Chernenko

1911 Sept. 24: Born in Bolshaya Tes, Novoselsky Raion, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Siberia. Son of peasant. Worked as farm laborer for kulaks
1926: Joins Komsomol
1929: Heads Dept. of Propaganda and Agitation in Novoselsky Raion Komsomol
1930: Enlists in Frontier Guard, serving 3 years on Soviet-Chinese border
1931: Joins Communist Party
1931-33: Serves as party secretary of border guard outpost
1933-1941: Heads Dept. of Propaganda and Agitation in Novoselsky and Uiarski Raions; Director of Krasnayarsky Krai House of Party Education; deputy head of the Dept. of Propaganda and Agitation, Krasnoyarsky Krai.
1941: Appointed secretary of Krasnoyarsk kraikom
1943-1945: Attends Higher School of Party Organizers, Moscow.
1945: Secretary of Penza regional committee (Obkom), in charge of propaganda and agitation
1948: Head of Dept. of Propaganda and Agitation, Moldavia; while in Moldavia graduates from Kishinev Pedagogical Institute, correspondence school
1956: Brought to Moscow by Brezhnev to head mass agitation section of agitation and propaganda dept.; becomes an editor of magazine "Agitator"
1960: Appointed chief of of the chancellery of Supreme Soviet under Brezhnev.
1964 Oct.: Khrushchev ousted, Brezhnev elected. Chernenko works to help push Brezhnev to right, to reject 20th and 22nd Congresses.
1965: Head of personnel division, CC General Dept. (Obshchii otdel)
1966: Elected candidate member of Central Committee
1971 Mar: Elected Full Member of Central Committee
1975: Attends international conference in Helsinki
1976 Mar: Elected Central Committee Secretary
1976 Mar: Elected to secretariat of presidium of Supreme Soviet
1977 Oct.: Made candidate member of Politburo
1978 Nov.: Made full member of Politburo
1979: Attends SALT II talks in Vienna
1981 Sept. 24: In connection with 70th birthday, gets Order of Lenin and second Hammer and Sickle Hero of Social Labor Medal
1982 Nov.: Brezhnev dies. Andropov made General Secretary
1984 Feb. 9: Andropov dies
1984 Feb. 13: Elected General Secretary. (Despite Dr. Chazov's warning that he's too sick for the job)
1984 Apr. 10: Addresses party Plenum
1984 Apr. 11: Elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Nominated by Gorbachev
1984 Apr. 18: Meets Polish Minister of Defense
1984 Apr. 20: Gives medals to Soviet and Indian cosmonauts
1984 Apr. 26: Meets Finnish President Koivisto
1984 Apr. 28: Meets Gen. Sec. of Communist Party of Greece
1984 Apr. 29: Visits Moscow metallurgical factory "Hammer and Sickle" Gives speech there
1984 May 4: Meets Poland's Yarulzelski; signs Soviet-Polish agreement on economic and scientific cooperation
1984 May 7: Meets Hungarian Minister of Defense
1984 May 8: Decision to boycott Los Angeles Olympics announced
1984 May 10: Meets Spain's Juan Carlos I
1984 May 11: Meets head of Portuguese Communist Party
1984 May 24: Takes part in Soviet-Korean Talks with Kim Ir. Sen
1984 May 28: Gives medal and speech at meeting of Komsomol secretaries
1984 Jun. 4: Meets with Ceaucesceau. Gives him Order of October Revolution
1984 Jun. 11: Meets Vietnamese Gen. Sec Lee Zuan & Prime Minster Fam Van Dong; answers, in writing, Kingsbury-Smith's questions
1984 Jun. 13: During East Block Economic Summit, meets with Kadar and Gusak. Gives Gusak Order of Lenin
1984 Jun. 14: Signs East Block Economic Summit Final Document; meets with Honnicker
1984 Jun. 18: Meets Nicaragua's D. Ortega
1984 Jun. 21: Meets France's Mitterand
1984 Jul. 3: Meets British Foreign Minister J. Howe
1984 Jul. 4: Gives medals to workers and party and government activists
1984 Jul. 13: Meets UN Gen. Sec Peres de Quillar
1984 Oct.: Makes speech on agriculture
1984 Nov. 18: Answers, in writing, questions of NBC reporter Marvin Kalb
1984 Dec. 11: Meets delegation of Japanese Communist Party
1984 Dec. 27: Gives medals to Soviet writers
1984 Dec.: Signs agreements on commercial, scientific & technological matters with China
1985: Ready to approve changing "Volgagrad" back to "Stalingrad".
1985 Jan: Agrees to new round of arms negotiations with USA
1985 Mar 10: Dies.

Medals:
Hero of Socialist Labor (3)
Order of Lenin (4)
Workers Red Banner (3)
Many other medals