A.A. History—month & day unknown

1940: [Second half] Three well-off members of Alcoholics Anonymous from the Washington, D.C. area—Bill A., Bill E., and Hardin C.—purchased 30 shares of Works Publishing, Inc. Preferred Stock [right: non-preferred Works Publishing stock certificate], with a par value $100 [~$2,400 in 2026], a total of $3,000 [~$71,600 in 2025].

1941: After Kathleen [far left] divorced him, Hank P. [near left] married Caroline Wright, sister of Dorothy Wright S., Clarence’s wife.

1941: Dr. Bob S. [right] wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation trustees, stating that he considered the idea of royalties “unwise” and that the book should be “the property of the foundation 100 percent.”

1941: After the first Alcoholics Anonymous group in Richmond, Virginia disbanded—Bill W. noted its members “believed in getting away from their wives and drinking only beer”—Jack W. started a new, more traditional Richmond group with five members.

1941: NBC launched a 13-part syndicated radio program titled “Is Alcohol a Problem in Your Home?” Broadcast nationwide, the idea of using the radio to inform the public soon inspired local A.A. groups to utilize radio in their own outreach efforts to spread the word about Alcoholics Anonymous.

1941: Detroit, Michigan's first “Central Office” was located in the home of Sarah Klein [left], a non-alcoholic with a telephone. She would receive calls for help and dispatch local A.A. members on 12th-Step calls.

1942: Bill W. and Dr. Bob S., the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, faced accusations of excessively profiting from the sales of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

Rumors circulated in Cleveland, Ohio, that the Alcoholic Foundation office and the Big Book operated as a “racket,” primarily generating royalties from book sales. Clarence S. [right, 1942] claimed he was unaware that either Bill or Dr. Bob was receiving royalties until…

I met Bill at the depot when he came in for the shindig [Doc Smith Day in March 1941]. He told me then. I was stunned. I thought it was a labor of love—no one was supposed to get any royalties. But Bill didn’t make any bones about it. People in New York [City] knew, and he assumed that Dr. Bob would tell them in Akron. Bill was willing to tell them in Cleveland—about himself, but not about Dr. Bob. He would admit anything. I told him, “Not right now, that I would work it out.”

In hindsight, it might have been better if Bill had immediately discussed the royalty issue with the Cleveland members. Despite Clarence’s assurances that he would squelch the rumors, they persisted.
To confront the problem directly, some Cleveland A.A. members organized a dinner where Dr. Bob and Bill were invited to speak. After a sparsely attended dinner, the two “guests of honor” were asked to meet privately with the chairpersons or secretaries of all local groups, an attorney, and a CPA. The dinner organizers voiced concerns that Bill and Bob were profiting significantly from the book, alleging they had shared $64,000 [~$1.46 million in 2026] in 1941. In reality, Bill earned $25 [~$550 in 2026] weekly from Works Publishing sales, and both he and Dr. Bob received $30 [~$684 in 2026] weekly from contributions by wealthy non-A.A. supporters. Records indicate Dr. Bob received a total of $1,000 [~$22,800 in 2026] in 1941; even the weekly $30 was not consistently paid.

Bill “just happened” to have brought a certified audit of all A.A. financial affairs from its inception. The investigating committee’s CPA read and confirmed the statement’s accuracy. Bill and Dr. Bob received apologies from those present. The group officers vowed to quash the rumors, but they never fully disappeared, and talk of this as a “racket” persisted for years.