December in A.A. History—day unknown

In 1912, in Paris, France, La Clochette (The Little Bell) published the earliest known version of what would later be known as “The Prayer of St. Francis.” This version was published anonymously under the title “Belle prière à faire pendant la messe” (A Beautiful Prayer to Say During the Mass) [left]. 
    La Clochette was a small spiritual magazine that published monthly in French from 1901 to 1919, operated by a Catholic Church organization in Paris called La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The League of the Holy Mass). Founded by Father Esther Bouquerel (1855–1923), who also edited the magazine, it had about 8,000 subscribers. The author of this prayer could very well have been Father Bouquerel himself, as he wrote the majority of the texts in La Clochette. Some researchers have noted similarities between this prayer and Pope Leo XIII’s 1899 la Prière de la Consécration (du genre humain) au Sacré-Cœur de Jésus (The Prayer of Consecration (of the human race) to the Sacred Heart of Jesus). However, the true identity of the author remains a mystery.

In 1934 [late December], Bill and Lois W. started attending Oxford Group meetings in New York City with Ebby T. [near right] and Shep Cornell [far right], who held a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and, along with Ebby and Lois’ families, also summered in Manchester, Vermont. Lois described it as “an ecstatic time for us both.”

In 1938, Bill W. [left, late 1930s] and others have often claimed that the editing of the working manuscript for the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous (as well as the preceding draft chapters), resulted in scenes where members “fought, bled, and died” throughout one chapter after another. They assert that Bill was merely an umpire, recording the consensus as it developed. However, the reality was that the actual arguments and discussions mostly took place between Hank Parkhurst [near right], Fitz Mayo [far right], and Bill himself at the Honor Dealers headquarters in Newark, New Jersey.
    Correspondence between Bill and Ruth Hock [left], who, as Hank’s secretary, witnessed virtually everything from those early days, confirms this. While others may have contributed punctuation and some rewording, the main debates revolved around whether to include the word “God” in the Steps and to what extent. Fitz was deeply religious, Hank was adamantly atheistic, and Bill initially refused to make any changes to his Twelve Steps, which he believed were “inspired.”

December 4 in A.A. History

In 1950, Bill W. wrote to Scott B. that one of the compelling reasons for wanting to write Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions [left: first edition cover] was the realization that the original text of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, had become “frozen”—too “sacred” even for the taste of its principal author, Bill himself.

December 3 in A.A. History

In 1940, the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City responded to a request for help from Dr. Gilbert “Gil” K. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, made on October 23.

    As you already know, our work extends far beyond the book itself and is carried on mainly through the efforts of one alcoholic who has recovered in behalf of others. This mutual effort in various localities gradually leads to weekly meetings which are held without dues, fees, or obligations of any sort whatever, merely a desire on the part of AA members, now numbering some 1,500, to aid others similarly troubled. Since you already acknowledge the fact that alcohol is a problem to you, you have already taken the most important step toward a solution. And too, since you are obviously seeking an answer to the problem you are naturally another step closer to reaching an answer. Therefore, if you are at all open minded to the principles and methods of AA you should have little difficulty in solving the problem as we have. We are sorry indeed to advise you that we have no A.A. Fellowship in Milwaukee or its immediate vicinity; the closest to you being located at Madison, Wisconsin or Chicago Illinois. If you are interested in contacting our members at either locality, and it is possible for you to do so, please let us hear from you again and complete information will be forwarded.

Today in A.A. History—December 3–5

In 1979, the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association (AMA), the AMA’s principal legislative and policymaking body, endorsed the dual classification of alcoholism in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), recognizing it in both the psychiatric and medical sections [right: resolution from the AMA’s Proceedings of the House of Delegates 33rd Interim Meeting, page 208].

December in A.A. History—day unknown

In 1938, in the midst of one of Bill W.’s “imaginary ulcer attacks,” a “depressive snit,” and a severe case of self-pity (“Poor me! Poor Bill Wilson!”), he wrote the Twelve Steps. Later he recalled that he “relaxed and asked for guidance, then picked up his pencil and [a] cheap yellow tablet” to begin writing:

    The words kept right on coming.… I didn’t seem to be thinking at all as I wrote. The words just flowed out of me and I’ve come to believe that these Steps must have been inspired.

     His most likely source, however indirect, was his own experience. At least eleven of the twelve steps can be found in the first two drafts of his story [right: “The Strange Obsession,” his earliest draft, May 1938] for the book that would eventually become the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

    This "First draft", the “original” Twelve Steps, as reverse-engineered by William Schaberg in Writing the Big Book on p. 458, are shown below (column 1), alongside the Twelve Steps from The Book That Started It All: The Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous (column 2), and those published in the first printing of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous on April 10, 1939 (column 3). Differences are highlighted, with edits from version to version indicated as deletions and additions:

	First draft	Original Working Manuscript	Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st Edition, 1st Printing
1.	Admit you are powerless over alcohol—that your life has become unmanageable.	Admit you are Admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that your life has our lives had become unmanageable.	We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.	Come to believe that God could restore you to sanity.	Come Came to believe that God a Power greater than ourselves could restore you us to sanity.	Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3.	Surrender your will and your life over to the care and direction of God.	Surrender Made a decision to turn your our will and life our lives over to the care and direction of God as we understood Him.	Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God and direction as we understood Him.
4.	Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself.	Make Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself ourselves.	Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.	Admit to God, to yourself, and to another human begin the exact nature of your wrongs.	Admit Admitted to God, to yourself ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of your our wrongs.	Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.	Be entirely willing for God to remove all your defects of character.	Be Were entirely willing for that, God remove all your these defects of character.	Were entirely willing that ready for to have God remove all these defects of character.
7.	Humbly, on your knees, ask God to remove your shortcomings—holding nothing back.	Humbly, on your our knees, ask God asked Him, to remove your our shortcomings—holding nothing back.	Humbly, on our knees, asked Him to remove our shortcomings—holding nothing back.
8.	Make a list of all persons you have harmed, and become willing to make complete amends to them all.	Make Made a list of all persons you have we had, harmed, and become became willing to make complete amends to them all.	Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make complete amends to them all.
9.	Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.	Make Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.	Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.	Continue to take personal inventory and when you are wrong promptly admit it.	Continue Continued to take personal inventory and when you are we were wrong promptly admit admitted it.	Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11.	Seek through prayer and meditation to improve your contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for you and the power to carry that out.	Seek Sought through prayer and meditation to improve your our contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for you us and the power to carry that out.	Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12.	Having had a spiritual experience as the result of this course of action, try to carry this message to others, especially alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all your affairs.	Having had a spiritual experience as the result of this course of action, try we tried to carry this message to others, especially alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all your our affairs.	Having had a spiritual experience awakening as the result of this course of action these steps , we tried to carry this message to others, especially alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Summary: “First draft” vs. Original Working Manuscript

• Throughout, changed 2nd person present tense to 1st person plural tense (i.e., “you come” to “we came”, “you make” to “we made”).
• In Step 2, changed “God” to “a Power greater than ourselves”.
• In Step 3, changed “Surrender” to “Made a decision to turn”, and added “as we understood Him” to “God”.
• In Step 6, changed “for God to” to “that God”.
• In Step 7, changed “God” to “Him”.

Summary: Original Working Manuscript vs. Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st Edition, 1st Printing

• In Step 1, changed “Admit” to “We admitted”.
• In Step 6, changed “willing that” to “ready to have”.
• In Step 7, removed “on our knees” and “—holding nothing back”.
• In Step 11, added “as we understood Him” to “God”.
• In Step 12, changed “spiritual experience” to “spiritual awakening”, “this course of action” to “these steps”, and “to others, especially alcoholics” to “to alcoholics”.

December 1 in A.A. History

In 1940, Illinois’ Chicago Daily Tribune (now know as the Chicago Tribune) began a four-part series by Nall Hamilton on Alcoholics Anonymous. The first article was titled “Weekly meetings help ex-alcoholics to shun barrooms” [left]. This series would generate hundreds of inquiries and attract many new members.

In 1941, the Columbus Group of Columbus, Ohio, moved from the basement of the Columbus Y.M.C.A. [near right, c. 1933] to the Southern Hotel [far right]. It had grown to 21 members, having been started with just six alcoholics only 28 days earlier.

A.A. History in November—day unknown

In 1934, Rev. Dr. Samuel M. Shoemaker III [right, c. 1940] wrote in his personal diary:

A significant thing… met Bill W――.

Note that this was the month before Bill W.’s final stay at Towns Hospital.

In 1934 [late], while staying at the Calvary Rescue Mission [left] in New York City, Edwin “Ebby” T. [near right] learned about the drinking problem of his old schoolmate, Bill W. [far right, late 1930s]. Ebby called Bill (or his wife Lois), who invited him over for dinner. During his visit, Ebby shared his recovery experience, “one alcoholic talking to another.” Although Bill, who was intoxicated at the time, and Ebby, who was sober, later had very different recollections of this key event, Lois’s brief account—not surprisingly—generally aligned with Bill’s.

      Earlier in the year, while in Vermont, Rowland Hazard, III [far left] and Francis Shepard “Shep” Cornell [near left] had introduced Ebby to the Oxford Group. Later, Rowland had taken Ebby to the Calvary Rescue Mission.

In 1935, John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [right] was discharged from Towns Hospital and became the third person to get sober and join A.A. in New York, following Hank Parkhurst and Bill Ruddell. His story, “Our Southern Friend,” would appear in all four editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.
    A “blue blood” from Maryland and the son of an Episcopalian minister, Fitz was said to be quite handsome, with chiseled features and the quiet, easy charm of the landed gentry. He embodied the qualities of a true Southern gentleman. Lois W. described Fitz as an impractical, lovable dreamer. His intellectual and scholarly traits gave him common ground with Bill W., who—like Fitz—was also a dreamer.
    Alcoholism may have run in his mother’s family. Although they never drank at home, Fitz discovered during his first drink in college that it alleviated his fears and sense of inferiority. He had attempted to enlist during World War I but could not pass the physical examination, which further contributed to his feelings of inadequacy. He had held a good job with a large corporation until the onset of the Great Depression. Subsequently, he had worked various jobs—as a traveling salesman, teacher, and farmer—but he couldn’t stop drinking. He had been drunk during significant moments: when his mother-in-law died, when his own mother died, and when his child was born. His wife had heard about Towns Hospital in New York City and urged him to go; he eventually agreed.

In 1937, the first challenge Bill W. [left, 1930s] and Hank P. [right] faced with the project of writing a book about A.A.—what would eventually become our Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous—was funding. The United States was still in the throes of the Great Depression; overseas, the specter of another world war loomed. The two men spent the entire month trying to raise funds for the book, to no avail.

In 1949, the shortened form of the Twelve Traditions was first printed in the A.A. Grapevine [right: cover]. Two changes in wording were made later: “primary spiritual aim” was changed to “primary purpose” in Tradition Six, and “principles above personalities” was changed to “principles before personalities” in Tradition Twelve.
    The entire Grapevine issue was dedicated to the Traditions in anticipation of the 1st International Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in June 1950, where Bill W. would seek approval^* of these Traditions. In the same issue, in an article titled “A Suggestion for Thanksgiving,” Bill pointed readers to an article by Tom Y. (the immediate past editor of the Grapevine), “You Have a Stake in the Future of AA.” He suggested that Thanksgiving^† week be dedicated to discussing the Traditions and added, “If the groups respond positively to this idea, special material on the Traditions will be sent out from the General Service Office to all groups.”
    The replies were overwhelmingly in favor. As a result, November became known as Traditions Month and later as Gratitude Month.

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^*When Bill presented the Traditions for approval in Cleveland, he omitted Tradition 10. In Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p. 102, Bill wrote Tradition 3 as “The only requirement for A.A. membership is a sincere desire to stop drinking” [emphasis added].
^†This reference clearly was taken to pertain to the United States Thanksgiving holiday. Might it not have been better for a U.S./Canada general service structure to alternate between this and the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, on the second Monday in October?

In 1950, the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City published the pamphlet [left] titled “Your Third Legacy: Will You Accept It?” by Dr. Bob S. and Bill W. This pamphlet outlined the plans and procedures for the General Service Conference and included a “Temporary Conference Charter” with “Twelve Suggested Principles.” Below are edited excerpts from the pamphlet regarding elections.

    The Alcoholic Foundation invited one Conference delegate from each State and Canadian Province. Seven states with large AA populations were assigned additional delegates. Delegates were divided into two Panels so that half would be elected and half would rotate in odd and even numbered years. Panel 1 areas were asked to form a committee to organize an election assembly no later than March 1951. Bill W traveled across the US attending over two dozen assemblies electing area committees and Conference Delegates.
    Each group could select a Group Representative to attend and vote at the assembly. Group Representatives later came to be called “General Service Representatives” or GSRs. They placed an “A” next to their name in the assembly registration book to indicate they were “available to serve” as a Committeeman or Delegate. Nominations were not accepted from the floor and elections were by written ballot.
    The Area Delegate, Officers and Committeemen were chosen by election or by lot or combination of both for terms of two years and took office in April following their election.

1. To begin, the assembly decided by simple majority the number of Committeemen to be elected. Committeemen later came to be called “Committee Members” and then “District Committee Members” (or DCMs). Elections were decided by plurality. The first three Committeemen elected from the pool of those “willing to serve“ automatically became the Area Chair, Treasurer and Secretary in that order. The newly elected Chair immediately presided over the remainder of the assembly. All new Committeemen and Officers were automatically in nomination for Delegate (unless they declined).
2. For the Delegate election, the assembly was asked if it was willing to make a single attempt to elect a Delegate by written ballot. If 2/3 agreed, a ballot was cast. If the assembly declined to vote for a Delegate by written ballot, or if the single attempted vote failed to produce a 2/3 majority, the election was decided by lot (“from the hat”).
3. The Chair then opened the assembly for discussion. Questions on the General Service Conference, or instructions to be given to the Delegate, were brought to the floor. Initially, Delegates were both informed and instructed. The Chair closed the assembly after announcing the date and location where the Delegate would make a post-Conference report. The Secretary recorded the results and prepared a written report of the assembly proceedings.

In 2005 , the first Mongolian conference of the Eastern Region focused on the theme “From 2 Steps to 12 Steps.” The participants began to realize “we had to work with 12 steps,” a practice that was not widely adopted. Additionally, they were not adhering to the Twelve Tradition [left: Нэргүй архичид, Mongolian for “Alcoholics Anonymous;” right: Mongolian A.A. logo superimposed over the Mongolian flag].

November 29 in A.A. History

In 1945, Universal Pictures released The Lost Weekend  [left: poster; bottom: still from the film], a hard-hitting film about alcoholism adapted by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett from Charles R. Jackson’s novel of the same name [right: cover].
    Wilder was drawn to the material after working on an earlier film with a recovering alcoholic who relapsed during their collaboration. The Lost Weekend starred Ray Milland and Jane Wyman and became a sensation, winning four Oscars [left]: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor. It was the first film to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Palme d’Or (French: Golden Palm)  [right], the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.^* Its realistic portrayal of alcoholism generated favorable publicity for Alcoholics Anonymous, prompting three Hollywood studios to offer A.A. as much as $100,000  [~$1.8 million in 2025]  for the rights to its own story. However, the Alcoholic Foundation declined to grant those rights.

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^*Only two other films have achieved this since: Marty (1955) and Parasite (2019).