Karl Genrikhovich Vaino

Born May 28, 1923, in Tomsk. Soviet party figure. Member of the CPSU since 1947.

The son of an office worker, Vaino graduated from the Tomsk Electromechanical Institute for Railroad Transport Engineering in 1947 and from the correspondence division of the Higher Party School Under the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1957. In 1947 he began working as an engineer in the field of railroad transportation.

Vaino became a member of the staff of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia in 1949. In 1952 and 1953 he served as secretary of the Tallinn oblast committee of the CP of Estonia. From 1953 to 1957, Vaino was deputy head of a department of the Central Committee of the CP of Estonia. He held the post of deputy chairman of the Council of the National Economy of the Estonian SSR from 1957 to 1960. Vaino was secretary of the Central Committee of the CP of Estonia from 1960 to 1978, when he became first secretary. He was elected a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1981 and a deputy to the tenth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Vaino has been awarded the Order of the October Revolution, three other orders, and various medals.