January 16 in A.A. History

1919: With Nebraska’s adoption of the 18th Amendment, it became the 36th state (out of 48) to do so, thereby making this amendment part of the United States Constitution [right: front page of the Anti-Saloon League’s The American Issue^*, 25 Jan 1919]. It prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof.” Importantly, this language did not prohibit the use, possession, or even manufacture of alcohol for private, personal use.
    As Dr. Bob S. noted in his story “Doctor Bob’s Nightmare” (in all four editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous), he initially did not realize that the government would accommodate his alcoholism by allowing doctors almost unlimited supplies of grain alcohol for “medicinal urposes.” During Prohibition, Dr. Bob would randomly select a name from the phone book and fill out a prescription to obtain a pint of 100-proof medicinal alcohol [left: Prohibition-era prescription—not from Dr. Bob—for alcohol].

---

^*The total circulation of The American Issue in 1919 was 837,200,172 copies!

1920: At midnight, Prohibition took effect across the United States, one year after the ratification of the 18th Amendment. 
    This amendment granted “Congress and the several States” the power to enforce Prohibition. However, the enabling legislation—the Volstead Act, named after Minnesota Representative Andrew Volstead [right] but actually written by Wayne Wheeler [left, 1920] of the Anti-Saloon League—left no room for local options or other forms of flexibility.
    Ironically, the law called for a significant increase in federal intervention in society just as “limited government” advocates were coming into office (Prohibition was in effect during the presidencies of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover). A parsimonious Congress was reluctant to appropriate sufficient funds for effective enforcement.
    The result would be a decade of lawlessness, with citizens flouting the law in speakeasies and bootleggers corrupting public officials. On Capitol Hill, the bootlegger George Cassiday [right, 1930], known as “The Man in the Green Hat,” would operate freely out of the House office building. The Senate would successfully prevent his client list from ever being made public.
    Alcohol consumption and deaths from cirrhosis of the liver would both decline during Prohibition, while Bill W., Dr. Bob S., and other A.A. pioneers would engage in their heaviest drinking during this period. Terms like “rumrunner,” “bootlegger,” “speakeasy” and “bathtub gin” would soon enter the national vocabulary.

1945: A meeting was held at the Hotel Cleveland [left, circa 1940] in Cleveland, Ohio, to elect the first administrative body responsible for establishing and guiding the functions of a Downtown Alcoholics Anonymous District [Central] Office. Jack D., Paul J., Charles D., Dr. F. F., and Cliff B. were elected to the inaugural Operating Committee. Dick S., Elmer L., and Abby G. were elected to the Nominating Committee. The Finance Committee reported that, in response to a December letter soliciting funds, approximately 200 members had contributed $3,600 [~$65,000 in 2026], and many more had pledged to contribute as soon as the office opened. 

January 15 in A.A. History

1937: John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [left] began his efforts to start an A.A. meeting in Washington, D.C., a pursuit that would occupy him for much of the next two and a half years. He stayed with his sister, Agnes, who lived in Washington, for at least part of that time. 
    Initially, he had minimal success, but by the fall of 1939, he had established the nucleus of a small group.

1941: Bill W. asked Ruth Hock to get him a copy of what he referred to as a “spook book”: The Unobstructed Universe [right: 1st edition with dust jacket], by Stewart Edward White.

1942: Jeanne C. held the first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Springfield, Missouri.     While temporarily living in Kansas City, Missouri, during World War II, she had seen an advertisement for Alcoholics Anonymous in the classified section of The Kansas City Star [left: likely this one, which was running every Sunday]. She had written to the P.O. box, joined the Kansas City Number One Group, and got sober. After returning 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.
    Eventually, she wrote an article about A.A. for the local Springfield paper and obtained a post office box. Once she had a dozen names, she set the time and place for the first meeting in Springfield: her house on 15 January.
    Later, Jeanne would help establish A.A. in Joplin, Missouri, after receiving a call from Jim S. asking how to start a group. In response, Jeanne would gather several carloads of members from Springfield and Kansas City and travel to Joplin.

1945: Newsweek magazine [near right: cover] published an article [far right] in its Medicine section titled “It’s Fun to be Sober.” The article tells the story of Joe, a seaman who founded his own “club”—the Alcoholics Anonymous Seamen’s Group—at the original A.A. clubhouse on W. 24th St. in New York City.

1946: The Times-Herald of Washington, D.C., reported,

    Eight new patients and six who were formerly treated at the Force School presented themselves as willing subjects for an alcoholic cure when the Polk Health Center Alcoholic Clinic for Negroes went into operation January 15.
    Co-operating with the new clinic is the Washington Negro Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, which meets Fridays and Sundays at 8:30 pm. in the Y.M.C.A. at 1816 12th St. NW. The group supplies volunteer clerical help for the clinic, and alcoholics who require group therapy are referred to the organization by the doctors.

1958: Ernest Jacoby [left, 1913] died in Boston, Massachusetts. He had been the founder of the Jacoby Club, which helped alcoholic men and indigent older men in the area. His wife, Alice G. Hovey Jacoby, died about a day later.

2005: Esther C., 95, died in Kissimmee, Florida, with her family by her side. She got sober on 23 July 1943, when she was 12th-stepped by Clarence S. and four other Alcoholics Anonymous members in Cleveland, Ohio. She would often ride from Cleveland to meetings in Akron on her “Little Indian Scout” motorcycle [right: a young Esther on her motorcycle].

January 14 in A.A. History

1923: The U.S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce published “The Swiss dyestuffs industry: production, export, and import statistics” [near right] authored by Dr. Frederick B. [far right], the American trade commissioner to Germany.
    In December 1934, he would become Bill W.’s first real alcoholic prospect.

1941: Ruth Hock [left] sent out A.A. Bulletin #2 noting that A.A. was starting in five more cities—St. Louis, Missouri already had ten members—and that there was some activity in Vancouver, British Columbia. The bulletin included a “Flash!!!” lead item that The Saturday Evening Post would be publishing an article on Alcoholics Anonymous by Jack Alexander and that there would likely be many inquiries in response to the article. Members and groups were warned to “stand by for active duty.”

1941: The Waterbury (Connecticut) Democrat published an item [right] about Alcoholics Anonymous in the eponymous syndicated gossip column “Walter Winchell On Broadway” [left: Winchell, c. 1939]:

    There is a group called “Alcoholics Anonymous” in New York, the moving spirit being a well known transatlantic flyer … The group’s aim is to “straighten out any fellow who will even admit he drinks too much” … They meet at an illustrator’s place and have big “rallies”. These “rallies” are attended sometimes by hundreds of lushes many of whom have been in institutions for alcoholics etc. …They’ve succeeded where doctors and psychiatrists have failed, working on the theory that only a drunk know [sic] hohw [sic] to talk to a drunk.

January 13 in A.A. History

1941: Just three months after the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in Toledo, Ohio, the nine original members who had traveled to Akron to “learn” A.A. (and become what were then referred to as “Trainers”), rented space on the third floor of the J. George Kapp Building at 413 Summit St. [right, c. 1912]. They chose the name “The Downtown Group,” which at that time had thirteen members.
    A few months later, Jack Alexander’s article about A.A. was published in The Saturday Evening Post. This exposure led to a substantial increase in both membership and recognition of A.A. across the country, including Toledo. Within just over a year, the Downtown Group grew to over 100 members, with weekly meetings averaging more than 40 attendees. It soon became clear that the group had outgrown its meeting space, prompting the decision to break into smaller groups. Thus, A.A. in Toledo was born and began to expand.

1943: The first A.A. meeting in Toronto, Ontario, was held without fanfare at the Little Denmark Restaurant [left, 1930] at 720 Bay St., between Gerrard and College Streets. The non-alcoholic Revs. George Little and Percy Price met with six alcoholics. There was enough interest that a second meeting was scheduled for a week later. This was the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous in Ontario. Harry Emerson Fosdick's very positive review of the newly published Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, in January 1940…

    … stirred an interest in Dr. George A. Little, D.D., then a fifty-six year old Minister of the United Church of Toronto. Dr. Little had been a caring man who had had unsuccessfully attempted to help alcoholics gain sobriety. Fosdick’s review led him first to make copies of the book, then to order a personal copy of the Big Book for himself. Having read the book, he began in earnest mimeographing portions of it which he distributed to anyone he felt could further the cause or more importantly, to those he felt might be helped themselves. With his good intentions and tireless effort, people started to want more, and as a result, he ordered five copies of the Big Book in June, 1941. As an enthusiastic supporter of A.A., Dr. Little continued to be the alcoholics’ friend—so much so that he enrolled at the Yale University School of Alcoholic Studies from which he graduated in 1941.

1988: Dr. John L. “Jack” Norris [right], 85, died of complications from pneumonia at New London Hospital in New London, New Hampshire.
    Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Dr. Jack graduated from Dartmouth College and McGill University Medical School. From 1943 to 1969, he served as the medical director of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York. During this time, he developed expertise in the treatment of alcoholism, which he regarded as one of the nation’s most pressing medical problems. After retiring from Eastman Kodak in 1969, he founded Lake Sunapee Home Health Care Inc. in New London, a visiting nurse service, and the Hospice of the Kearsarge Valley, which serves terminally ill patients. He was a Class A (non-alcoholic) Trustee of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous from 1951 to 1961, its chairman from 1961 to 1978, and a Trustee Emeritus until his death. He served as chairman of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller’s Advisory Council on Alcoholism from 1961 to 1971.

2003: Dr. Earle M. [left], 91, died in Walnut Creek, California.
    He sobered up on 15 June 1953; Bill W. was his sponsor and close friend. Earle’s story, “Physician Heal Thyself,” appeared in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. He was buried at sea.

January 12 in A.A. History

1929: Bill W. wrote a third pledge [right] in the family Bible: “‘To tell you once more that I am finished with it. I love you.”

1966: Horace C., 75 [left], died in Readington, New Jersey [below right: Horace’s headstone]. He had joined Alcoholics Anonymous (#81?) in December 1938, shortly after Bill W. had written the Twelve Steps for what would become the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.
    Bill and Lois W., who were homeless from April 1939 to April 1941, lived in his bungalow in Green Pond, New Jersey, during the spring of 1939.
    In 1940, Horace and Bert T. found the site and guaranteed the rent for the first A.A. clubhouse on 24th Street in Manhattan.
    That same year he became a Class B (alcoholic) Trustee of the Alcoholic Foundation. He was Vice President of Works Publishing, Inc. when its financial report was published in June 1940.
    His picture appeared in Jack Alexander’s March 1941 article in The Saturday Evening Post, titled “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others.”
    After Jack C. gave Ruth Hock a newspaper clipping of the Serenity Prayer, Horace suggested printing it on wallet cards and paid for the printing.
    In the early 1940s, the Alcoholic Foundation sent him to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C., to sound out groups there and try to gain support for the Alcoholic Foundation’s headquarters in New York City.

January 11 in A.A. History

2008: A memorial service honoring Robert “Bob” P. [right, with his wife Betsy] was held in Sun Valley, Idaho, following his death on January 1.
    Bob made significant contributions to Alcoholics Anonymous, serving on the General Service Board from 1968 to 1974 and as the General Manager of the General Service Office (G.S.O.) from 1974 to 1984. His personal story, “A.A. Taught Him to Handle Sobriety,” appears in both the 3rd and 4th editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

     He also wrote a Manuscript of A.A. World History, dated 1985. This manuscript served as the first draft of an in-depth history of Alcoholics Anonymous from the time Bill W. wrote Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age. In 1986, the Conference Literature Committee recommended that “a definitive book on A.A. history from 1955-1985 be prepared and brought to the 1987 Conference for consideration.” The committee produced Advisory Actions regarding this “A.A. History Book” every year from 1987 to 1993. All but the final one specified that work on the book should continue and that a report be made at the following year's Conference. In 1993, the Advisory Action recommended that “the A.A. History Book project be deferred for two years so that a new team of A.A. servants can look at the History Book with fresh ideas.” The single readily available copy of this manuscript (on silkworth.net) notes on the first page that it “was rejected by the Trustees’ Literature Committee and was not published.”

January 10 in A.A. History

1944: A letter, presumably sent to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City, announced the first meeting of an A.A. group in Burlington, Iowa, which included five members and a contingent from Des Moines A.A. (~140 miles [~225 km] away) to help them get started. Also present was Father T. J. Lew, a Catholic priest, who was so impressed by what he witnessed that he dedicated his Sunday sermon to Alcoholics Anonymous. By the end of the month, Des Moines’ membership would grow to 50, and a new group would be established in Marshalltown, Iowa (~130 miles [~210 km] from Burlington and ~50 miles [~80 km] from Des Moines) [right: Google Earth map of Iowa showing locations of these three cities].

January 9 in A.A. History

1925: In Manchester Center, Vermont, an intoxicated Edwin “Ebby” T. [near right] >on his way home to Manchester, drove his “straight eight” Packard [left: a 1920 Packard] across a large lot, onto the porch, through the door, and into the kitchen of the house where Mrs. Kate Gilmore and and her daughter Elizabeth were living. He struck a stove in the middle of the room, moving it about a foot and scattering soot. A water pipe was also broken, necessitating an immediate call for a plumber to shut off the water. The only damage to the car was a broken fender.
    Fortunately, neither Ebby, his two passengers, nor the Gilmores were injured. One passenger, realizing they were in a kitchen, “demanded a cup of hot coffee.” Ebby then backed the car onto the highway, went to Justice of the Peace Frank Regan in Manchester, and reported the accident. He hadn’t yet received his new driver’s license, and the car had a 1924 New York license plate. The following day, Saturday, he was fined $50 [~$926 in 2026] plus costs [far right: page one article in Vermont's The Bennington Herald, 12 January 1925].

1952: The first “Family Groups” office, known as the “Clearing-house Committee,” was established at the 24th Street Clubhouse in New York City.

January 8 in A.A. History

1937: Bill W. [right: mid to late 1930s] lost his job at Quaw & Foley,^* and at that time, he was still owed one of his two weeks of vacation.^† Bill claimed he was let go due to the March 1937 market crash; indeed, the market losses on 10 March 1937, are ranked as the second-worst day in U.S. financial history. Following this, all aspects of the nation’s business remained depressed for well over a year, with unemployment reaching about 18%. Lois’s diary notes that Quaw & Foley were forced to let Bill go “because they nearly failed.” This would be the last substantive job Bill ever held outside of Alcoholics Anonymous.
[William Schaberg, in Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A., asserts at this point in the story (p. 24) that…

Wilson was never happy with his ongoing lack of real employment and he would spend the rest of his life chasing the occasional job opportunities that came his way, while just as constantly trying to resign from the central leadership position that was always being forced back on him by the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.^** In many ways, these two factors defined Bill Wilson’s life from this point forward: he never again held a job outside of A.A. and he was never able to completely let go of the reins that controlled A.A.…

^**Dipping into any of the folders containing Wilson’s voluminous thirty-five years of correspondence that are carefully preserved at Stepping Stones will provide ample support for both of these observations. However it must be noted that Bill Wilson’s desire to hand over the leadership of A.A. to others was always tempered by a conflicting desire on his part to continue “running the show.” He was a complicated and fascinating man.]

---

^*Quaw & Foley was a firm that specialized in stock market investigations and provided Bill W. with most of the professional work he did in the early 1930s.

^†Bill would use this week, October 9–16, to visit the alcoholics in Akron, Ohio.

1988: A memorial service for Lois [left, near the end of her life], Bill W.’s widow, was held in Bedford Hills, New York. About fifty family and friends gathered for an informal Quaker-style service in the living room of Stepping Stones, in front of a roaring fire in the stone fireplace. During the service, Michael Alexander, Class A (non-alcoholic) Trustee and chair of the General Service Board, spoke of her many talents and facets: not only was she the leader and organizer of Al-Anon, but she was also a writer, artist, poet, musician, highly sought-after speaker, lover of nature, homemaker, tireless hostess, and devoted wife. “She was a remarkable and great lady and we shall sorely miss her.”

January 7 in A.A. History

1939: After finalizing the details of selling stock in a publishing company to raise funds and retain ownership of what would become the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill W. [far left] and Hank P. [near left] “burn up the telephone to [Willard Richardson [near right] in] New York and even to Ohio where Frank Amos [far right]” was presumably enjoying a three-week vacation. They presented an outline of the new company and the stock plan, and posed a straightforward question: “Would you therefore be in favor that [we] make an effort to secure stock subscriptions for a corporation to take over the book on the terms [we] have just described?” Bill, at least, anticipated a negative response, and that is exactly what they got. Neither Richardson nor Amos agreed and both advised caution before taking any further steps [left: stock certificate for Works Publishing, Inc., the company Bill and Hank would form and sell stock in].

1953: Bill W. sent out a manuscript of new essays on the Twelve Steps for “criticisms and suggestions.” In his letter [right] he reminded recipients that “last spring…” he had “circulated… a similar piece of writing on A.A.’s Twelve Traditions.” He mentioned that “since then, following considerable discussion, a plan had evolved to perhaps combine the two manuscripts into a single book, [the future Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions] …” He noted that Harper & Bros. had made “a very favorable offer” to distribute the book to “the outside public” and expressed his desire to have the book approved by the General Service Conference in April.

1984: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS) published Pass It On: The Story of Bill W—and how the A.A. message reached the world [left, 1st edition]. Mel B. [right] was the primary author, with assistance from several others.

January 6 in A.A. History

In 1941, Bill W. [near right, 1942] responded to a letter from Jack Alexander [far right], who had enclosed a manuscript of his article on Alcoholics Anonymous for The Saturday Evening Post. Bill’s eagerness was evident:

    I wish I could adequately convey to you the sense of gratitude that every one of us feels towards you and the Saturday Post for what is about to take place. You can not possibly conceive the direct alleviation of so much misery as will be brought to an end through your pen and your good publishers. For many a day you will be the toast of A.A.—in Coca-Cola, of course!

In 1955, Bill W.’s stepmother, Christine Bock W., 77, died in Los Angeles, California. She would be buried alongside Bill’s father in the East Dorset Cemetery in Vermont [left: their headstone].

In 2000, Stephen P. [right], 63, died at Washoe Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, after a 6½-year battle with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Together with his wife Frances, he had compiled A Concordance to Alcoholics Anonymous [left], first published in August 1990.
    Under the pseudonym Stephen E. Whitfield, and with minimal contributions from Gene Roddenberry, he wrote the classic book The Making of Star Trek [right], the first—and for many years the only—specialized reference book on the behind-the-scenes aspects of Star Trek production, published in 1968.

January 5 in A.A. History

In 1939, Hank P. [near right] wrote to Bill W. [center right] after receiving a letter from Tom Uzzell [far right], editor of the book manuscript, which stated:

    I spent last evening with the manuscript... on reading additional chapters... I found myself deeply moved, at times full of amazement, almost incredulity, and during most of the reading I was extremely sympathetic. My feeling at the moment is that you should certainly hold on to the production and distribution of this volume... I don't know what else you could want for a good book. I believe in it most em­phatically... The whole book needs the final shaping of a professional hand... I understand better now the enthusiasm your with me about this work. I thought you were exaggerating somewhat but now I have joined the choir invisible.

    Shortly thereafter, Uzzell began editing the material that Hank and Bill had sent him, resulting in a pre-publication manuscript [left: page 1] that in a few months would become the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1940, Clarence S. [right] wrote to Bill W.,

    Have attended two of Doc S――’s meetings since he has been holding them in his home, and they have been very well attended and very inspirational.
    Doc led our meeting, and never have I heard him in such fine fettle. Noticed a vast improvement since he pulled his gang out of the Williamses’. Now speaks with authority and no pussyfooting, and I believe he looks ten years younger.

     In 1977, John R. recalled,

    I’m not sure, but I think we had two meetings there. You should have seen Doc’s house! His little living room [left] wasn’t much bigger that this little house we live in. We were crowded up pretty good there.

In 1941 [Lois Remembers says early March], Bill and Lois W. were spending the weekend at the home of A.A. members Ruth and Wilbur S. in Chautauqua, New York. The day before, the S――s had shown the Wilsons an unoccupied house in Bedford Hills owned by the widow, Mrs. Helen Griffith—who was not related to Bill. She wanted to meet the W――s, so they returned to the house to see her. Helen made them an offer: to sell the house for $6,500 [~$148,000 in 2026], significantly less than her original asking price, with no down payment and a monthly mortgage payment of $40 [~$911 in 2026], with no interest for at least the first year. After Bill made some quick mental calculations, he and Lois accepted Helen’s offer.