President George W. Bush and other prominent Republicans gathered Thursday morning to unveil a marble bust of Vice President Dick Cheney that will now hold a place in the U.S. Capitol.

The bust of the 46th Vice President of the United States will sit alongside 44 others in a collection in the Capitol, part of a tradition dating back 130 years. Bush and Vice President Joe Biden each gave speeches honoring Cheney at the unveiling ceremony, which was hosted by the U.S. Senate and took place in the Capitol Visitor Center’s Emancipation Hall.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) also delivered remarks, the latter speaking of Cheney’s "raw determination" and "fierce love of country."

"Through war and peace, he did all he could to keep this country safe," Ryan stated.

Bush, who rose to a standing ovation, delivered a speech punctuated by jokes and subsequent laughter from the audience.

"I’m somewhat reluctant to come back to Washington. Last year I showed up here, I was hanged in the White House. This time, I’ve returned to see my vice president getting busted in the Capitol," Bush joked, referring to his 2012 portrait unveiling.

The former president took a serious tone when applauding Cheney for his "selfless service to our country over the years." Bush called Cheney "a principled and trusted adviser on the most difficult issues facing our country," saying later that he could not have asked for a better vice president.

"People ask do I miss Washington, and the answer is not really," Bush told the crowd. "I do miss some things though. I miss saluting those who wear a uniform and I miss my friends. Dick Cheney is one of those friends."

Taking the podium after Bush, Biden thanked Cheney and his family for their "kindness" in the wake of the loss of his son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in May. Biden noted that the Cheneys contributed to a memorial for Biden’s late 46-year-old son.

"It’s the part of Washington you don’t see enough of," Biden said of their kindness.

"I can say without fear of contradiction there’s never been one single time of a harsh word [between Cheney and I] … not only to one another but about one another. That’s what I think is desperately missing today in Washington, D.C."

Biden noted that the two disagreed often on foreign and domestic policy matters but that he admired Cheney’s "steady and thoughtful" disposition.

"You have been a great asset to this country and the way you have personally conducted yourself is a model for anyone in high public office in this country," Biden concluded.

Cheney and his family unveiled the marble bust to applause before the former vice president delivered his own address. Cheney acknowledged the previous speakers and several people in the audience, including his wife, Lynn, and Justice Antonin Scalia, and spoke of how honored he was to serve under George W. Bush.

Cheney said that people who regard his marble likeness in the Capitol should know one thing: "Here was a believer in America, so fortunate in his life experiences, so blessed in his friends, and so grateful in all his days to have served as Vice President of the United States of America."

U.S. vice presidents have been immortalized by marble busts in the Capitol since 1885 when the Senate allowed for the commissioning and placement of the statues. Cheney’s bust was sculpted by William Behrends, who also constructed that of Spiro Agnew, vice president to Richard Nixon. Behrends is also working on a statue of former Vice President Al Gore.

"It may be somehow that I am easier to carve into stone," Cheney joked Thursday, noting the apparent delay in production of Gore’s bust.

All speakers at the ceremony noted Cheney’s long career in politics, which spanned five decades. Cheney represented Wyoming in the House for 10 years before serving as President George H.W. Bush’s secretary of defense and later being elected as vice president.