Eric M. Gairy

Sir Eric M. Gairy (1922–1997) was the first Prime Minister of Grenada upon the country's independence in 1974 and founder of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP). In 1978 he became the first head of state formally to propose before the UN General Assembly an international UFO research agency — an unusual initiative that, against U.S. opposition, led to an adopted draft resolution, but collapsed when Gairy was overthrown in a coup in 1979.

• Born 1922, died 1997
• First Prime Minister of Grenada upon independence on 7 February 1974
• Leader of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP)
• Elected to the Legislative Council in 1951 (seven of eight seats), later Chief Minister and Premier
• In 1978 proposed to the UN General Assembly a UN department for UFO research
• Despite U.S. opposition a draft resolution was adopted within the UN process
• Initiative collapsed in 1979 when Gairy was toppled in a communist coup

For the UAP timeline, Gairy is the only head of state ever to have attempted to institutionalise UFO research as a dedicated UN policy field. His case shows two things: that the topic had developed state-level relevance in the late 1970s, and that the geopolitical geometry — the United States versus a Caribbean state — was strong enough to push it back off the agenda. Without Gairy's UN push there would be no precedent for today's European initiatives such as those of De Masi or Guerreiro.