Former Vice President Dick Cheney did not begin his political career on Capitol Hill; it began in a jail cell in Rocksprings Wyoming.

“I was sleeping off a hangover in Rocksprings jail,” Cheney said. “I can smile about it now but at the time it suddenly dawned on me this was the second time in less than a year when I had found myself in similar circumstances … I really needed to clean my act up and see if I could make something of myself, so I did.”

Highlighting a political career that includes becoming the youngest chief-of-staff in U.S. history and serving as U.S. Vice President for two terms, Cheney found himself seated with his daughter, Elizabeth, in the Pantlind Ballroom at the Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids sharing memories of his political career, miles away from his past in Rocksprings.

In front of a select audience on Wednesday, Cheney and Elizabeth stopped in Grand Rapids as part of a national tour to share stories and promote his new biography, “In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir.” His daughter Elizabeth was the primary author for the memoir.

“It has been a tremendous blessing for me to work on this project with my Dad and not at all difficult to listen to his stories because he’s got so many and they are very interesting,” she said. “It gave me the excuse to probe and ask questions about things he had not wanted to talk about before.”

Some of the stories Cheney has been hesitant to address are examples of what has helped cast a dark shadow over his tenure in Washington. Cheney says he hopes these events and his autobiography will help dispel some of those notions.

“I also thought about it in terms of wanting to leave behind a historical account for my kids and grandkids,” Cheney said. “At 50 years from now if a child or one of my decedents were curious about how I spent my life they could find those things.”

Gleaves Whitney, director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies says people need to try to understand the human person who represents our country.

“So often we are tempted to turn our presidents and vice presidents into cardboard caricatures,” Whitney said. “The value of these book tours is they should help us see the human person behind the office and that helps us better evaluate their triumphs, their tragedies, their frustrations, their achievements.”

Cheney’s memoir is available for purchase online and at retail stores nationwide.

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