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Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has died at the age of 84.
Hastert, who served as Speaker from 1999 to 2007, died Saturday of natural causes at his home in Illinois while receiving hospice care, according to Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell.
His death closes the book on one of the more complicated political legacies in recent American history.
For years, Hastert was known as a relatively low-key Illinois Republican who unexpectedly rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in the country.
He took over as Speaker after Newt Gingrich’s resignation and went on to lead the House during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings.
He later worked closely with President George W. Bush to advance the administration’s agenda, including major tax cuts and an expansion of Medicare prescription drug benefits.
Hastert also became associated with the so-called “Hastert Rule,” an unwritten practice under which House Republican leaders generally avoided bringing legislation to the floor unless it had the support of a majority of the majority party.
But whatever accomplishments Hastert accumulated during his decades in politics were ultimately eclipsed by a shocking scandal.
In 2015, Hastert was charged with violating federal banking laws while making large cash payments to a former student. Prosecutors eventually revealed that the payments were intended to conceal Hastert’s sexual abuse of teenage boys while he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach.
Prosecutors said Hastert had abused at least four boys during his coaching career.
Because the alleged abuse had occurred decades earlier, Hastert was not prosecuted for those acts. Instead, he pleaded guilty to financial crimes related to the hush-money payments.
He was sentenced in 2016 to 15 months in prison, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. elected official to serve a federal prison sentence at that time. During his sentencing, Hastert apologized to the boys he had “mistreated” as a coach.
The scandal destroyed his reputation.
His portrait was removed from the U.S. Capitol, and Wheaton College removed his name from a public policy center that had previously honored him.
Hastert left Congress in 2007 after Democrats regained control of the House and later worked as a lobbyist.
He is survived by his wife, Jean, and their two adult sons.
Whatever Hastert’s supporters may have remembered about his years in Washington, his final legacy was inevitably defined by the horrific conduct that emerged after his political career had ended.
