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Book Review of Oath and Honor, A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney
Liz Cheney’s memoir, Of Oath and Honor, is an eye-opening account of the January 6 insurrection and her political families’ history. She details events prior to the storming of the capitol, her interactions with key Republicans who disappointed and lied to her, and the aftermath, her role on the January 6 Select Committee.
Cheney’s descriptions of her family relationships, their friendships and history in Wyoming, and her memories of visiting Washington landmarks with her father, Dick Cheney, ground the reader in her awareness and loyalty to the importance of the American democracy. She was clearly viewed as a hero by many and a villain by some of her fellow Republicans. Regardless of her reputation, she details the difficult decisions she, and a few of her colleagues, faced when they decided to hold Donald Trump accountable for an insurrection.
At the conclusion of her accounting of her work on the January 6 Select Committee, Cheney noted, “WE THE PEOPLE” are in exaggerated, large print on the original Constitution for a reason. The government was founded for the people and by the people to serve and protect the people, and the leader is to serve that end also.
At the end of Cheney’s book, she writes: On March 4, 1801, Margaret Bayard Smith, wife of the owner of one of Washington’s major newspapers, wrote this to her sister-in-law: “I have this morning witnessed one of the most interesting scenes a free people can ever witness. The changes of administration, which in every government and in every age have most generally been epochs of confusion, villainy, and bloodshed, in this our happy country take place without any species of distraction or disorder.”
Cheney also shared a statement her father, Dick Cheney read from Gerald Ford to Jimmy Carter, congratulating him on his Presidential victory: “As one who has been honored to serve the people of this great land—both in Congress and as President—I believe that we must now put the divisions of the campaign behind us and unite the country once again in the common pursuit of peace and prosperity.”
Throughout this memoir, Cheney refers not only to the evidence gathered by the January 6 Select Committee, but to her interactions with members of her party, Republicans, prior to and after the election, events in history demonstrating elected officials upholding their oaths, and descriptions of the various meetings and rooms in the Capitol that set the scene for the failed insurrection.
The details in Cheney’s book are chilling and she follows the evidence and the January 6 Select Committee’s mandate to inform future potential legislation. Eventually a Senate bill passed both houses of Congress. However, as Cheney said, “…we still faced a significant threat: a possible second Trump term as president.
I highly recommend this memoir, which, no doubt, will become an important account of unnecessary chaos in our country’s history. There is a link in the back matter with notes and documentation, including interviews and tapes from the Select Committee. We face a pivotal election in 2024. Voters should be informed.
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