November 10 in A.A. History

In 1937, Willard S. Richardson [near right] wrote to Dr. Leonard V. Strong [far right]:

    I have now had conferences with four men whose judgment as to the interesting story of Mr. [Bill] W—– I think is good. I assure you that even my repeating of the story was impressive to them, and they thought the matter very important. They were all inclined to agree with me that, if possible, any organization of this project and anything that tended to professionalize or institutionalize it would be a serious matter and quite undesirable. Some of them thought quite as highly of Mr. W—–’s experience as a religious one as they did of it as a liquor one.

    The letter went on to suggest an early lunch meeting for Bill W., Strong, and himself. This meeting would lead to an invitation from Richardson to convene in John D. Rockefeller’s private boardroom at Rockefeller Center [left, 1 Jan 1937], along with several close associates of Rockefeller. Representing A.A. would be Dr. Strong, Dr. Silkworth, Bill W., Dr. Bob S., and a few alcoholics from both New York City and Akron, Ohio.

In 1939, Clarence S. [left] wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City, informing them that three A.A. groups would be established in Cleveland, Ohio, effective that week. He added,

    I expect two more at least by the beginning of the year. Right now, we have about 60 A.A.’s, most of them active, and an additional 15 to 20 being worked on in various ways. By splitting into smaller groups, the numbers should increase quite rapidly in the next 30 to 60 days.

    He had nothing to say about the uproar regarding newspaper reporters attending group meetings or his expulsion and the consequent need to start a new group. However, he did note that the Oxford Group was “hopping up and down, as they have been trying vainly to get publicity.”

In 2024, the American Journal of Medicine [right: cover] published an article titled “New Clinical and Public Health Challenges: Increasing Trends in United States Alcohol Related Mortality” online. The abstract states, in part:

Background
    In the United States (US) and worldwide alcohol is a major contributor to premature mortality and morbidity. We explored US trends in alcohol related mortality from 1999 to 2020 overall and by age, gender, race, and region.…
Results
    In 1999, there were 19,356 alcohol-related deaths, a mortality rate of 10.7 per 100,000. By 2020, deaths increased to 48,870 or 21.6 per 100,000. Overall, the mortality rate ratio (MRR) was significantly increased about 2.0-fold. There were significant increases in all 10-year age groups with the largest 3.8-fold in those 25 to 34. Women experienced a 2.5-fold increase;. Asians and Pacific Islanders had the largest increase of 2.4-fold:. the Midwest showed the largest regional increase of 2.5-fold.
Conclusions
    During the last 20 years there have significant increases of about 2-fold in US alcohol-related mortality. Clinical challenges are increased by interrelationships of risk factors, especially overweight and obesity and diabetes. Alcohol, overweight and obesity and diabetes all cause liver damage which may be additive and lead to earlier onset of alcohol related mortality. In addition health providers should also consider demographic shifts, and regional differences. Targeted interventions by health care providers may reduce this increasing US epidemic of alcohol related mortality. These data also generate many hypotheses testable in analytic studies designed a priori to do so.

    In March 2025, this article would be re-published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.