Anchorage Daily News

1923: Born Nov. 18 in Indianapolis, the third of four children.

Mid-1920s: Family moves to Chicago; father works as accountant.

1929-30: Father loses job after stock market crash; parents divorce; siblings return to Indianapolis to live with grandparents, father.

1938: Moves to Manhattan Beach, Calif., to live with aunt after father dies.

1942: Graduates from Redondo Union High School, Redondo Beach, Calif. Enrolls in Oregon State University; attends one semester.

1943: Enrolls in Montana State College for Army Air Corps cadet training. Joins U.S. Army Air Corps in Santa Ana, Calif., receives wings in 1944.

1944-46: Serves as transport pilot flying C-46s and C-47s in China-Burma-India theater during WW II; receives Distinguished Flying Cross.

1947: Graduates with B.A. in political science, UCLA.

1950: Graduates Harvard Law School, admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C.

1950: Hired by Washington D.C. law firm, legal adviser to Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy.

1952: Marries Ann Mary Cherrington in Denver, Colo. The union produces five children. Drives up Alaska Highway to practice law in Fairbanks.

1953: Appointed U.S. Attorney, Fairbanks.

1956: Moves to D.C. as legislative counsel for Interior Dept., works for Alaska statehood.

1957: Passes Alaska bar.

1960: Appointed chief counsel to Interior Sec'y Fred Seaton.

1961: Returns to Alaska after Kennedy election to practice law in Anchorage.

1962: Runs for U.S. Senate; defeated by incumbent Democrat, Sen. Ernest Gruening.

1964: Elected to Alaska State House. Re-elected in 1966;

1968: Runs for U.S. Senate; loses primary to Anchorage banker Elmer Rasmuson (who loses in general election to Democrat Mike Gravel).

1968: Appointed to U.S. Senate by Alaska Gov. Walter Hickel on death of Sen. E.L. Bartlett.

1970: Elected to U.S. Senate in a special election to complete Bartlett's term.

1972: Re-elected to U.S. Senate with 77 percent of the vote.

1973: Helps win U.S. Senate approval of Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act by one-vote margin.

1978: Re-elected to U.S. Senate with 76 percent of the vote. Survives Learjet crash at Anchorage International Airport; five people die, including wife Ann.

1980: Marries Catherine Bittner Chandler. Union produces daughter Lily.

1984: Re-elected to U.S. Senate with 71 percent of the vote.

1990: Re-elected to U.S. Senate with 66 percent of the vote.

1996: Re-elected to U.S. Senate with 77 percent of the vote.

1997: Chairs Senate Appropriations Committee from 1997 to 2001 and 2003 to 2005; directs more than $3 billion in federal money to Alaska from 1995 to 2008.

1998: Receives first of 10 "Oinker Awards" for wasteful government spending, from Citizens Against Government Waste.

2000: Voted "Alaskan of the Century" by Alaskan of the Year Committee. Legislature renames state's largest airport the "Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport."

2002: Re-elected to U.S. Senate with 78 percent of the vote; becomes longest serving Republican senator.

2003: Appointed president pro tempore U.S. Senate, serves through 2007.

2007: FBI and IRS agents raid his Girdwood home on July 30.

2008: Files for re-election on Feb. 21 for eighth term in U.S. Senate.

2008: Indicted July 29, 2008,on seven federal criminal counts.

Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; 2008 Almanac of American Politics; Who's Who is Alaskan Politics, Anchorage Daily News files

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