Mr Obama and Mr Cheney share a French ancestor

Cheney, Obama 'distant cousins'


They may be polar opposites politically but US Vice-President Dick Cheney and Democratic candidate Barack Obama are related, Mr Cheney's wife says.

Lynne Cheney said she had discovered while doing family research for a new book that her husband and the Illinois senator were eighth cousins.

She said she traced a common ancestor of the two men to be a 17th century immigrant from France.


"This is such an amazing American story that one ancestor... could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths."

According to Mrs Cheney's spokeswoman, Mr Obama is distantly related to Mareen Duvall, whose son Samuel married the granddaughter of Mr Cheney's ancestor, also called Richard Cheney.

Mr Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, responded to the news by saying: "Every family has a black sheep."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7048325.stm

Cheney is a very distant cousin of both Harry S. Truman and Barack Obama; the three share a common ancestor in Mareen Duvall, a Huguenot who fled from France to England in the 17th century and later settled in Maryland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney#Early_life_and_education