September 17 in A.A. History

In 1934, Bill W. was admitted to Charles B. Towns Hospital [right] for the third time. His brother-in-law, Dr. Leonard V. Strong, once again paid for his stay. Dr. William D. Silkworth pronounced Bill hopeless and informed his wife, Lois, that Bill would likely need to be committed. After leaving the hospital, Bill felt broken and scared; he would stay sober for a brief period, driven primarily by his fear of drinking again. Eventually, he would find some work on Wall Street, which helped him regain some of his confidence.

	In 1968, at the 28th International Congress on Alcohol and Alcoholism in Washington, DC [right: “Alcohol under the Microscope,” The Windsor (Ontario) Star, 17 Sep 1968, p. 23], Dr. Jean Pierre von Wartburg [left, 1976] of the University of Bern, Switzerland, received the first E. M. Jellinek Memorial Fund Award for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge on alcohol and alcoholism. The award included a bronze bust of E. M. “Bunky” Jellinek [below right] and $1,000 [~$9,300 in 2025].
	Dr. Wartburg was honored for his research on the genetics and biochemistry of alcoholism. He had identified an abnormal form of the liver enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which breaks down alcohol 5 to 6 times faster than the normal form. This variant was found in 20% of the Swiss population [left: “Liver Enzyme May Be Drinking Factor,” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), 18 Sep 1968,  p. 41]     The congress was the largest gathering ever dedicated to the prevention and treatment of alcoholism. The Governor of Iowa, Harold E. Hughes [right], also delivered a speech at this convention in which he announced,     I was born an alcoholic. I never took a normal drink in my life. I realized in my late 20s that for me, to drink was to die. I could not drink and maintain sobriety.

In 1975. John “Jack” Alexander [right, c. 1946], 73, died. His obituary in the West Texas Register credited him as the newspaperman who made “Alcoholics Anonymous a major organization by the articles he wrote about its work.” He authored the article titled “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others,” which appeared in the 1 March 1941 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. This article resulted in 6,000 inquiries to the New York City office of the Alcoholic Foundation over the following nine months.

    Jack also served as a Class A (non-alcoholic) Trustee of the Alcoholic Foundation from 1951 to 1956.

In 1952, Hector C. was admitted to a clinic in Buenos Aires, Argentina [left: location of Buenos Aires within Argentina], for a serious alcohol problem. There, he was treated by Dr. Roberto Pochat, an Argentine physician who had recently returned from the U.S., where he had completed a course on alcoholism at Yale University. He had also been in contact with many A.A. members, who explained the A.A. program to him in detail and had allowed him to attend many A.A. meetings.
    During Hector’s stay, Dr. Pochat encouraged him to read the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, along with several A.A. pamphlets, all in English.