer to midnight, the greater the risk of "civilization-ending apocalypse."
The clock is set each January by the bulletin's Science and Security Board (SASB) in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 13 Nobel laureates. They warned Thursday that humanity is "at doom's doorstep," which "is no place to loiter."
"100 seconds to midnight reflects the board's judgment that we are stuck in a perilous moment—one that brings neither stability nor security," said SASB co-chair and George Washington University professor Sharon Squassoni. "Positive developments in 2021 failed to counteract negative, long-term trends."
Rachel Bronson, the bulletin's president and CEO, made clear that the clock's current setting signals the need for immediate and globally coordinated action.
"The Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to be done to ensure a safer and healthier planet," she said. "We must continue to push the hands of the clock away from midnight."
I know the Doomsday Clock was developed to dramatize our risk from nuclear war, but it seems like we could also use a Climate Change version mapping the years and months until our atmosphere crosses certain dangerous thresholds.
Glad to see you quoting our friend Stuart Stevens, too.
As Liz Cheney said in a speech last month, she looks forward to the time when she can get back to *disagreeing* with Democrats. Ie, when the emergency of standing against Trumpism has passed.
Thank you! Many commented since trump and covid: we would love to wake up in the morning and have nothing happening on the political or news front, just boring old news would be just fine!
Hope you and your family are enjoying the summer and all the fun that it brings! There is nothing like fresh tomato, corn, a swim in the river, long nights looking at the stars. In so many ways, our world is blessed and we all wish for peace to come soon.
"I worked in 5 R. presidential campaigns. Wrote 8 books. Latest: 'It Was All A Lie.' Trumpism is threat to democracy. At
@ProjectLincoln
we’re fighting. Join us."
"Every Republican elected official I know - not a short list - pretty much agrees with Dick Cheney. Yet only a few will speak out. There is no gentle way to spin this: when the moment came, they put personal ambition over defending America. It will be their legacy."
I don't waste time and energy hating a lot of people, but this guy I truly despise, along with the rest of his neocon cohorts. But you make good points. If he apologized for his part in the Iraq debacle, maybe I could find it in my heart to forgive him. Maybe.
As for his daughter, I disagree with her on almost every issue, but she and Bennie Thompson have won my admiration and respect. For one brief moment in time, they have made Congress work in the way it always should and almost never does.
Thank you. Yes, this Jan 6 committee has been remarkable in its discipline, focus, and effectiveness. And, as you say, the decision by Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson to work together has been fundamental to that achievement.
How beautiful to look at the trajectory of a life and see it in its fullness, though I don't ever think I can forget the crew that led us into a disastrous and needless war. I, too, appreciate the perspective. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, it is difficult/impossible to say how this ledger "balances out." (See also: Robert McNamara, in his decades of work after the disaster of his time at the Pentagon and Vietnam. That is a big theme of Craig McNamara's powerful recent book about his father.)
Reading your post made me ask myself why I admire Dick Cheney for speaking out now about Trump, and why I couldn't seem to summon the same sort of feeling for Kirsten Gillibrand this morning when I heard about her toxic burn pit legislation passing in the Senate. I think the difference is seeing Cheney as a person of conviction, even though I've disagreed with so much he stands for, and Gillibrand mostly as an opportunist. I can't get past her lengthy stint as a tobacco lawyer.
Bill, thank you. People are complicated, and the paths are unpredictable. Good to see a turn / surprise in a positive direction, in the Cheney family's case.
I still *genuinely* do not understand why so many members of their party still live in craven thrall to the MAGA movement. In most cases the worst that could happen to them is losing their House or Senate seat. Most people in the country have been fired or have lost jobs at some point. (I certainly have.) You get over it. Why should they give up every shred of honor?
Rhetorical question: neither of us has run for office.
I remember reading about the Democrats who voted for Obama’s health care reform knowing they would almost surely lose their seats in the next election so I have not sympathy for those Republican cowards who know better but play along to protect their own political futures and incomes.
Yes, thank you — and those who voted for Clinton's budget bill back in the 1990s.
This is a failure of imagination on my part, but I really *can't* understand why so many of today's GOP officials seem so desperate to hold onto those jobs. None of them are going to go hungry if they lose a primary election.
Fantastic to hear a new perspective! Of course I'm far too young to know about a Dick Cheney beyond the heartless personification of war-mongering chicken hawks he became in his elderly years.
It doesn't seem fair to give credit for a shift in perspective when something they previously decried happens to them or their family. Like McCain "heroically" returning from serious medical treatment to veto a bill that would've taken away the same privilege from millions of Americans, Cheney's own daughter's experience was needed to wake him up to the experience millions of other Americans have every day.
"Perhaps others ARE worthy of empathy, even if they differ from me" is a pretty sad realization for a man in his 70s to make - isn't that a developmental step we expect from 5-10 year olds?
I understand. And all I can offer on the other side is: better late than never.
For me, the only way to think of Dick Cheney in anything resembling a charitable state of mind is to consider his life a tragedy. Starts off honorable (albeit misguided). The character flaw of ambition leads him to misuse a position of trust to manipulate a waif who could not think for himself. Finding himself empowered, the ambition grows with a desire to overmatch all those in whose service he once was, showing them all he has the steel to lead. He thus engages in heinous acts. He is overmatched by events and shown to be both cruel and ineffective. The bullying style he exemplified while in power itself empowers those who should be his allies to instead turn into enemies who attack his family. He flails about trying to protect his family when they act with the honor he long ago abandoned to his ambition. All that is left is the final heart attack and the curtain to close. The irony may be that only James Fallows is left to deliver the eulogy.
Very eloquently put. Thank you.
Mr. Fallows, this one hit me like a ton of bricks. Thank you. Most important, you made it clear that you weren't repeating what you heard - you were speaking of personal experience with Mr. Cheney, rendering a legitimacy to your words that few can match.
I call myself a "Gerald R Ford Republican" though GHW Bush was the last Republican I voted for. I turn 70 tomorrow, and though I've lived 40 minutes away for the past 4 years I just visited the GR Ford Museum for the first time last week. I grew up in West Michigan; my mother attended South High School, Ford's HS. I was working for Amway Corporation in Ada when Ford became president; two of his closest pals were the co-owners of Amway. I could go on, but you get the idea.
When I was nearing the end of my Ford Museum visit, sitting listening to the eulogies, I had tears streaming down my face. Ford & Carter became fast friends while campaigning opposite one another, and Carter's eulogy was what prompted the waterworks. Both men exemplified an era that we Americans have thrown to the pigs: a time when America chose men and women of integrity and character to be our leaders, instead of the grotesque carnival barkers we see in office today. The difference between then and now could not be more profound.
And so yes, it is encouraging, after his many sins during the Bush II years, for Dick Cheney to at least appear to be the same sort of man of character I remember Ford and Carter to be. Like you, I disagree with just about everything he and his daughter stand for, but I respect both for their principled stand against the most evil charlatan this nation has ever seen. So thanks again for this brief but moving personal reflection.
PS - your quote on young/old, liberal/conservative goes way back, and has passed through a number of iterations. I once referred to Churchill's alleged version when saying my life followed the opposite trajectory, which would seem to indicate that I have neither heart nor soul. So perhaps my 70's - and Cheney's 80's - will bring just a tiny glimpse of that wisdom that is supposed to come with age.
Love it!
I agree with you although I have always been a left of center Democrat. Clearly I didn’t travel the path James describes. From what I have read Carter and Ford became friends when they flew together to Anwar Sadat’s funeral in 1981. Their wives also became friends and the Carters frequently visited the Fords home before Ford’s death.
I didn’t vote for Ford but I never believed he had made a deal with Nixon that he would pardon him if Nixon resigned. I remember what a relief it was when that pardon made the obsession with Nixon go away and we could move one and I was happy Ford had made that possible. However, I now think that pardon might have been a mistake given what Trump has gotten away with. On the other hand I am not sure it would have mattered because Trump has always gotten away with breaking the law and he knew today’s Republicans would be unlikely to stand up to him the way Republicans stood up to Nixon.
As for Cheney I can’t decide if he has really mellowed of if he has only spoken up because this has become personal.
Cheney is a complex figure. What Fallows writes here adds a very important, perhaps surprising, note to one's assessment of this important figure. I have to agree that, despite a clear willingness to be a maverick, Cheney's stances have often coincided nicely with his own self interests, whether that was "identifying" himself as a VP candidate or defending his daughters against attacks from other GOP figures. Nonetheless, given the extreme shortage of Republicans willing to criticize Trump in even the mildest terms, his current ad looks almost heroic by comparison. It certainly doesn't erase the shame of Abu Graib and Gitmo, but it is a brave gesture and a welcome bit of honesty regarding Trump's ongoing effort to cancel the election results. I hope (with limited optimism) that he may inspire a few others to speak out.
Yes, thanks. I agree on the mixed picture here. Dick Cheney can't change the record of the past 20+ years. But what he is doing right now is vastly better than remaining silent, or being actively complicit like so many in his party.
Thanks so much for this detailed and eloquent reply. On the Carter campaign we were going all-out to beat Gerald Ford, because every political campaign is by definition a zero-sum, win-or-lose operation. But what you say about the basic decency of both Carter and Ford rings true.
I must admit my first temptation when I saw Dick Cheney's comments on Trump was to dismiss them because like Jim Fallows, I have long considered his actions as Vice President to have been profoundly dangerous and corrosive to American democracy.
But I held off saying (or Tweeting) anything and after reading this piece, I'm glad I did.
Thank you Marshall.
Yes, coming to recognize both Liz and (all the more) Dick Cheney, for what they have decided to say and do — while remaining aware of what especially he has done as VP — is a challenge. But it matters that they both are taking these stands now.
I hope, but don't necessarily expect, that it would be an example to others.
Both Dick and Liz have shown greater political courage here than 90% of their fellow Republicans. If that's what it takes to salvage what is left of American democracy, it's a price worth paying, however loathsome I might find their other positions.
I think your piece also brought home the need for everybody to be less judgmental and act with a touch more grace and humility. Our system would be much healthier if we embraced your wisdom here.
PS Congrats to you and Deb on the new grandchild!
thank you for sharing the personal flashbacks, so interesting!
Liz Cheney has the courage to stand up, and many intelligent, responsible GOP Members do not. At the precipice, where our country is at risk, VP Cheney is speaking out. Respect must be paid.
Legacy of a war hawk, why we were marching in 1968:
"War Hawk, in U.S. history, any of the expansionists primarily composed of young Southerners and Westerners elected to the U.S. Congress in 1810, whose territorial ambitions in the Northwest and Florida inspired them to agitate for war with Great Britain. The War Hawks, who included such future political leaders as Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, fiercely and aggressively resented American economic injuries and national humiliation during the Napoleonic Wars. They were further indignant over British encouragement of Indian hostilities toward settlers in the Northwest and hoped to use war with England to wrest Florida from Spain, Britain’s ally. The nationalistic fervour and anti-British sentiment whipped up by the War Hawks was a contributing cause to the War of 1812." Britannica
August 2, 2022: “Humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday.
- Humanity at "Doom's Doorstep" Says Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
"The Doomsday Clock, a symbol of "how close we are to destroying our world," remains at 100 seconds to midnight."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/20/humanity-dooms-doorstep-says-bulletin-atomic-scientists
JESSICA CORBETT
January 20, 2022
article: Top scientists responsible for the "Doomsday Clock" issued a stark warning Thursday about how close the world is to catastrophe due to the climate emergency, nuclear weapons, and "disruptive technologies in other domains."
"The Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to be done to ensure a safer and healthier planet."
Launched by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947 as a symbol for "how close we are to destroying our world," the clock remains at 100 seconds to midnight for the third year straight. The closer to midnight, the greater the risk of "civilization-ending apocalypse."
The clock is set each January by the bulletin's Science and Security Board (SASB) in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 13 Nobel laureates. They warned Thursday that humanity is "at doom's doorstep," which "is no place to loiter."
"100 seconds to midnight reflects the board's judgment that we are stuck in a perilous moment—one that brings neither stability nor security," said SASB co-chair and George Washington University professor Sharon Squassoni. "Positive developments in 2021 failed to counteract negative, long-term trends."
Rachel Bronson, the bulletin's president and CEO, made clear that the clock's current setting signals the need for immediate and globally coordinated action.
"The Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to be done to ensure a safer and healthier planet," she said. "We must continue to push the hands of the clock away from midnight."
I know the Doomsday Clock was developed to dramatize our risk from nuclear war, but it seems like we could also use a Climate Change version mapping the years and months until our atmosphere crosses certain dangerous thresholds.
Thank you Diana!
Glad to see you quoting our friend Stuart Stevens, too.
As Liz Cheney said in a speech last month, she looks forward to the time when she can get back to *disagreeing* with Democrats. Ie, when the emergency of standing against Trumpism has passed.
Thank you! Many commented since trump and covid: we would love to wake up in the morning and have nothing happening on the political or news front, just boring old news would be just fine!
Hope you and your family are enjoying the summer and all the fun that it brings! There is nothing like fresh tomato, corn, a swim in the river, long nights looking at the stars. In so many ways, our world is blessed and we all wish for peace to come soon.
stuart stevens
@stuartpstevens twitter
"I worked in 5 R. presidential campaigns. Wrote 8 books. Latest: 'It Was All A Lie.' Trumpism is threat to democracy. At
@ProjectLincoln
we’re fighting. Join us."
"Every Republican elected official I know - not a short list - pretty much agrees with Dick Cheney. Yet only a few will speak out. There is no gentle way to spin this: when the moment came, they put personal ambition over defending America. It will be their legacy."
I don't waste time and energy hating a lot of people, but this guy I truly despise, along with the rest of his neocon cohorts. But you make good points. If he apologized for his part in the Iraq debacle, maybe I could find it in my heart to forgive him. Maybe.
As for his daughter, I disagree with her on almost every issue, but she and Bennie Thompson have won my admiration and respect. For one brief moment in time, they have made Congress work in the way it always should and almost never does.
Thank you. Yes, this Jan 6 committee has been remarkable in its discipline, focus, and effectiveness. And, as you say, the decision by Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson to work together has been fundamental to that achievement.
How beautiful to look at the trajectory of a life and see it in its fullness, though I don't ever think I can forget the crew that led us into a disastrous and needless war. I, too, appreciate the perspective. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, it is difficult/impossible to say how this ledger "balances out." (See also: Robert McNamara, in his decades of work after the disaster of his time at the Pentagon and Vietnam. That is a big theme of Craig McNamara's powerful recent book about his father.)
But at least he (Cheney) is saying something now.
This post gives me a new perspective on Dick Cheney. Thank you.
Thanks for reading.
You're welcome.
Reading your post made me ask myself why I admire Dick Cheney for speaking out now about Trump, and why I couldn't seem to summon the same sort of feeling for Kirsten Gillibrand this morning when I heard about her toxic burn pit legislation passing in the Senate. I think the difference is seeing Cheney as a person of conviction, even though I've disagreed with so much he stands for, and Gillibrand mostly as an opportunist. I can't get past her lengthy stint as a tobacco lawyer.
Thanks for the reminder of life's passages, Jim. You have it over Gail Sheehy. And for the new way to look at the man.
Bill, thank you. People are complicated, and the paths are unpredictable. Good to see a turn / surprise in a positive direction, in the Cheney family's case.
I still *genuinely* do not understand why so many members of their party still live in craven thrall to the MAGA movement. In most cases the worst that could happen to them is losing their House or Senate seat. Most people in the country have been fired or have lost jobs at some point. (I certainly have.) You get over it. Why should they give up every shred of honor?
Rhetorical question: neither of us has run for office.
I remember reading about the Democrats who voted for Obama’s health care reform knowing they would almost surely lose their seats in the next election so I have not sympathy for those Republican cowards who know better but play along to protect their own political futures and incomes.
Yes, thank you — and those who voted for Clinton's budget bill back in the 1990s.
This is a failure of imagination on my part, but I really *can't* understand why so many of today's GOP officials seem so desperate to hold onto those jobs. None of them are going to go hungry if they lose a primary election.
This is a fabulous piece. One of your best. Dan
Dan, thank you so much.