James Eayrs

{{Infobox academic

| name = James Eayrs

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|FRSC|sep=,|size=100}}

| image = JamesEayrs1926-2021.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Eayrs in 1972

| birth_name = James George Eayrs

| birth_date = {{birth date|1926|10|13|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|mf=yes|2021|02|06|1926|10|13}}}}

| death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| nationality = Canadian

| home_town =

| spouse = Elizabeth Eayrs

| partner =

| awards =

| alma_mater = {{ubl | University of Toronto | Columbia University | London School of Economics}}

| thesis_title =

| thesis_year =

| school_tradition =

| doctoral_advisor =

| academic_advisors =

| influences =

| era =

| discipline = Political science

| sub_discipline =

| workplaces = {{ubl | University of Toronto | Dalhousie University}}

| doctoral_students =

| notable_students =

| main_interests =

| notable_works =

| notable_ideas =

| influenced =

| signature =

| signature_alt =

}}

James George Eayrs, {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|FRSC|sep=,|size=100}} (13 October 1926 – 6 February 2021) was a Canadian political scientist and journalist. {{cite news |date=2021-02-13 |title=James Eayrs: Obituary |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theglobeandmail/obituary.aspx?n=james-eayrs&pid=197757667 |access-date=2024-11-09 |work=The Globe and Mail}}{{Cite web |last=Hillmer |first=Norman |date=2021-10-19 |title=James George Eayrs |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/james-george-eayrs |access-date=2024-11-09 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}

Biography

Eayrs won the Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction at the 1965 Governor General's Awards for his book In Defence of Canada: From the Great War to the Great Depression.{{cite news |date=1 April 1966 |title=Council Names 5 for Awards |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |agency=Canadian Press |page=14}} The book, which examined Canadian military and defence policy during the period between the First World War and the Great Depression,{{cite news |last=Foulkes |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Foulkes (Canadian Army officer) |date=28 November 1964 |title=Between the Wars, the Services Fought On |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |page=A13}} was the first in a multi-volume series on Canadian military history and was followed by In Defence of Canada, Vol. 2: Appeasement and Rearmament (1965),{{cite news |last=Underhill |first=Frank H. |author-link=Frank Underhill |date=1 January 1966 |title=Was King Innocent or Statesman? |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |page=A13}} In Defence of Canada: Peacemaking and Deterrence (1972),{{cite news |last=Cook |first=Ramsay |author-link=Ramsay Cook |date=14 October 1972 |title=Eayrs the Rational Scholar |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |page=33}} In Defence of Canada: Growing Up Allied (1980){{cite news |last=Cook |first=Ramsay |author-link=Ramsay Cook |date=8 March 1980 |title=The Origin and Growth of NATO from the Prima Ballerina of Foreign Policy Scholarship |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |page=E15}} and In Defence of Canada: Indochina, Roots of Complicity (1983).{{cite news |last=Kirton |first=John |author-link=John Kirton |date=20 August 1983 |title=Thankless Tasks in the Far East |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |page=E12}}{{Cite journal |date=June 2007 |title=Annual John W. Holmes Issue on Canadian Foreign Policy: A Tribute to James Eayrs |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ijxa/62/2 |journal=International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis |volume=62 |issue=2}}

A professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and later of political science at Dalhousie University, he was awarded the Canada Council Molson Prize in 1984{{cite news |last=Cherry |first=Zena |date=20 November 1984 |title=Prof. James Eayrs Wins Prize |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |page=F16}} and was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.{{cite news |last=Fraser |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Fraser (journalist) |date=20 November 1984 |title=Eayrs, Dube Win $50,000 Prizes |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |page=M9}} In 1985, he was appointed to the Order of Canada.{{Cite web |title=Order of Canada: Mr. James G. Eayrs |url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-14456 |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=Governor General of Canada}}

Eayrs was also active as a journalist, writing a weekly public affairs column for the Montreal Star and later the Toronto Star. As a broadcaster, he wrote for the CTV series Here Come the Seventies and then cohosted with Charlotte Gobeil the CBC television program, Weekend.

His wife, Elizabeth Eayrs, sat on Toronto City Council from 1972 to 1978.{{cite news |last=Lind |first=Loren |date=12 November 1974 |title=In the Basements, a Campaign Is Born |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |page=5}}{{Cite news |date=2023-06-17 |title=Elizabeth Eayrs: Obituary |url=https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/elizabeth-eayrs-obituary?id=52255157 |access-date=2024-11-09 |work=The Globe and Mail}}

References

{{s-ttl|title=Governor General's Award for
English-language non-fiction|years=1965}}

Category:1926 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:20th-century Canadian historians

Category:20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century Canadian male writers

Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics

Category:Canadian male non-fiction writers

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:Academic staff of Dalhousie University

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

Category:Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction writers

Category:University of Toronto alumni

Category:Academic staff of the University of Toronto

Category:Officers of the Order of Canada

Category:British emigrants to Canada