Steamboat Springs — Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his oldest daughter, Liz Cheney, were announced Saturday morning as the keynote speakers for the fifth annual Freedom Conference in August.

A program of The Steamboat Institute, the Freedom Conference takes place Aug. 23 and 24 at The Steamboat Grand with the Cheneys speaking at the top of the Steamboat Ski Area gondola during the Aug. 23 dinner.

Rick Akin, vice chairman of The Steamboat Institute board of directors, said Saturday that the group has been working for years to secure an appearance from the 46th vice president of the United States.

The joint-speech format is going to be something a little different.

“Liz Cheney will essentially be interviewing her dad,” Akin explained. “It’s going to be a ‘torch is passed to a new generation’ kind of theme. I think people will find this very interesting — more interesting than just having the vice president by himself.”

Dick Cheney’s storied political career reaches back more than 30 years into U.S. government history.

He served as a U.S. congressman for his home state of Wyoming, White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford, secretary of defense for President George H. W. Bush and CEO of Halliburton Co. before he was asked to be George W. Bush’s running mate in 2000.

It’s Cheney’s experiences in Washington that Akin thinks will provide an inside view to the Freedom Conference audience.

“He’s been, as we’d say, in the belly of the beast,” Akin said. “He has insights you or I wouldn’t have. He has insights some of our speakers who are more academic don’t have. The idea is to give a real education in that area.”

Liz Cheney also has amassed significant political experience. An attorney and specialist on U.S. Middle East policy, she earned her undergraduate degree at Colorado College.

She most recently served as the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs and co-wrote her father’s memoirs. She is a regular contributor to Fox News.

Tickets are on sale for the Freedom Conference at http://www.steamboatinstute.org. The cost of the event is $250 per person for the two-day conference, with discounts for students and young professionals and add-ons for VIP tickets and reserved tables.

No individual tickets for the dinner will be sold, Akin said, and the event is capped at 300 people.

Several more speakers will be announced in the weeks before the annual conference, which in the past has hosted speakers including Karl Rove, Jonah Goldberg and a February 2012 dinner with Ann Coulter.

The Steamboat Institute aims to promote principles of limited government, including low taxes, fiscal responsibility, strong defense, free markets and individual rights and responsibilities.

“We’re extremely proud that The Steamboat Institute continues to attract some of the greatest conservative leaders of our generation,” founding board member and chairwoman Jennifer Schubert-Akin said in a news release. “We are looking forward to a robust exchange of ideas at our summer conference.”

To reach Nicole Inglis, call 970-871-4204 or email ninglis@ExploreSteamboat.com