Dick Cheney, powerful and polarizing U.S. vice-president to George W. Bush, dead at 84

Dick Cheney, the hard-charging conservative who became one of the most powerful and polarizing vice-presidents in U.S. history and a leading advocate for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has died at age 84.

Cheney died Monday night due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from his family.

"Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honour, love, kindness, and fly fishing," the statement said. "We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man."

The neoconservative's influence spanned nearly a half-century in Washington politics. After serving in various positions in Richard Nixon's administration, he eventually became chief of staff for Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford.

George W. Bush chose Cheney as his running mate in 2000, ahead of his two-term presidency. Bush expressed his condolences to Cheney's family on Tuesday, calling his death a "loss to the nation and a sorrow to his friends."

"Dick was a calm and steady presence in the White House amid great national challenges," Bush said. "I counted on him for his honest, forthright counsel, and he never failed to give his best. He held to his convictions and prioritized the freedom and security of the American people."

Cheney wasn't out of politics for long after Ford was defeated in the 1976 election, running for Congress out of Wyoming and serving in the U.S. House of Representatives for a decade, a period of time that overlapped with Republican Ronald Reagan's two terms as president.

Cheney was nominated to serve as defence secretary by Republican president George H.W. Bush in 1989. Cheney led the armed forces in a military operation in Panama that saw dictator Manuel Noreiga removed from office to face criminal charges in the U.S., as well as the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991, in which Iraqi troops were driven from Kuwait.

After spending much of the 1990s in the private sector, including as chief executive officer for multinational oil company Halliburton, Cheney was brought on as a presidential campaign adviser for Bush's son George W.

The younger Bush tasked him in April 2000 with overseeing his vice-presidential nominee selection team.

"Fortunately, there are many good candidates to chose from in our party," Cheney said at the time. "We will look at them all."

Cheney would ultimately recommend himself for the role, and Bush agreed, calling him a "man of great integrity and judgment and experience" who was "capable of being president." Bush brushed aside concerns about his 59-year-old running mate's history at the time of three heart attacks and a 1988 quadruple bypass operation.

Former vice-president John Nance Garner was attributed with demeaning the role as not worth a bucket, or pitcher — depending on the retelling — of warm spit.

In Cheney's time in office, the vice-presidency was no longer merely a ceremonial afterthought. Cheney made it a network of back channels from which to influence policy on Iraq, terrorism, presidential powers, energy and other cornerstones of a conservative agenda.