1964: B.A., University of Missouri.

1965: M.A. in education, University of Missouri.

1966: Joins the U.S. Navy.

Jan 19, 1972: Cunningham, flying off the carrier Constellation in a two-seat Phantom fighter with Lt. j.g. Willie Driscoll, records his first air victory, downing a MiG-21 over North Vietnam.

May 10, 1972: Cunningham and Driscoll shoot down three MIG fighters over North Vietnam, bringing their total to five enemy aircraft in four months and becoming the first and only Navy aces of the Vietnam War.

1970s: After the war, Cunningham is assigned as an instructor at the Navy's Top Gun school at Miramar, commanded an F-14 squadron and served tours in Washington and Japan before returning to Miramar.

1985: M.B.A., National University, San Diego.

1987: Cunningham retires from the Navy and becomes director of flight operations and later dean of the School of Aerospace Studies at National University. He later accepts a position as marketing consultant to the school.

July 1988: Cunningham founds Top Gun Enterprises, Inc., a marketing company.

Feb 1990: Cunningham joins the race for the Republican nomination in the 44th Congressional District, seeking to run against incumbent Democrat Jim Bates, D-San Diego.

June 1990: Cunningham receives 45 percent of the vote in the five-man Republican primary, easily beating his closest rival, former ambassador Joseph Ghougassian.

Nov. 6, 1990: Defeats Jim Bates in a close election.

Jan 4, 1991: Cunningham wins seats on the House Armed Services Committee and the Merchant Marines and Fisheries Committee.

Jan 17, 1991: During a news conference at Lindbergh Field, Cunningham says he had received intelligence that Iraqi-sponsored terrorists were operating in San Diego County. The incident aggravates tensions left over from his primary campaign, when he outraged local Arab-Americans with a brochure bearing the picture of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that accused his Egyptian-born opponent of having been influenced by oil interests.

Dec 12, 1991: Cunningham announces he would seek election in the new 51st Congressional District, running against fellow Republican Rep. Bill Lowery. Later that month he moves from a condominium in Mission Valley to a house in Del Mar.

Oct 6, 1992: Cunningham makes the Washington Post's "Reliable Source" column by suggesting the liberal leadership of the House should be "lined up and shot.".

Oct. 9, 1992: The Los Angeles Times quotes Cunningham as urging President Bush to attack Bill Clinton's patriotism, telling him: "This is an issue that will kill Clinton when people realize what a traitor he is to this country. In some countries, if something like this came out, he would be tried as a traitor. Tokyo Rose had nothing over Clinton.".

May 11, 1995: A House debate over water pollution erupts in furor when Cunningham declares that lawmakers backing an amendment he opposed were the same people who support "homos in the military." Later, he calls Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., a "socialist.".

Nov. 17, 1995: Colleagues and Capitol police break up a scuffle that starts after Cunningham, a former Navy fighter pilot, tangles with Rep. James Moran, D-Va., who used to be an amateur boxer, during the debate on a Republican-sponsored resolution that would bar President Clinton from sending American troops to Bosnia without prior congressional approval.

Feb. 26, 1998: When acting Army Secretary Robert Walker told a House subcommittee about efforts to combat sexual harassment and discrimination in the military, Cunningham calls the efforts "B.S." and asserted that "our kids don't like. . . political correctness." He also insists that some members of Congress openly promote communism and that France has a Communist government.

Aug 5, 1998: Cunningham undergoes surgery to remove a cancerous prostate gland.

Sept. 5, 1998: At a forum for prostate cancer sufferers, Cunningham makes a crude reference to a fellow congressman who is gay and, in a fit of temper, directs an obscene gesture toward an audience member telling him, "(expletive) you." .

Jan. 23, 2001: Cunningham is named to the House Select Committee on Intelligence for the 107th Congress.

Oct. 9, 2002: Cunningham cries on the House floor as he argues that President Bush should have authority to use military force against Iraq.

Nov. 5, 2002: Cunningham wins the newly reapportioned 50th District seat.

November 2003: Sells his Del Mar house for $1,675,000 to a company owned by Mitchell Wade of MZM Inc., a defense contractor. Purchases a home in Rancho Santa Fe for $2.55 million.

Nov. 2, 2004: Cunningham wins re-election in 50th District.

June 12, 2005: Copley News Service and The San Diego Union-Tribune reveal that a defense contractor with ties to Cunningham took a $700,000 loss on the purchase of the congressman's Del Mar house while the congressman, a member of the influential defense appropriations subcommittee, was supporting the contractor's efforts to get tens of millions of dollars in contracts from the Pentagon.

June 14, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that the Realtor who Cunningham said had set a fair and independent price for the November 2003 sale of his Del Mar home to a defense contractor was a longtime campaign contributor.

June 17, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report Cunningham has been living aboard a 42-foot yacht along the banks of the Potomac River in a yacht, named the Duke-Stir, owned by Wade.

June 23, 2005: Cunningham releases a three-page statement acknowledging that he "showed poor judgment" in selling his Del Mar house to Wade.

July 1, 2005: Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe house is searched, as is the Washington office of defense contractor MZM Inc.

July 5, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that Cunningham made roughly a $400,000 profit by selling a boat he lived aboard from 1997 to 2002 to a businessman convicted in a bid-rigging scheme. The man said he subsequently got advice from the congressman about how to pursue a presidential pardon.

July 14, 2005: Cunningham, an eight-term congressman, announces he will not seek re-election.

July 21, 2005: U.S. Attorney's office files notice with the San Diego County Recorder's office that it has filed a lawsuit contending it has an interest in Cunningham's property. The lawsuit, which was initially secret, contends Cunningham should forfeit his home to the government because it was purchased with illegally obtained money.

Aug. 5, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that Cunningham – and other prominent passengers including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay – has taken jet flights provided by Group W Transportation, owned by Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes.

Aug. 16, 2005: Agents from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and Department of Defense seize documents from Poway headquarters of ADCS Inc. and the home of Wilkes, the company's president.

Aug. 17, 2005: MZM Inc., is sold to a private equity firm. Wade had stepped down as the company's president in late June.

Aug. 17, 2005: Cunningham and his wife Nancy list the couple's Rancho Santa Fe home for sale for $3.5 million.

Sept. 10, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that Wilkes allowed Cunningham use of a 14.5-foot, 170-horsepower fiberglass boat several years ago when it was docked near Cunningham's yacht in Washington, D.C.

Sept. 22, 2005: Federal agents search the New York home and office of a controversial businessman who has had a series of financial dealings with the congressman. The businessman, Thomas Kontogiannis, purchased Cunningham's flat-bottom riverboat, the Kelly C, for more than $600,000 in 2002. Cunningham had purchased the boat five years earlier for $200,000.

Nov. 28, 2005: Cunningham pleads guilty to income tax evasion and conspiracy in a hearing in San Diego's federal court.