Dick Cheney, celebrated as a master Republican strategist but defined by the darkest chapters of America’s “war on terror”, was honoured on Thursday in a funeral attended by Washington’s elite that pointedly left out US President Donald Trump.
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Cheney’s career over half a decade reads like a catalogue of American statecraft, even as his long shadow over foreign policy – as defence secretary during the Gulf War and as the 46th vice-president under George W. Bush – still divides the country.
Bush and fellow former US president Joe Biden were among more than 1,000 guests at the Washington National Cathedral.
But Trump, who has not commented on Cheney’s death, and his vice-president J.D. Vance were not invited.
Every living former vice-president – Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle – was there, along with generals, foreign dignitaries and Supreme Court justices.
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“Vice-president Dick Cheney was an American patriot who served this country like very few in our history and I was always inspired by his quiet and steady leadership,” Pence told cable news network MS NOW outside the cathedral.