Biographer Stephen Hayes '93 Discusses the 30 Hours He Spent Interviewing VP Dick Cheney

August 1, 2007

August 1, 2007, Greencastle, Ind. - "I think he's much more of a normal guy than average people would think," says Stephen F. Hayes of Dick Cheney. "I mean, he's easy to sort of sit across the room from and talk to. And he has regular conversations with you," adds Hayes, a 1993 graduate of DePauw University, who spent 30 hours interviewing the vice president for his new book, Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President.

In an interview on the FOX News program Hannity & Colmes, Hayes continued, "Now, he does have, I will say, you know, this sort of terse and clipped language that he uses when he gives interviews. He's totally comfortable in doing that, you know, even in an interview with somebody writing a biography of him. And he doesn't have the need, like most politicians, to fill sort of empty spaces. Most politicians, you ask them a question, they'll keep talking until you ask another one, as you guys know. But Cheney doesn't. He'll answer a question with one word and then sit there and look at you, which is sort of disarming."

Hayes, senior writer at the Weekly Standard, says "a combination of pestering and harassment" got Cheney to cooperate with him on the book.

A transcript of the entire interview can be found at the network's Web site.

"The book has virtues other than the portrait of Mr. Cheney," opines the New York Sun's Ira Stoll. "The account of the Valerie Plame- Joseph Wilson- I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby affair is remarkably clear-eyed and well told. Mr. Hayes has a fine eye for material on domestic policy as well, quoting a Democratic senator from Minnesota, Mark Dayton, as predicting, at the time of the passage of the Bush tax cuts, 'The tax base of the American government is being destroyed.' Federal revenues in the event reached new highs after the tax cuts. While generally friendly to Mr. Cheney, this account doesn't flinch from his unpopularity."

The complete review can be found at the Sun online.

Hayes tells ABC News, "Dick Cheney is not somebody who sits at the vice president's residence at night and scratches his head and thinks, 'Hmm, how can I go from 26 percent favorability to 37 percent favorability?'" Hayes is quoted in a story todaywhich examines the recent flurry of media attention the vice president has received, including Hayes' authorized biography and an interview with TV's Larry King.

Learn more about Stephen Hayes and Cheney in this previous story.

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