November 14 in A.A. History

In 1939, New York City A.A. members, spouses and at least one non-alcoholic Trustee—more than 50 in all^*—sign a letter to Bill W.:

    We all know that, like the rest of us, you are confronted with the necessity of making a living… We feel that we owe a debt to you which can be measured only in terms of life itself and therefore, perhaps, it is hardly appropriate that we should ask that you to continue to make the sacrifices which you have in the past for the benefit of ourselves and others yet unknown. Yet we ask you, if you find it possible to do so, to continue for the benefit of ourselves and others yet unknown. Yet we ask you, 
    if you find it possible to do so, to continue for a time with the work of Alcoholics Anonymous. We feel that the loss of your guidance at this most critical period in the development of the movement would be nothing less than a major catastrophe. On our own part, we pledge ourselves to do whatever we can in every way to help you carry the load.

^*Including Jimmy B., Bert T., Morgan R., Tom B., and Leonard V. Harrison [right, respectively]

In 1940, the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City mailed the first issue of the A.A. Bulletin to groups to inform them of important events. Bulletin #1 included a list of cities [left] categorized by the color of pins (or “stars”) used to mark them on a large office wall map.

    Twenty-two cities were classified as White Star (indicating well-established groups), five as Red Star (indicating several members who were just beginning), and sixteen as Green Star (indicating isolated members). Less than 5½ years after its founding, Alcoholics Anonymous had expanded to 43 cities and 1,400 members in the United States.

	In 1943, at an open meeting at Veterans’ Theater [right] in Los Angeles, California, Bill W. told 600 attendees (the theater seated up to 1,526) how Alcoholics Anonymous had enabled 10,000 alcoholics to recover. The Los Angeles Times reported [left] on the event the next day.

In 1945, Bill W. wrote to Rev. Sam D., co-founder of A.A. in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1941. At that time, Sam was living in Rome, Georgia, and Bill sought his assistance in stopping Carl K. from misrepresenting Alcoholics Anonymous and creating significant controversy. Carl was the editor of his own magazine, The Empty Jug [right: September 1945 issue, p. 1], at which Sam had been designated Associate Editor and contributed a column titled “Sam Talks Sense.” Bill praised Sam’s column but noted that it was “completely surrounded by a whole page of hate,” adding that Carl had engaged in a “50 round bout with demons of the liquor industry.” Bill emphasized the importance of avoiding topics related to “politics, religion, and reform.”
    In the June 1945 issue of The Empty Jug, a section titled “The Editor’s Personal Column” featured an article by Carl called “Let’s Get Untangled,” which read, in part:

    [T]he liquor interests are guilty of misrepresentation in advertising and… they are not putting up a fair fight.…
    Through the power of suggestion in attractive settings, the liquor interests are influencing the subconscious minds of children into forming opinions that are disastrously incomplete—in this instance a malicious ulterior and purposeful practice no less contemptible than Japan’s stab in the back at Pearl Harbor.

    Karl would republish this same article in October 1945, which apparently caught Bill’s attention shortly afterward.