1927	Born in South Boston, Massachusetts, April 27
1938	Moakley family is one of first to move into the new Harbor Village housing project Attends John Boyle Riley School and Thomas N. Hart School
1941-42	Right guard on South Boston’s District School Championship football team
1943	Alters birth certificate to enlist in U.S. Navy
1943-46	Seabee in the Stevedore Battalion stationed in Pearl Harbor, the Philippines and Japan
1946	Honorably discharged from U.S. Navy Attends Newman Prep
1947	Attends University of Miami Moonlights as light heavyweight boxer, the "Boston Bull"
1950	Meets Evelyn Duffy in Cambridge Runs for the Massachusetts House of Representatives - loses
1952	Elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives
1956	Graduates from Suffolk University Law Scholl
1957	Becomes Majority Whip in the Massachusetts House of Representatives Marries Evelyn Duffy
1960	Runs for Massachusetts State Senate - loses
1964	Elected to Massachusetts State Senate
1969	Sponsors Harbor Islands Land Bank and Massachusetts Low- and Moderate-Income Housing (Anti-Snob Zoning) legislation
1970	Runs for U.S. House of Representatives - loses to Louise Day Hicks
1971	Elected to at-large seat on Boston City Council after receiving a record number of votes
1972	Elected as an Independent to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Massachusetts Ninth Congressional District
1973	Takes seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and changes his party affiliation back to Democrat
1980s	Rep. Moakley and Sen. Ted Kennedy secure funding for Boston Harbor clean-up
1983	Co-authors Moakley-DeConcini Bill, legislation to grant temporary protected status to Salvadoran refugees living in the United States
1989	Appointed Chair of the House Rules Committee Six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter are murdered in El Salvador
1990	Leads commission to investigate the Jesuit murders and visits El Salvador
1991	Secures $10 million grant (largest ever to any public college) for Bridgewater State College Technological Applications Center
1995	Evelyn Moakley dies Moakley receives liver transplant after hepatitis B destroys his liver
1996	Forms Congressional Task Force on Organ and Tissue Donation
1996-98	Travels to Cuba to address human rights and democratization
1997	Secures funding for Center for Juvenile Justice at Suffolk University Law School
2001	President George W. Bush signs bill naming the federal courthouse in Boston for John Joseph Moakley John Joseph Moakley dies of leukemia on May 28