Later on, Cheney became the whip of the House of Representatives, soldiering on until Reagan stepped down and Bush took office. Having gone from Reagan's leading supporter to exchanging bitter criticisms with the former President—whom Reagan privately called a troublemaker—Cheney was suddenly appointed Secretary of Defense, and Charles became the future son-in-law of the Secretary of Defense overnight.
Although Charles hadn't officially married Liz yet, after Cheney became Secretary of Defense, based on the noble quality of appointing capable people without avoiding relatives, he decisively arranged for his future son-in-law and Yale alum to join the Office of Management and Budget under the Executive Office of the President of the United States, earning a salary without affecting his research at the think tank, and also secured a Pentagon contractor status for his future father-in-law's battery factory.