[2] Born in the Anykščiai district, then in Imperial Russia, Kairys graduated from the Institute of Technology in Saint Petersburg.

Due to conflicts with the academic administration concerning his participation in student clubs and dissident demonstrations, his studies were intermittently interrupted.

The Great Seimas clearly expressed Lithuania's intentions to become an independent state, or at least to gain considerable autonomy from the Russian Empire.

In 1907, Kairys helped the five Lithuanian social democrats elected to the second Duma write speeches and letters.

The Germans promised to recognize the state if the council agreed to form a firm and permanent federation with Germany.

The council proceeded to negotiate with Germany, which now demanded to void the 16 February decision and recognized the state based on the 11 December declaration.

On 13 July 1918, the council, in hopes to avoid being incorporated into a personal union with the Hohenzollern dynasty, elected Mindaugas II as King of Lithuania.

[citation needed] In 1942, together with his wife, Ona Kairiene, Kairys sheltered 11-year-old Anusė Keilsonaitė, a Jewish girl from the Vilna Ghetto.