WASHINGTON — Services were held on Thursday for former Vice President Dick Cheney, attended by dignitaries from both sides of the aisle in a show of bipartisanship at Washington’s National Cathedral as they honored “a true man of the West.”

Cheney died on Nov. 4 due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease. He was 84.

Two former presidents attended the ceremony: Republican George W. Bush, who eulogized his former vice president; and Democrat Joe Biden, who once called Cheney “the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history.”

Bush and Biden and their wives sat in a row together, while former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris and Mike Pence chatted in their pew, with two other former Vice Presidents -- Al Gore and Dan Quayle -- sitting together behind them.

Cheney’s service was held in the cathedral where state funerals were held for presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

Neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President JD Vance attended the invitation-only service.

Bush called Cheney, a “true man of the West.”

“If any voters came looking for a kind word and a hug, they’d have to settle for the kind word,” Bush said. “He lifted the standards of those around him just by being who he was.

“You did not know Dick Cheney unless you understood his greatest concerns and his ambitions were for his country. Across 40 years, his service was consistent, faithful and noble.”

Liz Cheney said her father was “inspired to service” by a speech from former President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat.

“He knew that bonds of party must always yield to the single bond we share as Americans,” she said during her eulogy.

Dick Cheney was one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history.

He served during both Bush presidencies. Cheney was Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, leading the armed forces during the Persian Gulf War.

Richard Bruce Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Jan. 30, 1941, and grew up in Casper, Wyoming. He attended the University of Wyoming, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s.

His career in public service began in 1969 when he joined the Nixon administration, serving in several positions at the Cost of Living Council, at the Office of Economic Opportunity, and within the White House.

When Nixon resigned in August 1974, Cheney served on the transition team for incoming President Gerald Ford and was later named deputy assistant to the president.

In November 1975, he was named assistant to the president and White House chief of staff.

Cheney returned to Wyoming in 1977 and was elected to serve as the state’s lone congressman in the House of Representatives. He was re-elected five times and also served as chairman of the Republican Conference from 1981 to 1987.

He was elected as House minority whip the following year.

Cheney was in the White House on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. President George W. Bush was visiting an elementary school in Florida that day, so Cheney became the point man from Washington.

Cheney gave the order to authorize the shooting down of any more hijacked airliners in the event they were headed to the White House or the U.S. Capitol building.

Cheney said the attack made him a changed man, and he vowed to avenge the al Qaeda-orchestrated attacks.

“I feel very good about what we did,” he said in 2008. “If I was faced with those circumstances again, I’d do exactly the same thing.”

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