November 26 in A.A. History
In 1895, William G. “Bill” W. was born at 3 a.m. on a wintry day in East Dorset, Vermont, behind the bar of the W—– House, a village hotel run by his father’s mother, to Gilman B. and Emily G. W.
The night before, Emily’s pain had driven her from the kitchen to the north parlor. She lay on a couch, trying to breathe, writhing as contrac-tions tore through her. In and out of conscious-ness, she screamed and cried out as midnight passed. The midwife and Emily's mother tried to comfort her.
Outside, Mark Whalon, whom Bill would call his only close local friend, and a crowd of young neighborhood boys gathered on the porch to listen to Emily’s screams, evidence of the strangeness of the adult world. Later, Emily would say that Bill’s birth had nearly killed her.
In 1939, at the First Unitarian Church at Euclid Ave. and E. 82nd St., in Cleve-land, Ohio, Rev. Dilworth Lupton preached a sermon titled “Mr. X and Alcoholics Anonymous” about an alcoholic he had seen recover from alcoholism—Clarence S. The sermon would be reprinted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and would become one of A.A.’s first pamphlets.
In 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that gasoline rationing would begin four days later, on December 1, to conserve rubber (not gasoline). This would significantly reduce the number of 12th Step calls A.A. members could make. The following day, a headline on page 1 of The New York Times would read
Full ‘Gas’ Rationing Dec. 1 Ordered by the President.
According to the article, dated November 26, 1942,
President Roosevelt served notice tonight that… the government… would begin the nation-wide rationing of gasoline to conserve rubber on Dec. 1, as scheduled
In 1965, Nancy M.-O., founder and original moderator of A.A. History Lovers on Yahoo Groups, got sober and joined A.A.
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