Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert dies at the age of 84

Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Republican who held the post longest in his party’s history, died on Saturday 3 October at his home in Illinois, at the age of 84. The death was confirmed on Monday by the Kendall County coroner, Jacquie Purcell, as USA Today reports.

Hastert, who was in palliative care, died of natural causes, the coroner’s office announced. He was born on 2 January 1942 in Aurora, Illinois, worked for years as a history teacher and wrestling coach, and was first elected to the U.S. Congress in 1986.

In 1999, after the resignation of Newt Gingrich, Hastert rose to the head of the House of Representatives, a post he held until 2007 — the longest tenure of a Republican in that office. During his speakership, the House went through dramatic moments of American history: the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, the terrorist attacks of 11 September and the anthrax crisis. Under his leadership, President George W. Bush’s large tax cuts were approved, as well as the expansion of pharmaceutical benefits under the Medicare programme.

But his political career was badly darkened at the end. In 2015, the FBI opened investigations into him and a year later Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison for bank fraud: he had made structured bank withdrawals to pay around $3.5 million in hush money to a former student he had sexually abused. At the trial, Hastert admitted he had “mistreated” several teenage wrestlers, while the judge called him a “serial child molester”. He served 13 months in prison and lived away from public attention after retiring from Congress in 2007.