diff --git a/ccmain/resultiterator.cpp b/ccmain/resultiterator.cpp
index ba583f37..b3f5321d 100644
--- a/ccmain/resultiterator.cpp
+++ b/ccmain/resultiterator.cpp
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ ResultIterator::ResultIterator(const LTRResultIterator &resit)
     : LTRResultIterator(resit) {
   in_minor_direction_ = false;
   at_beginning_of_minor_run_ = false;
+  preserve_interword_spaces_ = false;
 
   BoolParam *p = ParamUtils::FindParam<BoolParam>(
     "preserve_interword_spaces", GlobalParams()->bool_params,
diff --git a/ccmain/resultiterator.h b/ccmain/resultiterator.h
index 9214140c..d6e8a918 100644
--- a/ccmain/resultiterator.h
+++ b/ccmain/resultiterator.h
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ class TESS_API ResultIterator : public LTRResultIterator {
    * Should detected inter-word spaces be preserved, or "compressed" to a single
    * space character (default behavior).
    */
-  bool preserve_interword_spaces_ = false;
+  bool preserve_interword_spaces_;
 };
 
 }  // namespace tesseract.