Dick Cheney, the 46th vice president of the United States, will speak at Cornell March 21 at 6:30 p.m. in Alice Statler Auditorium. His talk will be followed by a brief question-and-answer session. Doors open at 6 p.m.

The event is sponsored by the Cornell University College Republicans, an independent student organization, and by the Young America’s Foundation.

There is a waitlist for free tickets to Cheney’s talk. Email Austin McLaughlin for information.

Cheney’s political career began in 1969. He served in the Office of Economic Opportunity and in various other capacities during the first term of President Richard Nixon’s administration, after which he was President Gerald Ford’s White House chief of staff from 1975-77.

He was elected from Wyoming to the U.S. House of Representatives and served in Congress from 1978 to 1989, when he was appointed secretary of defense by President George H.W. Bush. He directed the U.S. invasion of Panama, the Persian Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm, and Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was chairman and CEO of Halliburton Corp. in the 1990s prior to running for vice president on a ticket with George W. Bush.

As vice president, Cheney had a hand in shaping the second Bush administration’s war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.