June 20 in A.A. History

In 1944, Alcoholics Anonymous National Secretary Margaret “Bobbie” B. [near right] announced in a bulletin to A.A. groups that the demand for copies of Bill W.’s presentation to the New York State Medical Society and Dr. Harry Tiebout’s paper to the American Psychiatric Association was so great that both articles would be published in a pamphlet titled “Medicine Looks at Alcoholics Anonymous” [far right: as published, undated].

In 1946, Drs. C. Nelson Davis [far left] and C. Dudley Saul [near left] established The C. Dudley Saul Clinic for alcoholics at St. Luke’s Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This clinic was the first private facility of its kind in the United States. 

    After Dr. Saul’s death in 1947, Dr. Davis moved the clinic to Malvern, Pennsylvania, renaming it the Malvern Institute [right, 2017]. Both doctors were early advocates of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and traveled together to promote the organization, believing in the benefits of a 12-step program for recovering alcoholics.

    Additionally, Dr. Saul founded the 4021 Clubhouse [left, 1972] in Philadelphia for A.A. meetings, which remains active today.

June 19 in A.A. History

Today in A.A. History—June 19–21

In 1981, the University of Akron in Ohio hosted the 46th Annual A.A. Founders’ Day Weekend, as noted in issue #9 of the Founders Day Herald from 1981 [left].

June 18 in A.A. History

In 1935, [Date assumes Dr. Bob’s last drink was on June 17th.] In Akron, Ohio, one day after his last drink, Dr. Bob S. proposed that he and Bill W. find other alcoholics to work with.

    A local minister, J. C. Wright, connected them with a prospect who lived down the street from Dr. Bob. They would spend the summer trying, in vain, to sober him up: Edgar “Eddie” R. [left], an “alcoholic atheist able to produce a major crisis of some sort about every other day.” Notoriously, he once chased Bob’s wife, Anne, around their home with a butcher knife. Eddie also claimed to have visited Bill D. (A.A. #3) in the hospital alongside Bill and Bob.
    Although he missed the chance to become A.A. #3 himself, years later, at a large A.A. meeting in Youngstown, Dr. Bob exclaimed, “Holy Moses!” upon seeing Eddie, who was reportedly sober for one year at that time. Eddie attended Dr. Bob’s funeral in 1950 and later became a member of the Youngstown, Ohio group. When Eddie died in 1963, his wife said he had been sober for 17 years, dating back to 1946.

In 1940, the first meeting at the original A.A. clubhouse, located at 334½ W. 24th St. in New York City, was attend­ed by 100 people. A February 1951 article in the A.A. Grapevine would say about this location: The cryptic letters “AA” had gone up on a battered green doorway in the undistinguished neighborhood of New York’s once elegant Chelsea district. It isn’t a very auspicious doorway, nor a conspicuous sign.… Wedged in between two old-fashioned brick-fronts,… there isn’t supposed to be any doorway there at all.… You push open the door. You’re in a little ves­­tibule.… And you open the inner door to find—nothing! Nothing, that is, except a long, bare, tunnel-like and mysterious looking hallway.… Actually this is merely the passageway between the two houses back to the oddity of an “extra building” built in the rear, over what had once been the “gardens.” It was Bill who first christened this hall “The Last Mile.”… Ultimately you step into the inner sanctum which… is the “meeting room.” An old upright piano, a card table or two, a few nondescript chairs and, of course, people. But the center of the room to your newcomer’s eye is the fireplace, pine panelled [sic], with a plain wooden mantel and, over it… the sign reading—“But For The Grace of God….” On the second floor there is another room of about the same size only somewhat lighter and airier because of the skylight. Here, in addition to the secretary’s desk, is what is called… grandly… “the lounge” … two wicker divans, three chairs and a table! Off in the far corner is a door leading to two tiny rooms that will be Lois and Bill’s living quarters during a period when AA’s financial affairs could easily be kept on the back of an old envelope.     Herbert “Bert” T. and Horace C. personally guarantee rent for the building. [Above left, top to bottom: climbing the the stairs behind the entrance; main room of clubhouse. Above right, top to bottom: entrance; the “long, bare tunnel-like and mysterious” hallway; the upstairs room, where Bill and Lois lived for the first year the clubhouse was open. Below: The Saturday Evening Post’s photo of “a typical meeting,” which was anything but typical.]

June 17 in A.A. History

In 1926, Lois W.’s sister, Katharine “Kitty” Burnham [near right, 1924], married Gardner Swentzel [far right, 1916] at the Church of the New Jerusalem, near the Burnham home in Brooklyn. 
    Bill and Lois had interrupted their motorcycle tour in Alabama to attend the wedding. On their way, they had an accident outside Dayton, Tennessee, where Bill broke his collarbone and Lois twisted her leg, resulting in “water on the knee.” They spent a week recovering and then, after a few more days, shipped their motorcycle and belongings home while they took the train. As Lois described it:

Although we were in plenty of time for the wedding, I made a sorry looking matron of honor, when, with red gashes on my face, I limped up the aisle.

In 1935, Dr. Bob S. [left] had his last drink, according to recent historical research. The best known but incorrect date is June 10, the official founding date of Alcoholics Anonymous.
    Dr. Bob had decided to attend the annual American Medical Association convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from June 10 to 14. During the trip, he engaged in several days of binge drinking: on the way to the convention, during the convention, and while returning home. 

    Ul­ti­mate­ly, a drunken Dr. Bob ended up at the home of his office nurse in Cuy­a­hoga Falls, Ohio. His wife, Anne [near right], and Bill W. [far right] came to pick him up. With Bill’s help, Bob spent three days sobering up. Facing surgery at Akron City Hospital, he made a pivotal decision:

I am going through with this—I have placed both the operation and myself in God’s hands. I’m going to do what it takes to get sober and stay that way.

    Before the surgery, Bill gave Bob his last drink, a beer, along with a “goofball” (a barbiturate) to help steady him.

In 1942 , local A.A. groups hosted the inaugural New York City area meeting, which attracted 424 attendees. The event featured speakers Rev. Vincent Donovan [near right], Dr. William D. Silkworth [middle right], and Williard S. Richardson [far right], Treasurer of the Alcoholic Foundation and associate of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

In 1967, T. Henry Williams [left] died and was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Twinsburg, Ohio.

    From the early 1930s until 1939, he and his wife, Clarace, had hosted weekly Oxford Group meetings at their home [above right], welcoming early members like Henrietta Seiberling, Dr. Bob, Anne S., and others. Following Bill W.’s arrival in 1935, new members of the emerging Alcoholics Anonymous group in Akron, Ohio, were included as part of the “alcoholic squadron” of the Oxford Group.

June 16 in A.A. History

In 1938, James “Jimmy” B. [right], author of “The Vicious Cycle” in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions of Alcoholics Anonymous, had his last drink following a successful week of selling car polish in New England, after which two customers had taken him to lunch.

    I spent the next four days wandering around New England half drunk, by which I mean I couldn’t get drunk and I couldn’t get sober. I tried to contact the boys in New York [City], but telegrams bounced right back, and when I got Hank [P.] on the telephone he fired me right then. This was when I really took my first good look at myself.… My brilliant agnosticism vanished, and I saw for the first time that those who really believed, or at least honestly tried to find a Power greater than themselves, were much more composed and contented than I had ever been, and they seemed to have a degree of happiness I had never known.

    Humbled, Jimmy returned to New York City, where the group welcomed him back. The story of “Ed,” mythologized on pages 143-145 in the chapter “Tradition 3” of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, represents Bill W.’s reinterpretation of this part of Jimmy’s journey.

In 1940, the first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) group in Baltimore, Maryland, was founded by James “Jimmy” B. and James “Jim” R. 
    Jim had gotten sober on 7 June 1933, more than 18 months before Bill W. At this time, he was working, without success, with two other alcoholics. Jimmy learned of Jim through the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City and reached out to him. Jim was very happy to have what Jimmy described as “AA” help.

    The two met with three other men at Jim’s house, located at 2936 St. Paul St. [left]. A few days later, Jimmy received a letter in Philadelphia from a Baltimore lawyer who wished to help his alcoholic brother. The lawyer offered his office in the Munsey Trust Building on Fayette St. [right, c. 1920s] as a meeting place. Just six days later, the same six men held Baltimore’s second A.A. meeting in the lawyer’s office. 

    Over the years, the group has moved several times, but the 857 Club (also known as the Rebos Club) has remained active for 85 years. It currently hosts 13 meetings a week at 100 S. Haven St. in the Canton/Highlandtown neighborhood.

June 15 in A.A. History

In 1938, in Lois Remembers, Lois Wilson will recall this date as the first time the term “Alcoholics Anonymous” was first used.

In 1945, Jeannie C. held the first A.A. meeting in Springfield, Missouri at her home, 1950 S. Jefferson Ave. [right, Mar 2016].
    During World War II, Jeannie temporarily lived at the Bellerive^* Hotel, a prominent and historic apartment hotel located at 214 East Armour Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, where she first tried to stay sober. After several setbacks, she came across Jack Alexander’s article in The Saturday Evening Post titled “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others.” She reached out to the Alcocolic Foundation in New York City and was connected with A.A. members in St. Louis. However, maintaining communication from Kansas City proved difficult. Almost by chance, Jeannie said, she noticed an ad in a Kansas City newspaper for people with a drinking problem. She wrote to the listed P.O. Box, which connected her to the Kansas City Number One group, where she ultimately found sobriety.
    After two years of sobriety, Jeannie returned to Springfield. She stayed sober for two years by making frequent trips to Kansas City, despite gas rationing, and by corresponding with Bobbie B. at the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City. Encouraged by the group, she wrote an editorial about A.A. for the local Springfield paper and secured a post office box. After gathering a dozen names, she organized Springfield’s first group meeting at her home on January 15.
    Later, Jeannie played a crucial role in establishing A.A. in Joplin, Missouri, after receiving a call from Jim S. asking how to start a group. In response, Jeannie rallied several carloads of members from Springfield and Kansas City and descended on Joplin.

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^* The document “A Journey into Sobriety: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous [in] Springfield, Missouri” states that it was the “Bellflower Hotel.” However, there is no evidence of a hotel by that name in Kansas City, suggesting that this may be a misspelling of “Bellerive Hotel [left].”

In 1953, Dr. Earle M. [right], author of “Physician Heal Thyself” in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions of Alcoholics Anonymous, had his last drink and drug. Harry H. a friend and A.A. member, took him to his first A.A. meeting the following week at the Tuesday Night Mill Valley group, which was meeting in Wesley Hall at the Methodist Church in Mill Valley, California. Only four other people attended: a butcher, a carpenter, a baker, and Harry, a mechanic/inventor. From the start, Earle loved A.A., and although he sometimes critiqued the program, his devotion remained unwavering.

In 1969, n a letter to the International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA), Bill W. wrote,

… in recent years I have found nothing for greater inspiration than the knowledge that A.A. of tomorrow will be safe, and certainly magnificent, in the keeping of you who are the younger generation of A.A. today.

June 14 in A.A. History

In 1940, The Evening Star of Washington, D.C. published “the second article in a series on Alcoholics Anonymous, national brotherhood of recovered alcoholics,” titled “Clergymen Discover the Efficacy of A.A. in Curing Drunks” [left]. It read, in part,

    Progress of Alcoholics Anonymous during the past 18 months, especially in many larger cities of the Nation, has attracted the interest of leaders in religion and medicine. They have studied closely this movement that originated in New York City five years ago. They have sought to determine how, in so many cases, the Double A’s [sic] have succeeded in straightening out drunks where other formulas have failed.

In 1946, The March of Time newsreel service released “Problem Drinkers” [right: screen capture], a documentary on alcoholism that prominently featured Alcoholics Anonymous. These shorts were widely distributed and often shown in movie theaters before the main attraction.

In 1954, in a letter to Bernard Smith, Chair of the Alcoholic Foundation/General Service Board, Bill W. shared his thoughts on the upcoming second edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, set to be published in 1955. His comments included:

    The story section of the Big Book is far more important than most of us think. It is our principal means of identifying with the reader outside of A.A.; it is the written equivalent of hearing speakers at an AA meeting; it is our show window of results. To increase the power and variety of this display to the utmost should be, therefore, no routine or hurried job.
    The best will be none too good. The difference between “good” and “excellent” can be the difference between prolonged misery and recovery, between life and death, for the reader outside A. A.
    The main purpose of the revision is to bring the story section up-to-date, to portray more adequately a cross-section of those who have found help. The audience for the book is people who are coming to Alcoholics Anonymous now. Those who are here have already heard our stories. Since the audience for the book is likely to be newcomers, anything from the point of view of content or style that might offend or alienate those who are not familiar with the program should be carefully eliminated.

Bill also outlined several “Basic Editorial Approaches” that remain relevant today, more than 70 years later. These included:

1.  The desire to reproduce realistic stories should not be overemphasized to the extent of producing an unrealistic book.… There should be no shrinking from the job of editing ruthlessly if such editing will preserve the story, without the realism.
2.  Profanity, even when mild, rarely contributes as much as it detracts. It should be avoided.
3. All minor geographic references should be avoided.
4. The stories should be organized coherently, either in terms of chronology or of the specific points the individual is trying to make.
5. “Selling” or other “gimmicks”—editorial and otherwise—should be avoided. The story section is not a popular magazine. The appearance and approach should be straightforward, without frills.
6. Humor should stem from the character of the storyteller and of the situations he describes, not be the result of gags.
7. The end results of editing should be that the stories will be suitable for reading aloud—at closed meetings, etc.—without embarrassment.

June 13 in A.A. History

In 1939, Lois W.’s [near right] diary entry for these dates noted that Hank P. [center right] was fighting with his wife, Kathleen [far right], and was determined to divorce her.

June 12 in A.A. History

In 1931, Rowland Hazard [right] departed on a three-month family trip to Europe. The Hazard Family Papers in the Manuscripts Division of the Rhode Island Historical Society show that he was in France on July 9, Italy on July 20, and apparently left for England on August 13. There is no evidence to suggest that Hazard visited Switzerland during this trip, making it highly unlikely that he saw Dr. Carl Jung, despite suggestions otherwise.

In 1941, Ruth Hock [left] wrote Henry S., a printer and member of A.A. in Washington, D.C., to get costs for printing the Serenity Prayer as a wallet card.

    She had received a clipping [right] of this prayer from Jack C. [below right], a newspaperman and fellow A.A. member, which he found in the “In Memoriam” section of the 28 May 1941 edition of the New York Herald Tribune. 

Ruth wanted to keep the clipping to include copies in outgoing mail. Horace suggested printing the prayer as a card and paid for a first printing. In response to Ruth’s request, Henry S. printed 500 cards [left: a vintage such card, date unknown] at his own expense and sent them to her, offering to provide more at no cost.

June 11 in A.A. History

In 1938, after what he described as “a very good week” selling car polish in New England, Jimmy B. [right] was taken out to lunch by two of his customers. Having been sober for just over five months, he refrained from drinking when they each ordered a round of beers, leaving both glasses untouched.

    Then it was my turn—I ordered, “Three beers,” but this time it was different; I had a cash investment of thirty cents [~$6.80 in 2025], and, on a ten-dollar-a-week salary [~$227 in 2025], that’s big thing. So I drank all three beers, one after the other, and said, “I’ll be seeing you, boys,” and went around the corner for a bottle. I never saw either of them again.

    The story of “Ed,” recounted—though inaccurately—on pages 143-5 of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, is Bill W.’s version of this part of Jimmy’s story.

In 1947, the 11th printing of the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous [left: copyright page], was published by Works Publishing, Inc. In this printing, all instances of the term “ex-alcoholic” were replaced with “ex-problem drinker” or “non-drinker.”

In 1969, Dr. Bob S.’s 23-year-old grand­daughter, Bonna [near right], the daughter of Sue S. and Ernie G. (A.A. #4, whose story is “The Seven Month Slip” in the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous), shot and killed herself after first killing her six-year-old daughter, Sandy [far right], Dr. Bob’s great-granddaughter. Sue and Ernie had been divorced for four years, and Sue believed that Bonna was an alcoholic and abused diet pills.

In 1971, Ernest “Ernie” G. [left], referred to in the Big Book (p. 159) as “the devil-may-care chap,” died at the age of 66. Sue wrote, “Ernie never got over [Bonna’s death], and he died two years later to the day…”

In 2016, the Anchorage Dry Dock Club [right], established in Alaska in March 1982 by Alcoholics Anonymous members “to create a permanent meeting place for meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous available to recovering alcoholics in the South Anchorage area,” is officially incorporated as “The Dry Dock of Anchorage, Inc.” Today,

    … the Anchorage Dry Dock operates a social club where recovering alcoholics and addict [sic], their families and friends can spend leisure hours in an alcohol and drug free environment. The Anchorage Dry Dock provides space where groups of Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Pills Anonymous or any other recovery group can hold meetings.

June 10 in A.A. History

In 1935, this widely accepted date for Dr. Bob’s last drink marks the official founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. However, many historians believe the founders may have gotten the date wrong in their attempts to reconstruct history, suggesting that Dr. Bob’s last drink actually occurred on June 17. Barefoot Bill L. confirmed through the American Medical Association (AMA) Archives in Chicago, Illinois, that the 1935 AMA Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was held from Monday to Friday, June 10–14, 1935. Others speculate that Dr. Bob attended specialty meetings before the convention, during which he started drinking, preventing him from attending the main event and leading him to go home early.

June 9 in A.A. History

In 1886, John Mark Whalon [right, listening to phonograph records, late 1942], commonly known by his middle name, was born. He would go on to become one of Bill W.’s closest and longest-lasting friends. In 1943 he would be featured in a Life magazine photo essay titled “Life Rides the Route of a Rural Mailman in Vermont,” from which this photograph was taken.

In 1924, Gardner Fayette Griffith, Bill W.’s maternal grandfather, died in Dorset, Vermont, due to valvular heart disease complicated by rheumatism. He and his wife, Ella A. Brock, began raising Bill and his sister when Bill was 10 years old. Gardner was buried in the East Dorset Cemetery [left: death certificate, gravestone].

Today in A.A. History—June 9–10

In 1945, Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted a two-day “Big Meeting” at the Cleveland Music Hall and the Carter Hotel^* [right], at 1012 Prospect Avenue, to celebrate A.A.’s 10th anniversary. Approximately 2,500 attendees from 36 states, 2 Canadian provinces, and 1 from Mexico participated. Bill W. reflected on his relationship with Dr. Bob S., stating, “Although we have had many differences, we have never had an angry word.” Dr. Bob shared that he had averaged at least an hour of reading each day for the past 10 years, consistently returning to the fundamental teachings found in the Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and the 13th chapter of I Corinthians in the Bible.

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^* At the time, the chef of the hotel’s swanky Rainbow Room was Ettore “Hector” Boiardi—better known today as Chef Boyardee.

Today in A.A. History—June 9–11

In 1978, the 21st International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA) took place at the Downtown Marriott in Atlanta, Georgia, with the theme “Love Will Keep Us Together” [left: registration form, program cover].

June 8 in A.A. History

Today in A.A. History—June 8–9

In 1991, el X Congreso Zonal de Alcohólicos Anónimos [derecha] se celebró en la ciudad colombiana de San José de Cúcuta. 
    [The 10th Zonal Congress of Alcoholics Anonymous [right] was held in the Colombian city of San José de Cúcuta.]

June 7 in A.A. History

In 1925, on Granby Lane in Dublin, Ireland, on his way to Mass, Matt Talbot [far left: restored photo], 69, collapsed and died of heart failure A manual laborer who spent most of his life alone, Talbot might have gone unnoticed had it not been for the cords and chains found on his body after his death. He was buried [near left] in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin on June 11. 

    In 1952, his remains were moved [right: “Irish Tribunal Exhumes Body of Matt Talbot, The Catholic Times, Columbus, Ohio, 11 Jul 1952, p. 3.] to a tomb at Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Seán McDermott Street, Dublin. Although he has not been formally recognized as a saint, he has been declared Venerable and is considered a patron of those struggling with alcoholism. [While not part of Alcoholics Anonymous history, Talbot’s story is noteworthy; by age 28, he was deemed a hopeless alcoholic but “took the pledge” (renounced alcohol) and remained sober for the last 40 years of his life.]

In 1933, James “Jim” R. had his first day of what would become his permanent sobriety, marking a sobriety date more than 18 months before Bill W.’s. Continued binge drinking had led Jim to enter The Keswick Colony of Mercy [left, 1920], a religious recovery mission in New Jersey, where he would remain for the next 10+ months. He later became a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1997, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal published the article “AA Meeting a Piece of History” [right], which discussed the upcoming Founders’ Day celebration.

June 6 in A.A. History

In 1940, the first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) group in Richmond [right: downtown, c. 1940s], Virginia, began meeting.
    In the spring of 1940. Ted C., who had been treated at Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, New York, was returning to Richmond when the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City asked him to serve as their local contact. One of his initial referrals was McGhee B., whom Ted successfully helped to get sober. Together, they established the group, holding their first meeting in McGhee’s apartment with ten attendees. However, as Bill W. later recalled, they “believed in getting away from their wives and drinking only beer.” This approach did not work, and the group fell apart almost immediately.

In 1961, Dr. Carl Gustav Jung [far left] died from circulatory problems at his home in Küsnacht, located in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland [near right: Jung family gravestone]. He became a full professor of medical psychology at the University of Basel in 1943 but resigned the following year after suffering a heart attack, choosing to lead a more private life. He experienced another illness in 1952. 
    Despite these health challenges, Jung continued to publish books until his death, with his last work being, “Approaching the Unconscious,” a contribution to Man and His Symbols, written in early 1961 and published posthumously in 1964.

In 1979, in New York City, Lois W., the widow of Bill W., presented the 2,000,000th copy of Alcoholics Anonymous to Joseph Califano, who was then the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare [right: Dr. Norris presides over presentation by Lois to Califano].