Heart attacks and hunting accidents: Five times Cheney became the story

Dick Cheney was a status-quo-defying, career politician who as US vice president sometimes made bigger headlines than his boss.

After his death at 84 on Tuesday, he will be remembered for his outsized influence in Washington, along with his ironclad conviction, willing to break with the president when he deemed it necessary.

Cheney’s unorthodox legacy as number two under former-President George W Bush, from 2001 to 2009, extends beyond the power that he wielded, however.

Having entered the political scene as a Yale dropout who blamed his exit on the realisation that “beer was one of the essentials of life”, as vice-president he once used an expletive at a colleague on the floor of the US Senate.

Below are just five of the moments from Cheney’s controversial yet remarkable career.

Cheney accidentally shot and injured 78-year-old Harry Whittington while the two were on a hunting trip on a friend’s ranch in south Texas in 2006.

Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said Cheney had turned around to shoot at a bird, unaware that Whittington was behind him, and that Whittington “got peppered pretty good”.

Whittington had a minor heart attack, and suffered injuries to his face, chest, and neck. He was released after spending multiple nights in the hospital.

Cheney initially did not make any statements about the incident, but he eventually faced intense pressure from politicians and the media.

He later admitted that “I’m the guy that pulled the trigger”.

The moment became fodder for late-night TV show hosts.

David Letterman said on his Late Show at the time: “Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction: It’s Dick Cheney.”

Cheney’s struggles with cardiac problems took on an otherwordly feel – and similarity to television show Homeland at one point.

In that series, the vice-president dies after terrorists hacked into his heart pacemaker and triggered the emission of a deadly electrical shock.

Cheney was a notorious chainsmoker who suffered many heart attacks and had a pacemaker implanted in his chest.

In 2007, he had the device modified so that foreign agents could not “hack into” it, Cheney’s doctor, Jonathan Reiner, told CNN.

“It seemed to me to be a bad idea for the vice president of the United States to have a device that maybe somebody … might be able to get into, hack into,” Reiner said.

The decision to change the device drew speculation from Homeland fans, who wonder what role the showed played in Cheney’s decision to go WiFi-free on his device.

After the attacks on 11 September 2001, Cheney was isolated from the president for a number of weeks – taken to an “undisclosed location” – in order to secure the succession if George W Bush was killed.

It was a tense moment in American history and a media-grabbing mystery where Cheney, the US second-in-command, might be sequestered.

Cheney’s hideaway was reportedly a “bunker-like” room under the Naval Observatory in Washington, behind a “massive steel door” at the end of a narrow hallway, according to the BBC’s US media partner CBS News.

From his hideout – wherever it was – he gave the extraordinary order to shoot down passenger jets thought to be hijacked if they headed towards the White House or the US Capitol building.

The post-9/11 sequestration was one of multiple trips Cheney took to “undisclosed” locations, feeding into the narrative that he was a wartime leader operating from the shadows.

In 2004, Bush supported passage of a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage nationwide.

But Cheney, whose daughter Mary is lesbian, spoke openly in support of gay marriage while on the campaign trail during Bush’s second run for president.

“Freedom means freedom for everyone,” Cheney said when asked about his stance at a rally in Mississippi.

His willingness to depart from Bush’s stance drew the ire of large swaths of their Republican party.

President of the conservative Family Research Council Tony Perkins issued a statement of disbelief and said: “We urge Vice-President Cheney to support President Bush and a constitutional amendment on marriage.”

The Supreme Court legalised gay marriage across the country in 2015.

The US Senate has a storied history and deeply entrenched traditions covering everything from where to stand or sit, to who talks when, and how.

But Cheney threw tradition to the wind when questioned about pay he received from Halliburton, his former employer and a defense contractor who made billions from the Iraq War.

In 2004, Cheney was on the Senate floor taking pictures with lawmakers when former Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy accused him of war profiteering.

Then-Vice-President Cheney snapped back with an expletive rarely if every heard on the Senate floor, and certainly not allowed.

Using profanity on the Senate floor is against the chamber’s rules, but Cheney reportedly avoided reprimand as the Senate was not in session.