Former Republican House Speaker Dead at 84

Dennis Hastert, the former Illinois congressman who became the longest-serving Republican speaker of the U.S. House before a stunning criminal scandal shattered his reputation years after leaving Washington, has died.

He was 84.

Hastert died Saturday at his home in Plano, Illinois, while receiving hospice care, according to the Kendall County Coroner’s Office. His death was attributed to natural causes.

For nearly two decades, Hastert was a major figure in Republican politics and eventually rose to one of the most powerful positions in the federal government.

He represented Illinois in the House from 1987 until 2007 and served as speaker from January 1999 through January 2007.

His eight years holding the gavel made him the longest-serving Republican House speaker in American history at the time.

Hastert’s path to the speakership was an unlikely one.

Republicans were thrown into a leadership scramble after losing seats in the 1998 midterm elections. Newt Gingrich announced he would step aside, while Louisiana Rep. Bob Livingston — widely expected to succeed him — withdrew after acknowledging extramarital affairs.

Republicans ultimately turned to Hastert, a former high school teacher and wrestling coach from suburban Illinois who had developed a reputation on Capitol Hill as a quiet consensus-builder.

His low-key style stood in sharp contrast to some of Washington’s more combative political personalities.

Hastert took control of the House during the final years of Bill Clinton’s presidency and remained speaker through most of George W. Bush’s two terms.

His tenure covered some of the most consequential years in modern American politics.

He led the Republican-controlled House following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and helped move significant portions of Bush’s domestic agenda through Congress, including major tax cuts and the creation of a Medicare prescription-drug benefit.

Hastert also became associated with the informal congressional practice that came to be called the “Hastert Rule.”

Under that approach, Republican leaders generally avoided bringing major legislation to the House floor unless it was supported by a majority of the Republican conference.

The practice was never an official House rule, but it became an influential part of Republican congressional strategy.

Hastert stepped down as speaker after Democrats won control of the House in the 2006 midterm elections and left Congress in 2007.

For years afterward, his public legacy appeared secure as that of a former Republican leader who had risen from a small-town teaching career to become second in the presidential line of succession.

Then came a dramatic fall.

In 2015, federal prosecutors charged Hastert with illegally structuring cash withdrawals to avoid federal bank-reporting requirements.

Investigators discovered that the withdrawals were connected to an agreement in which Hastert had promised to pay $3.5 million to a former student to keep quiet about misconduct dating back decades.

The subsequent federal case exposed allegations that Hastert had sexually abused teenage boys while he was a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois.

Prosecutors described abuse involving at least four former students, including a boy who was 14 at the time.

The revelations stunned former political allies and transformed the public understanding of Hastert’s life before Congress.

He was not prosecuted for the sexual abuse itself because the applicable statutes of limitations had expired long before investigators uncovered the allegations.

Instead, federal authorities pursued the financial crimes they could still legally prosecute.

Hastert pleaded guilty in 2015 to one count of illegally structuring bank withdrawals to evade federal reporting requirements.

At his April 2016 sentencing, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin delivered a blistering assessment of Hastert’s actions and sentenced the former speaker to 15 months in federal prison.

Hastert acknowledged during the proceedings that he had “mistreated” some of the young athletes he coached and said he was deeply ashamed.

He ultimately served approximately 13 months before being released in 2017.

The scandal brought an extraordinary end to the public life of a man who had once occupied one of the nation’s highest elected offices.

Institutions that had honored Hastert distanced themselves from him, and his official portrait was eventually removed from the Speaker’s Lobby at the U.S. Capitol.

His death leaves behind a complicated and deeply damaged legacy.

For Republicans who followed politics during the George W. Bush years, Hastert will be remembered as a consequential congressional leader who helped steer the GOP through the aftermath of 9/11 and advance a substantial portion of a Republican president’s agenda.

But those accomplishments became inseparable from the disturbing conduct revealed after his political career had ended.

Hastert is survived by his wife, Jean, and their two sons.