In the spring of 1979 the Caribbean nation of Grenada was in flux.
On March 13 a coup, orchestrated by the Marxist-Leninist New Jewel Movement, deposed Prime Minister Eric Gairy, and replaced him with the young leftist, Maurice Bishop, who began to initiate populist reforms almost immediately.
Bishop was executed in front of a firing squad four years later, a victim of his own party’s in-fighting and revolutionary fervor, but by late March 1979 the U.S. government was busy putting together a file on the new Grenadian leader.
The following 226 documents were obtained by the Archive from the Department of State in response to a FOIA request, and provide an invaluable glimpse into the Grenadian political atmosphere during this transformative period. Help us explore this collection by finding the juiciest docs you can. For example, can you find any writing on the wall of Bishop’s demise a few short years later? Take a look!
[This is the first of an ongoing crow sourcing initiative where we will provide documents newly-released through the Freedom of Information Act to the public, and give you the first crack at the documents so you can tell us what is significant about them. Enjoy!]
