Dick Cheney, who spent 40 years in Washington, expanded the vice presidency in unprecedented ways. He will retire in January.

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

WASHINGTON - Dick Cheney is not a man given to revealing his inner thoughts. But on an evening in April when Mr. Cheney, the 46th vice president of the United States, presided over a literary salon at his residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory here, he seemed in a reflective mood.
The featured author was Ian W. Toll, whose book, “Six Frigates,” chronicles the founding of the Navy. A collection of Washington luminaries, including former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, dined on salmon with pesto. As the evening wound down, the vice president offered a flash of introspection in quiet conversation with his guest of honor.
“He said that, when he was defense secretary, he felt he was presiding over a ‘huge grinding machine that was here before me and will be here after I’m gone,’ said Mr. Toll, who was so struck by Mr. Cheney’s remark that he wrote it down. “There was almost something wistful about it, a sense that even in this day and age, no one, not even someone who’s had a career like that of Vice President Cheney, can really hope to fundamentally reshape our institutions.”
Mr. Cheney has, of course, fundamentally reshaped at least one American institution: the vice presidency. Fueled by a belief in a strong presidency and American hegemony, and with the help of a president, George W. Bush, who gave him an extraordinarily free hand, he has stretched the limits of the job in ways his predecessors could not have imagined.
On January 20, 2009, the 67-year-old vice president will have a new job description: retired. As Mr. Cheney prepares to make the transition to private citizen, a portrait is emerging of a man who is unapologetic, even defiant, but also thinking about his legacy and perhaps confronting the limits of his own power.
Historians will debate Mr. Cheney for decades. Critics say he has set a dangerous precedent.
After years of insisting he would not write a book, the vice president is considering a memoir. Those close to Mr. Cheney said that if he did write a book, it would be with history in mind . Mr. Cheney, a former White House chief of staff, Wyoming congressman, defense secretary and energy executive before taking his current job, is aware that future historians will need his version of events.
At a National Press Club luncheon here in June, Mr. Cheney looked back on his tenure with an openness that seemed unusual for a man who does so much in secret.
“My job as vice president is as an adviser, Mr. Cheney said. He spoke of “the understandings he reached with President Bush, that this would be no ordinary vice presidency.
“And he’s been absolutely true to his commitment to me, Mr. Cheney said, “which was I’d have an opportunity to be a major participant in the process, to be part of his government, to get involved in whatever issues I wanted to get involved in.”
Critics and even admirers of Mr. Cheney imagine him using his final days in office to seal his policies in place, though his aides insist no such effort is under way.
“My guess is that he’s been able to put things into motion in the executive branch that transcend the next administration,’’ said Representative Adam H. Putnam of Florida, chairman of the House Republican Conference.
If Mr. Cheney has specific post-vice presidential plans, he has not shared them, though he and his wife are building a new home in the Virginia suburb of McLean, to be close to their daughters and grandchildren.
“What he may miss, of course, is the ability to engage in the important issues of the day at the top levels,” said David Gribbin, a longtime friend and adviser. “But you know, he’s been doing this for 40 years. He has this makeup where when he stops doing something, he can just stop doing it .”