Matt Schiavenza From the Dragon to the Apple- A Sinophile in New York

Who Is It?

In the photo above you see a middle-aged man, dressed in a suit, very much enjoying driving a bumper car. At first glance, you might guess he was an attorney, or a middle manager, or possibly a nebbish accountant. Judging by his expression, you'd assume this man had a sense of humor and was not so serious that he couldn't enjoy an activity ordinarily reserved for children. To me, the man in the photo seems eminently likable.

In fact, this man was no attorney, accountant, or middle manager. He actually had a position of great influence in the U.S government: the chief of staff for a sitting U.S. President. At the time of this photo, the president was running for re-election, a race he would lose to a previously little-known governor of a small state.

The chief of staff, however, would remain active in politics. He would serve as a congressman from his home state, and fifteen years or so after this photo was taken he would become a cabinet member of another U.S. president, this time serving as secretary of defense. When this president lost his own bid for re-election, the man in the photo would enter the private sector, earning millions of dollars as the chairman of the board for a major international corporation. When a member of his party next became president, this man would assume a very powerful position within the new administration. So powerful, in fact, that over time many believed he was actually more powerful than the man he was supposed to be serving. To his political enemies, the man in the photo acquired a reputation as a dark, evil puppet master manipulating events from behind the scenes. He has in fact been blamed for much of the failure of his administration, and one can be certain that his historical reputation will not be kind.

Who, then, is the nice-looking man in the photo?

If you haven't guessed by now, he is current U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. The photo above was taken in 1976, when Cheney was campaigning for his boss, President Gerald Ford. The photo below was taken recently, and presents a striking contrast to the former:

Which image will be remembered best from the public? I don't think you'll have to think very hard to figure that question out.

Credit: Vanity Fair's slideshow of images from the Ford presidency.