Lynne Cheney facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lynne Cheney
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Official portrait, 2005
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| Second Lady of the United States | |
| In role January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009 |
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| Vice President | Dick Cheney |
| Preceded by | Tipper Gore |
| Succeeded by | Jill Biden |
| Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities | |
| In office May 21, 1986 – January 20, 1993 |
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| President | Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | John Agresto (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Jerry L. Martin (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Lynne Ann Vincent
August 14, 1941 Casper, Wyoming, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Education | Colorado College (BA) University of Colorado Boulder (MA) University of Wisconsin–Madison (PhD) |
Lynne Ann Cheney (born August 14, 1941) is an American author, scholar, and former television host. She is best known for being the Second Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. This was when her husband, Dick Cheney, served as Vice President.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Lynne Ann Vincent was born on August 14, 1941, in Casper, Wyoming. Her mother, Edna Lolita, worked as a deputy sheriff. Her father, Wayne Edwin Vincent, was an engineer. Lynne grew up in the Presbyterian faith. After marrying Dick Cheney, she became Methodist.
Cheney earned her first college degree, a Bachelor of Arts in English literature, from Colorado College. She then went on to get a Master of Arts degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Later, she completed her education with a PhD in 19th-century British literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her PhD paper was about the poet Matthew Arnold.
Career and Public Service
From 1986 to 1993, Lynne Cheney led the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). This is a government group that supports projects in the humanities, like history and literature.
In 1995, she started a group called the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. This group works to improve higher education. She also became a senior expert at the American Enterprise Institute, which is a research organization. From 1995 to 1998, Cheney was a co-host on the Sunday show Crossfire on CNN.
Before her husband became Vice President, she was on the board of directors for Lockheed Corporation. This is a large aerospace company. She left this position in 2001. In 2000, some people thought she might be chosen as the Republican candidate for Vice President. However, her husband, Dick Cheney, was chosen instead.
National History Standards
In the early 1990s, while leading the NEH, Lynne Cheney wanted to create national history standards for high school students. These standards would help guide what students learned about history.
However, when she saw the first draft of these standards in 1994, she was very concerned. She wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal titled The End of History. In this article, she strongly criticized the proposed standards. Her comments caused a big discussion. She wrote another article on the topic in 2015. Her views on these standards are still talked about today in discussions about how history is taught.
Later Public Life
Lynne Cheney has spoken out about different topics. She has also publicly supported same-sex marriage. Her daughter Mary Cheney is openly lesbian. Both Lynne Cheney and her husband, Dick Cheney, have shared their support for same-sex marriage.
Family Life
Lynne Vincent married Richard Cheney in 1964. They have two daughters: Elizabeth Cheney (born in 1966) and Mary Cheney (born in 1969). They also have seven grandchildren. Lynne Cheney has one brother, Mark Vincent, who lives in Wyoming.
Wyoming U.S. Senate Seat
In 2007, after Senator Craig L. Thomas from Wyoming passed away, Lynne Cheney was considered as a possible person to fill his Senate seat. A spokesperson said she was thinking about it, but she did not apply. In 2015, Cheney herself said she had thought about running for the seat. If she had won, she would have been the first former Second Lady to serve in the Senate since Muriel Humphrey in 1978.
Books Written by Lynne Cheney
Lynne Cheney has written or co-written many books, including both fiction and non-fiction.
Fiction Books
- Executive Privilege: A Washington Novel (1979)
- Sisters (1981)
- The Body Politic: A Novel (2000), written with Victor Gold
Non-fiction Books
- Kings of the Hill: Power and Personality in the House of Representatives (1983), co-written with her husband Dick Cheney.
- American Memory: A Report on the Humanities in the Nation's Public Schools (1987)
- Academic Freedom (1992)
- Telling the Truth: Why Our Country and Our Culture Have Stopped Making Sense—and What We Can Do About It (1995)
- Kings of the Hill: How Nine Powerful Men Changed the Course of American History (1996), a revised version of her 1983 book with Dick Cheney.
- America: A Patriotic Primer (2002)
- A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women (2003)
- When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots (2004)
- A Time for Freedom: What Happened When in America (2005)
- Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America (2006)
- Blue Skies, No Fences: A Memoir of Childhood and Family (2007)
- We the People: The Story of Our Constitution (2008)
- James Madison: A Life Reconsidered (2014)
- The Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation (2020)
