Hastert, J. Dennis (1942-…), an Illinois Republican, served as speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007. Hastert was a member of the House from 1987 until he resigned in 2007.
John Dennis Hastert, who is known by his middle name, was born on Jan. 2, 1942, in Aurora, Illinois. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College in 1964 and a master’s degree from Northern Illinois University in 1967. He was a high school government and history teacher and wrestling coach from 1964 to 1980.
Hastert served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1980 to 1986. He was elected to his first term in the United States House of Representatives in 1986 and took office in 1987. Hastert held the post of chief deputy majority whip of the U.S. House from 1995 until he became speaker in 1999. Newt Gingrich had resigned from his office as speaker in 1998. Bob Livingston was supposed to succeed Gingrich, but he announced he was resigning from the House. Hastert’s autobiography, Speaker: Lessons from Forty Years in Coaching and Politics, was published in 2004.
As speaker, Hastert supported measures to cut taxes and create a new Medicare prescription drug benefit. He became known for implementing the so-called “Hastert rule.” Under the informal rule, the speaker would not schedule a bill for a floor vote unless it was supported by a majority of the members of the majority party. Hastert resigned from the House in November 2007.
In May 2015, prosecutors announced that federal charges had been filed against Hastert. The indictment charged Hastert with agreeing to pay an unnamed individual $3.5 million to “compensate for and conceal [Hastert’s] prior misconduct” dating to the time when Hastert served as a high school teacher and wrestling coach. Prosecutors also charged Hastert with lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the reasons for making large withdrawals from his bank accounts. In October, Hastert pleaded guilty of attempting to evade federal banking laws. In April 2016, a federal judge sentenced Hastert to 15 months in prison for illegally structuring bank transactions in attempts to cover up his sexual abuse of members of the high school wrestling team he had coached. Hastert completed his prison sentence in August 2017.
