The Dick Cheney you don’t know

From the start, of course, the two men were contrasting personalities. On long trips, Cheney would always take with him a green duffle bag filled with books—nonfiction histories and biographies being his preference. The bag was “his version of the [nuclear] football” as a former aide put it. Cheney would be perfectly comfortable taking out a thick tome—now he can upload one on his kindle, a gift from his daughter—and read in blissful silence. These days he might also preoccupy himself with his IPod, loaded with country and western songs or classical music—another opportunity for solitude.

Bush, by contrast, took advantage of long flights to walk the corridors of Air Force One, dressed in a T- shirt and running pants, amiably exchanging gossip, trading quips, or shooting the breeze with anyone who caught his attention. The former president enjoys having a retinue of aides and advisors around him; there is a large legacy-building operation currently in place. Cheney seems more comfortable with a small inner circle, dominated by his wife, Lynne, and their two daughters. He is known to be the cook of the family, who has often prepared the family’s meals.

The key to understanding Dick Cheney, it is often said, is to know the Cheney women. Mrs. Cheney, an accomplished writer and former political commentator who met her husband in high school, is a fierce protector of his interests, at least as she sees them. The word “formidable” in its many iterations is frequently used to describe her. The Cheney daughters, too, are political forces in their own right. Liz has become a frequent guest on Fox News, opining on national security and terrorism with a bite every bit as sharp as her father’s. Mary recently has joined a group of former Bush administration communicators and strategists seeking to influence the political landscape. The Cheney women long have helped try to defend him from attacks, and were known to have no reservations about offering generous input on his media strategy and speeches.