YORKVILLE, ILLINOIS — Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, died at the age of 84. He died of natural causes at his home over the weekend. “I want to apologize to the boys I mistreated when I was their coach,” Hastert said.

He said: “I’m the only one responsible. I know I am here because I mistreated some of the athletes I coached. The thing I want to do is say I’m sorry.” He said: “Solutions to problems cannot be found in a pool of bitterness. They can be found in an environment in which we trust one another's word, where we generate heat and passion, but where we recognize that each member is equally important to our overall mission of improving the life of the American people.”

Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell confirmed his death on Monday. The former congressman represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 2007 and served as Speaker of the House from January 1999 to January 2007.

Hastert was born on January 2, 1942, in Aurora, Illinois. He graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in economics and earned a teaching degree from Northern Illinois University. Before entering politics, he worked as a business owner.

From approximately 1965 to 1981, he taught history and coached wrestling at Yorkville High School. His wrestling team won the Illinois state championship in 1976, the same year he was named National Coach of the Year by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association and Illinois Coach of the Year. Prosecutors later stated that he sexually abused at least four team members during that period.

He served in the Illinois State House of Representatives from 1980 to 1986, where he sat on the Appropriations Committee and oversaw roughly half of the state's budget. He worked on the Public Utilities Act, which restructured the telephone industry following the AT&T divestiture in 1984. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 and became chief deputy whip in 1995.

He succeeded Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House and was preceded by Gingrich and succeeded by Nancy Pelosi in the role. He was the first Republican Speaker since Joe Cannon, who served from 1899 to 1903. During his tenure, he presided over the House during the Senate impeachment trial of Bill Clinton.

He helped pass large tax cuts and a Medicare prescription drug benefit expansion under President George W. Bush. He also instituted the “Hastert Rule,” which requires House votes only on measures supported by a majority of the majority party.

In a 1999 interview, he reflected on his position. “You know, in this business, especially in a job like this, you can get your head someplace where it shouldn't be,” he said. “But you come back home, and you're home. You're back where you've always been, and your feet are back on the ground.” He resigned from Congress in November 2007.

After leaving office, he earned $75,000 per month as an international lobbyist. He pleaded guilty to evading federal banking laws by structuring cash withdrawals to hide hush money payments. He admitted to sexually abusing boys while he was a high school wrestling coach but was not charged with sexual abuse crimes because the statute of limitations had expired. Prosecutors stated he paid more than $1.7 million out of a promised $3.5 million to Individual A.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin called him a “serial child molester” at his sentencing hearing. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, ordered to pay a $250,000 fine, and required to participate in a sex offender treatment program. Zachary Farden, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, commented on the outcome.

“Mr. Hastert's legend and legacy are gone, and in its place are a broken, humiliated man,” Farden said. “That is how it should be.”

He served 13 months in federal prison before his release. Following his conviction, his portrait was removed from the U.S. Capitol building. Wheaton College stripped his name from a public policy center.

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame revoked honors given to him in 2016, including his 2003 induction, following his admission of sexual abuse during his coaching career. He married Jean Kahl in 1973, and the couple had two sons.

Why It Matters

Dennis Hastert held the record as the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a position he occupied for eight years. His legislative influence included the passage of major tax and healthcare policies under the George W. Bush administration and the establishment of procedural norms known as the Hastert Rule. His career ended with a criminal conviction related to financial structures designed to conceal past misconduct, resulting in the removal of institutional honors and a shift in how his historical legacy is recorded.