Dennis Hastert, the former U.S. House speaker whose lengthy congressional career ended years before a criminal case exposed his sexual abuse of teenage boys while he was a high school wrestling coach, has died at 84.
Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell said Hastert died of natural causes at his Illinois home over the weekend. No additional details about his death were disclosed.
Hastert represented Illinois in Congress for two decades and served as House speaker from 1999 until 2007, becoming the longest-serving Republican to hold the position. His political record included years at the center of Republican congressional power during the presidency of George W. Bush, but his public legacy was ultimately transformed by a federal criminal investigation that began after he left office.
Born in Aurora, Illinois, in 1942, Hastert studied economics at Wheaton College and later earned a teaching degree from Northern Illinois University. Before entering politics, he spent 16 years as a teacher and wrestling coach in Illinois. He was named Illinois Coach of the Year in 1976.
He later served in the Illinois legislature before winning election to the U.S. House from Illinois’ 14th Congressional District in 1986. Hastert entered Congress in 1987 and rose through the Republican leadership, becoming chief deputy whip in 1995.
His path to the speakership was unusual. After Newt Gingrich stepped down following the 1998 elections, Rep. Bob Livingston initially emerged as his likely successor but withdrew amid revelations about extramarital affairs. Hastert, who had not originally been the leading candidate, was subsequently chosen for the role and became known in Washington as the “accidental speaker.”
During his tenure, Hastert worked closely with the Bush administration and became associated with what came to be called the “Hastert Rule.” The informal Republican practice held that House leaders should generally avoid bringing legislation to the floor unless it had support from a majority of the majority party.
The approach became an important reference point in later debates over party discipline and congressional polarization.
After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2006 midterm elections, Hastert left the leadership and resigned from Congress in 2007.
Criminal case reshaped Hastert’s legacy
Years after his departure from Capitol Hill, federal investigators began examining Hastert’s banking activity. The FBI and Internal Revenue Service opened an investigation in 2013 over suspicions that he was structuring financial transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements.
A federal indictment followed in 2015, alleging that Hastert had structured cash withdrawals and made false statements to the FBI. He later pleaded guilty in connection with the banking violations.
The investigation revealed that the money was connected to payments to one of the people Hastert had sexually abused during his years as a wrestling coach. At his sentencing, Hastert acknowledged sexually abusing boys while working as a coach.
U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin described Hastert as a “serial child molester” and sentenced him in 2016 to 15 months in prison, imposed a $250,000 fine and ordered him to participate in a sex-offender treatment program. Hastert was not prosecuted for sex crimes because the applicable statutes of limitations had expired. He served 13 months in federal prison before his release in 2017.
His imprisonment made Hastert the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to serve a prison sentence, according to the reporting available for this article.
The case permanently changed how Hastert’s decades in public life were viewed. His career had taken him from a small-town Illinois classroom and wrestling mat to one of the most powerful offices in the federal government. But the disclosures surrounding his conviction ensured that his political achievements became inseparable from the abuse he admitted committing years before entering Congress.
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