December 23 in A.A. History

In 1901, Bernard B. Smith [right, 1939] was born in the Bronx, New York, the third of four children of Isaac and Fannie Stuzen Smith, both Yiddish-speaking Russian immigrants. He would become a member of the Alcoholic Foundation Board in 1944, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Alcoholic Foundation (renamed the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1954) from 1951–1956, and 1st Vice President of the General Service Board from 1956 until his death in late July 1970.

December 22 in A.A. History

In 1959, Frank Shaw, 73, died [right: obituary, The New York Times; funeral notice, The Bridgeport Post]. He had been an early supporter of Bill W.’s stock market theories, and married Elsie Valentine, a close childhood friend of Bill’s wife, Lois. 

In 2015, The Saturday Evening Post republished “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others,” authored by Jack Alexander [left]. The republished version duplicated the original article [below left: 1st page] but included a note stating, “Jack Alexander introduced Alcoholics Anonymous to a national stage when this article was published on March 1, 1941.” Additionally, it featured an Editor’s Note:

    AA had its beginnings in 1935 when a doctor and a layman, both alcoholics, helped each other recover and then developed, with a third recovering alcoholic, the organization’s guiding principles. By 1941, the group had demonstrated greater success in helping alcoholics than any previous methods and had grown to about 2,000 members. But for most of North America, AA was still unknown. Following the March 1, 1941, publication of an article in The Saturday Evening Post describing AA’s extraordinary success, inquiries began to flood in, leaving the small staff of what was then a makeshift headquarters overwhelmed. Alcoholics Anonymous tripled in size in the next year and continued to grow exponentially. Today, 75 years later, AA claims 2 million members worldwide, 1.2 million of them in the U.S.…

December 21 in A.A. History

In 1981, United Press International published an article by Charles S. Taylor titled “First Year Crucial for Reformed Alcoholics” [left: from Dubois (PA) Courier Express, 30 Dec 1981, p. 8], reported on a study involving 439 alcoholics who were members of Alcoholics Anonymous and had been sober for at least one year. The study was conducted by Dr. LeClair Bissell [right], who, as President, led the American Society of Addiction Medicine^* and worked with alcoholics at Edgehill Newport [left], a treatment center in Newport, Rhode Island. 
    The article described the research as “the first long-term study of a large group of alcoholics” and noted it had “reached an encouraging conclusion—most chronic drinkers who can stay off booze for one year have a good chance at continued sobriety.” Dr. Bissell said that alcoholics who receive counseling for their problem and abstain for a year usually don’t touch alcohol again for up to seven years. She also observed that abstinence seems to help alcoholics stop smoking, reduce suicidal behavior, reduce encounters with the police and significantly lower hospitalizations for any reason. Dr. Bissell strongly criticized psychologists who try to return recovered alcoholics to “social drinking,” saying, “I think they’re killing a lot of people by encouraging them to return to drinking.”
    Dr. Bissell was also a member of the Carter Mental Health Commission’s Task Force on Alcoholism, founder of International Pharmacists Anonymous [right: logo], and co-author of The Cat Who Drank Too Much (1982) [left: cover].

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^*Misnamed as "American Society on Alcoholism" in the article.

December 20 in A.A. History

In 1849, Ella A. Brock [right], Bill W.’s maternal grandmother, was born to John and Nancy Bowen Brock, in East Dorset, Vermont. She and her husband, Gardner F. Griffith, would raise Bill from the age of about 10.

In 1945, Rowland Hazard III [left], 64, died of a coronary occlusion (heart blockage) while working in his office at Bristol Manufacturing [right: obituary, The New York Times, 22 Dec 1945]. Rowland had carried the spiritual message of the Oxford Group to Ebby T., who then passed it on to Bill W. His position as a top executive of a major corporation at the time of his death suggests that Rowland had managed to stop drinking again, despite several known relapses. However, some historians question whether he was truly sober at the time of his death.
    He had remained active in the Oxford Group and continued his involvement after it was renamed Moral Re-Armament (MRA) in 1938. Some early A.A. members recalled knowing Rowland from his occasional visits to the old 24th Street Clubhouse, which A.A. members had established in June 1940 in a former stable at 334½ West 24th Street in Manhattan. However, there is no evidence that Rowland ever joined A.A. or considered himself a member.

December 19 in A.A. History

In 1922, Lt. Junius C. [right, as a midshipman] and Marjorie Dickerson were married in Pike County, Mississippi. He would become a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1939, Kaye Miller, a nonalcoholic, held the first A.A. meeting in Los Angeles, California, at her home on Benecia Street in Westwood.
    Earlier that year, Kaye became involved with A.A. while trying to help her ex-husband, Ty, get sober. She visited Akron and New York City, attending meetings and speaking with members, including Bill W. in New York. After divorcing Ty and returning to Los Angeles by freighter via the Panama Canal, she began spreading the word about A.A. to newspapers and public officials. She fell in with two other nonalcoholics who were also trying to help parolees get and stay sober: Genevieve Dodge, a social worker, and Johnny Howe, a psychologist. They had persuaded the Superior Court to allow them to treat alcoholics at Los Angeles County General Hospital [left, c. 1941]. Kaye taught them about A.A. based on her experiences and the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, which she had brought with her from New York. Early successes included Barney H. (or B.?) and Hal S.
    In December, Chuck and Lee T., members of New York City A.A., visited Los Angeles. Bill W. had given them Kaye's number, and they reached out to her. This prompted Kaye to organize an A.A. meeting. Besides Kaye, Johnny Howe, and three other social workers, attendees included Chuck and Lee T., Barney and Ethel H., Hal S., Chauncey and Edna C., Joy S., Dwight S., and Walter K. Afterwards, Kaye telegraphed the news to Bill W. in New York: “Los Angeles held its first meeting tonight. Fifteen present.”

December 18 in A.A. History

In 1917, the U.S. Senate voted 47–8 in favor of a joint resolution to override the veto by President Woodrow Wilson [right] of the Volstead Act, which the House had passed the day before. This Act, officially known as the National Prohibition Enforcement Act, aimed to amend the Constitution to prohibit “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes.”^* It then proceeded to the 48 states for ratification. On 9 January 1919, Nebraska would become the 36th state to ratify it, and one year later, on 9 January 1920, it would officially become the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

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^*Note that it did not prohibit consumption, possession, or production for personal use.

In 1934, Bill W. was discharged from Charles B. Towns Hospital for the last time. The charge for his one-week stay was $125 [~$3,000 in 2025], paid in advance by his brother-in-law, Dr. Leonard V. Strong.

In 1952, Hector C. wrote to the General Service Office (G.S.O.) in New York City from Buenos Aires, Argentina [left: location of Argentina and Buenos Aires], asking for help. Hector had been in treatment for alcoholism there since September. His letter immediately sparked a lively and ongoing correspondence, primarily with staff member Ann M., whom Hector came to consider his sponsor. (At one point, Ann M.’s first letter in this conversation was framed and displayed in Buenos Aires to commemorate the birth of A.A. in Argentina.)

December 17 in A.A. History

In 1895, Florence D. was born to Emma Alexander and Harvey D. in Marion, Massachusetts. Her mother would die in 1907 of carcinoma uteri, the most common form of uterine cancer, and by April 1910, at age 14, she would be living in Boston with her maternal grandmother, Anna Alexander. In 1917, she would marry Lawrence R. in Houston, Texas.
    In March 1937, as Florence R., she would join A.A. in New York City, experience several slips, and became the first woman in New York City—and the second woman anywhere—to achieve a notable length of sobriety in A.A. Her presence was likely the primary reason the publishing company, One Hundred Men Corporation, to be renamed Works Publishing, Inc. She would accumulate over a year of sobriety before writing “A Feminine Victory” for the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1937, Bill W. wrote to Rev. Willard “Dick” S. Richardson [right], who managed John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s private charities and served as his spiritual advisor and close friend:

    The problem is how best to get our message to the great number… if they only knew. How… to preserve sound spiritual construction, simplicity and spontaneity, at the same time making our experience as widely and quickly available as possible, is the conundrum.

In 1949, The Herald Saturday Magazine (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) published John Holden’s article, “Drunkards have found the sober road” [left]. The article occupies nearly half of page 15 and features a photograph of Lillian R., the Hollywood actress who, along with her husband, “Jack” McG. [right], helped establish Melbourne’s first permanent A.A. group on 13 October 1947. At the bottom of the article, there is a cartoon credited to “‘The Grapevine’ journal of Alcoholics Anonymous.”