Lynne Cheney
Lynne Cheney is co-host of from the right on CNN's
political debate program Crossfire Sunday. The program airs
on Sundays from 7:30-8:00 p.m. (ET). She is currently a senior
fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research (AEI), an independent, nonpartisan
organization sponsoring original research on domestic and
international economic policy, foreign and defense policy,
and social and political issues.
Prior to becoming a fellow at AEI, Cheney was Chairman
of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an
independent federal agency that supports education,
research, preservation and public programs in humanities.
As NEH Chairman from 1986 through 1992, Cheney managed
an organization of 250 people with an annual budget of $180
million. During her term of office, she expanded the
mission of the NEH, an agency traditionally focused on
supporting scholarly research, to include an emphasis on
excellent teaching both in elementary and secondary schools,
as well as in colleges and universities. She established
programs to provide intellectual renewal for school teachers
and to recognize and reward those in higher education who
have distinguished themselves through teaching. She
encouraged private funders, including business groups, to
become involved in school improvement. Cheney became a
nationwide spokeswoman for education reform, issuing six
major reports that deal with persistent problems in schools,
colleges, and universities.
Cheney's work at the NEH also emphasized the importance
of educational programs for the general public by funding
such notable museum exhibitions as "The Age of Marvelous"
and "Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries." Perhaps the
most famous public program supported by NEH during her
tenure was Ken Burns' highly regarded television series "The
Civil War."
Cheney's articles on education and culture have appeared
in The New York Times, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal,
The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and many
other publications.
Cheney has taught at several colleges and universities
and was a senior editor at Washingtonian magazine. She is
the author of two books; co-author of two others, including
Kings of the Hill which she wrote with her husband, former
Secretary of Defense, Richard Cheney.
Cheney serves on the boards of the Reader's Digest
Association, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, FPL Group,
Union Pacific Group Resources and IDS Mutual Fund Group.
She is also a board member of the Madison Center for
Educational Affairs and the Grand Teton Music Festival. She
is writing a book on the social impact of current trends in
the United States.
Cheney holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of
Wisconsin and a B.A. from the University of Colorado.