Dick Cheney in the context of "Vice presidency of Al Gore"

The Kennedy Center Honors are annual honors given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in a gala celebrating five Honorees in the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C. While the awards are primarily given to individuals, they have occasionally been given to duos or musical groups, as well as to one Broadway musical, one television show, and one performing arts venue.

Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, businessman, and naval officer who served as the 13th United States secretary of defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and again as the 21st secretary of defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He was both the youngest and the oldest secretary of defense. Additionally, Rumsfeld was a four-term U.S. Congressman from Illinois (1963–1969), director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (1969–1970), counselor to the president (1969–1973), the U.S. Representative to NATO (1973–1974), and the White House chief of staff (1974–1975). Between his terms as secretary of defense, he served as the CEO and chairman of several companies.

Born in Chicago, Rumsfeld attended Princeton University, graduating in 1954 with a degree in political science. After serving in the Navy for three years, he mounted a campaign for Congress in Illinois's 13th Congressional District, winning in 1962 at the age of 30. Rumsfeld accepted an appointment by President Richard Nixon to head the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1969; appointed counsellor by Nixon and entitled to Cabinet-level status, he also headed up the Economic Stabilization Program before being appointed ambassador to NATO. Called back to Washington in August 1974, Rumsfeld was appointed chief of staff by President Ford. Rumsfeld recruited a young one-time staffer of his, Dick Cheney, to succeed him when Ford nominated him to be secretary of defense in 1975. When Ford lost the 1976 election, Rumsfeld returned to private business and financial life, and was named president and CEO of the pharmaceutical corporation G. D. Searle & Company. He was later named CEO of General Instrument from 1990 to 1993 and chairman of Gilead Sciences from 1997 to 2001.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 2000. The Republican ticket of Texas governor George W. Bush—the eldest son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush—and former secretary of defense Dick Cheney very narrowly defeated the Democratic ticket of incumbent vice president Al Gore and Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman. It was the fourth of five U.S. presidential elections, and the first since 1888, in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote, and is considered one of the closest U.S. presidential elections in history, with long-standing controversy about the result.

Incumbent Democratic president Bill Clinton was ineligible to seek a third term because of term limits established by the 22nd Amendment. Incumbent vice president Gore easily secured the Democratic nomination, defeating former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley in the primaries. He selected Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate. Bush was seen as the early favorite for the Republican nomination, and after a contentious primary battle with Arizona senator John McCain and others, he secured the nomination by Super Tuesday. He selected former secretary of defense Dick Cheney as his running mate.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, sometimes referred to as the Quad is a grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States that is maintained by talks between member countries. The Australian government states that the aim of the partnership is to support 'a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient'.

The grouping follows the "Tsunami Core Group" and its "new type of diplomacy" developed in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. It was initiated in 2007 by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with the support of Australian prime minister John Howard, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. vice president Dick Cheney. The dialogue was paralleled by joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale, titled Exercise Malabar. The diplomatic and military arrangement was widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power.

The first inauguration of George W. Bush as the 43rd president of the United States took place on Saturday, January 20, 2001, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 54th inauguration and marked the commencement of the first term of George W. Bush as president and Dick Cheney as vice president. Chief Justice William Rehnquist administered the presidential oath of office at 12:01 p.m., after he administered the vice presidential oath of office as well. An estimated 300,000 people attended the swearing-in ceremony. This was the first presidential inauguration to take place in the 21st century, and the first in the 3rd millennium.

Weather conditions for 12 noon at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, located 3.1 miles from the ceremony, were: 36 °F (2 °C), wind 12 mph, and cloudy.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican president George W. Bush and his running mate, incumbent vice president Dick Cheney, were elected to a second term. They narrowly defeated the Democratic ticket of Massachusetts senator John Kerry and North Carolina senator John Edwards.

Bush and Cheney were renominated by their party with no difficulty. Meanwhile, the Democrats engaged in a competitive primary. Kerry emerged as the early front-runner but was faced with serious opposition by former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who briefly surged ahead of Kerry in the polls. Kerry won the first set of primaries in January and re-emerged as the front-runner, and Dean dropped out in February. Kerry clinched his party's nomination in March after a series of primary victories over runner-up Edwards, whom he ultimately selected to be his running mate.

Lynne Ann Cheney (/ˈtʃeɪni/ CHAY-nee; née Vincent; born August 14, 1941) is an American author, scholar, former talk show host, and the widow of Dick Cheney, the 46th vice president of the United States. She served as the second lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 when her husband was vice president.

The presidential transition of George W. Bush took place following the 2000 United States presidential election. It started after Bush was declared the victor of the election on December 12, 2000, when the Bush v. Gore decision by the Supreme Court halted the election recount in Florida, making Bush the victor in that state. The decision delivered him the state's 25 electoral votes, thus giving him a total of 271 electoral votes. This was one more vote than the 270 needed to win the presidency outright, making him president-elect.

Due to the recount effort and litigation between Bush and his presidential opponent Al Gore leaving the outcome of the election unclear until December 12, 2000, Bush's official transition was abbreviated, at just 39 days. The transition was chaired by vice president-elect Dick Cheney.