February 9 in A.A. History

1939: After many months of debate in Akron, Ohio, and New York City, during which “more than a hundred titles all told” were considered, The Way Out—which was heavily favored in Akron—was ultimately adopted over Alcoholics Anonymous, which had strong support in New York City, particularly from Bill W. and Hank P.
    Following this decision, Hank decided to

    wire Fitz M― in Maryland asking him to go to the Library of Congress in Washington and find out how many books were called The Way Out and how many were called Alcoholics Anonymous…

    This may have been an attempt to bypass the group’s collective conscience.

1940: The day after the Rockefeller Dinner, which introduced Alcoholics Anonymous to potential supporters identified by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., newspaper headlines were plentiful. Here are a few:
    The New York Daily News ran the story with the headline “ROCKEFELLER DINES EX-SOTS, NOW RUM FOES” [far right] and led with, “Sixty members of Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization of ex-toss-pots….”
    In Washington, D.C., The Evening Star titled its article “Rockefeller Is Backing Move to Cure Alcoholics” [above, near right], referring to A.A. as a “secret organization.”
The New York Post featured the headline, “60 ON WAGON—AND ROOM FOR MORE.”
    Meanwhile, The Daily Argus in White Plains, New York, published under the headline “Rockefeller Supports Regeneration Work” [below, near right], revealing that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was

    … interested in a “secret” organization aimed at rehabilitating alcoholics. The organization is “Alcoholics Anonymous” which started when three men who overcame their craving for whiskey and wanted to help others in the same plight began the movement that today numbers 120. Rockefeller was host at a dinner last night to hear a report on the work of the men who have been cured or are in the process of reestablishing themselves on a more normal plane.

2002: Suzanne (Sue) S—– W. [far left, 1975], 83, the adopted daughter of Dr. Bob and Anne S., died at home after a long illness, surrounded by her family [near left: gravestone]. She had been actively involved in A.A. most of her life.

February 8 in A.A. History

1939:Bill W. replied to a letter dated February 6 from Janet Blair, one of the two paid editors of the manuscript for what would become the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. In her letter, she addressed suggested changes to the proposed first two chapters. She also recommended a smoother transition from “Bill’s Story” to “There is a Solution,” a suggestion that both Bill and Hank P. accepted, which has remained in all four editions. Bill thanked Blair for having “the perception to understand what it is I want to say and the ability to say it so well. You have certainly cleared up our manuscript.”

1940: John D. Rockefeller, Jr. [far left] arranged a dinner for Alcoholics Anonymous at the Union League Club [near right] in New York City. Out of 400 invited guests [center right: invitation; far right: menu], 75 attended. Due to illness, John D. was unable to host, so his son Nelson [near left] took over the responsibility. The dinner garnered significant positive publicity for A.A. and raised $2,200 [~$50,900 in 2026] from attendees, including John D. himself giving $1,000 [~$23,100 in 2026]. This group would continue to contribute about $3,000 [~$69,500 in 2026] each year until 1945, when they were asked to stop. In line with A.A.’s 7th Tradition, all contributions from non-alcoholics were eventually repaid.
    Paul S. [far left] accompanied Dr. Bob S. [near left] to the dinner. He also persuaded Frank Amos [right], a Rockefeller associate, that Dr. Bob needed financial assistance to continue his work with alcoholics. Paul suggested that John D. Rockefeller quietly provide a monthly stipend for at least two years, which he did. Ultimately, some of these funds were also allocated to Bill W. [near right] and Hank P. [far right].

1940: The Houston Press in Texas published the first of six anonymous articles about Alcoholics Anonymous, written by a newly sober member named Larry J. [far left]. These articles [near left: on display] served as the foundation for A.A.’s first pamphlet, titled simply  “AA” [right].

1942: The Columbus (Ohio) Group of A.A., established just three months earlier, split into two factions. Fourteen members formed a new group called the Central Group, which began meeting at the Odd Fellows Hall located at 24 W. Goodale St. The Central Group continued to hold meetings there until at least 1999.

February 7 in A.A. History

1920: F. T. Bedford incorporated Penick & Ford, Ltd., which had previously operated as a partnership.
    This partnership was established by William Snydor Penick and his brother-in-law, James Polk Ford, in Shreveport, Louisiana, to sell barrel syrups and canned molasses. The monopolistic Corn Products Refining Company acquired a 25 percent stake in the partnership but was compelled to sell it following a Supreme Court ruling stemming from President Theodore Roosevelt’s trust-busting campaign.
    Meanwhile, F. T. Bedford, the son of E. T. Bedford who ran Corn Products Refining, purchased the Douglas Starch Works facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa [below left: Bill W. outside this plant, c. 1926]. It had “massively” exploded in May 1919, resulting in the destruction of the plant and the deaths of 48 people. The remnants of the plant were sold by one of the founding Douglas brothers to Penick & Ford in December 1919. The plant was subsequently rebuilt to produce corn syrup. By 1922, the company would have fully recovered, and by 1923, Penick & Ford began paying preferred dividends to its shareholders.
    Over the next twenty years, the company would flourish by producing various private label brands, including Brer Rabbit Molasses, Brer Rabbit Syrup, Penick Syrup, Penick Salad Oil, Douglas Starch, Penford Corn Syrup, Penford Corn Sugar, and Douglas Feed. Under Bedford’s leadership, the company would diversify further by acquiring additional food lines, such as Vermont Maid Syrup in 1928 
and My-T-Fine Desserts in 1934.
    How does this relate to Alcoholics Anonymous? On page 4 of the eponymous Big Book, in “Bill’s Story,” he “was staring at an inch of the [ticker] tape which bore the inscription XYZ-32 It had been 52 that morning.” In the May-June 1938 version of his story, “XYZ” had been “PFK,” the stock symbol for Penick & Ford, a company Bill researched during his stock analysis^* tour with Lois from 1925 to 1927. During this period, they switched from a Harley to a used de Soto or Dodge. He likely held a substantial stake in Penick & Ford at the time of the Great Wall Street Crash in October 1929.

---

^*The term “stock analysis” was not in use at that time; Bill is often credited as an early contributor to the concept. Indexes in Moody’s Investment Survey from the late 1920s include entries like “Penick & Ford Stock, Analysis,” which represents one of the earliest instances of a term similar to “stock analysis.”

1945: The Alcoholics Anonymous District Office opened in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Williamson Building at the southeast corner of Public Square [right: recent image of a door into the office]. Laverne Hawkins, a non-alcoholic, served as its first secretary. The office’s telephone number was Cherry 1-7387. Commonly referred to as an Intergroup or Central Office in other areas, its purpose was to provide services to current and prospective members, serve as a source of information, and distribute literature to groups and individuals. In its first month, the office received 31 calls, including requests for help and inquiries about meeting locations.

February 6 in A.A. History

1887: James “Jim” S. [right] was born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, but his family soon relocated to Scotland. In 1907, Jim moved to the United States, where he worked for newspapers in cities such as Pittsburgh and Akron. His struggle with alcoholism led to significant challenges in both his professional and personal life, resulting in a nomadic lifestyle as he moved from job to job throughout the 1920s and 1930s.
    Eventually, he returned to Akron, where he had previously been a reporter and editor for Goodyear Tire's Wingfoot Clan. In July 1937, Jim became the first Australian to get sober in Alcoholics Anonymous. Fellow members remembered him as “tall and skinny, and a real lone wolf.”
    In 1939, at the request of Dr. Bob S, he took on the roles of solicitor, editor, and frequent writer for the Akron stories featured in the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. His story, titled “Traveler, Editor, Scholar” in the first edition, was retitled “The News Hawk” in the second and third editions. In the early 1940s, he managed the Middlebury Book Shop in Akron and served on the Summit County War Finance Committee during World War II. Jim held the position of head librarian at the Akron Beacon Journal from 1947 until his death in 1950.

1939: Janet Blair of Peekskill, New York, one of the two non-alcoholic editors, wrote to Hank P. about the enclosed changes she had made to the first two chapters of the Big Book manuscript [right]:

    … may I say a word about the continuity? It bothers me a little. Chapter 1, is Bill’s story. Right? Bill’s story includes a description of the terrible dilemma in which he was when his friend came to him; it includes what the doctors thought; it includes a brief account of the fellowship. It tells of the solution.
    When I started Chapter 2, I thought from the first line I was beginning the story of another man, as the first page is just that. On page 2, you leave him, and go on to tell of the fellowship and alcoholics in general. On page 8, you return to the man, and for about a page tell us more about him; the rest of the chapter is general. In Chapter 2, you never mention Bill or his friend, although the ‘solution,’ as you call Chapter 2, is given in Chapter 1.
    I’m not suggesting a change. Maybe I am the one who is befogged; but I am supposed to represent a reader, and I felt I should tell you this. At this moment, it seems to me it would have been smoother, to start Chapter 2 on page 2, “We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, know one hundred men who were once just as hopeless as Bill,” and so on.

    Blair’s work earned her a letter of thanks from Bill W. himself, as well as a signed copy of a 1st edition, 1st printing of Alcoholics Anonymous from Hank P., which he inscribed on the front flyleaf [left]. The inscription reads:

    To Janet Blair / Whose work / and editing on this / book was so / eminently helpful / Henry G. P[—–]

1954: R. Brinkley S. [right, c. 1994] sobered up for good at Towns Hospital after his 50th detox, reportedly.

1961: Bill W. wrote to Harold E. about the book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions:

    As time passes, our book literature has a tendency to get more and more frozen—a tendency for conversion into something like dogma. This is a trait of human nature which I’m afraid we can do little about. We may as well face the fact that A.A. will always have its fundamentalists, its absolutists, and its relativists.

February 5 in A.A. History

2015: Iowa’s Des Moines Register published an opinion piece titled “AA won’t list nonreligious group meetings” by Rekha Basu [right]. It said, in part:

    [C]onspicuously absent from the Saturday meeting list posted by the AA central office in Des Moines is a group called The Broad Highway. That’s for alcoholics who want to find sobriety without necessarily having religion be part of it. The AA organization won’t list its meetings.
    No board member responded to my request for an interview. But a man answering the phone at the Des Moines central office (in accordance with AA policy, he asked that his name not be used) said it’s the position of the general service organization not to list meetings as AA meetings if they don’t take things directly out of the Big Book.…
    But as members of The Broad Highway point out, other passages from founder [Bill] W[——] say any two people can make up an AA group, with no requirement to embrace religion. The book's preamble says the only requirement is a desire to stop drinking. And a passage from W[——] published in a 1946 issue of the AA’s [sic] Grapevine says, “So long as there is the slightest interest in sobriety, the most unmoral, the most anti-social, the most critical alcoholic may gather about him a few kindred spirits and announce to us that a new Alcoholics Anonymous Group has been formed. Anti-God, anti-medicine, anti-our Recovery Program, even anti-each other — these rampant individuals are still an A.A. Group if they think so!”
    Despite the obvious intent to be inclusive, Dave W[–—] of Des Moines, a 28-year AA member, says most AA meetings emphasize not just dependence on a personal God but “a heavy emphasis on Christianity.” Many meetings open and close with the Lord’s Prayer and include Christian readings, he said. W[–—] and several other members of the chapter considers it a form of religious discrimination that drives away prospective members.

February in A.A. History—day unknown

1908: In August, Bill W.’s grandfather, Gardner Griffith, had challenged him to become the first non-Aboriginal to create a functioning boomerang [right: a boomerang]. Now, on a cold afternoon after six months of dedicated work—during which, as Bill put it, he 

    … did nothing else… but whittle on those infernal boomerangs. [Finally] I sawed the headboard out of my bed to get just the right piece of wood, and out in the old workshop at night by the light of the lantern I whittled away.

    With his grandfather standing beside him at the edge of the churchyard, Bill prepared to throw his latest attempt at a boomerang. It soared “around the churchyard in front of the house” before curving back toward them. To avoid being decapitated, they both lunged forward. The boomerang crashed against a nearby headstone. They sat up, and Bill whispered, “I did it. I did it.” He jumped to his feet and let out a banshee scream “that could have been heard in Manchester. ‘I did it…’”

1916: Bill W. returned to Norwich University [left: buildings on campus, c. 1911?] , still classified as a freshman. His roommate, a sophomore, informed him that the sophomores planned to “get” the freshmen. Since Bill had attended the previous year and most of his friends were sophomores, he was invited to observe. At first, the initiation seemed harmless; freshmen were paddled with straps and staves. However, things escalated quickly when the entire freshman class appeared armed with clubs and bayonets. It took considerable effort to disarm them, resulting in smashed heads, broken bones, and several students ending up in the infirmary.
    The next morning, the commandant held a trial and decided to expel eight sophomores he identified as the ringleaders. In response, the other sophomores insisted that if eight were to be expelled, then all should face the same fate, and they signed a statement to that effect, including Bill. The following evening, it was announced that the entire sophomore class would be suspended indefinitely. Some of Bill's friends argued that he wasn't truly a sophomore and had only been a bystander. However, Bill maintained that he had signed the paper, given his word, and chose to walk out with the others.

1923: Bill W. failed a class on Equity and subsequently left Brooklyn Law School [right: Brooklyn Eagle Building, home of Brooklyn Law School, 1923].

1939: The “well-known” psychiatrist, Dr. Howard from Montclair, New Jersey (probably Dr. James W. Howard [left]) proposed changes to the multilith manuscript of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. According to Bill W.,

    He pointed out that the text of our book was too full of the words “you” and “must.” He suggested that we substitute wherever possible such expressions as “we ought” or “we should.” His idea was to replace all forms of coercion, to put our fellowship on a “we ought” basis instead of a “you must” basis.… I argued weakly against it but soon gave in; it was perfectly apparent that the doctor was right. Dr. Silkworth and Dr. Tiebout gave us similar advice…

    Jimmy Burwell told a different story:

    Dr. Howard… became greatly interested and enthusiastic, but was highly critical of several things in the book, for after reading it he told us there was entirely too much “Oxfordism” and that it was too demanding.  This is where the disaster nearly overtook us, for it nearly threw Bill into a terrific mental uproar to have his baby pulled apart by an out­side screwball psychiatrist, who in our opinion knew nothing about alcoholism.
    After days of wrangling between Bill, Hank, Fitz and myself, Bill was finally convinced that all positive and must statements should be eliminated and in their place to use the word “suggest” and the expression “we found we had to.”

1940: Sterling C. from Little Rock, Arkansas, had gotten sober in 1935 by following the plan outlined in Richard C. Peabody's The Common Sense of Drinking. For six months, he had worked with Harlan N. to help him stay sober. In October 1939, after reading Morris Markey's article “Alcoholics and God” in Liberty magazine, the two of them wrote to A.A. in New York City to request a copy of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Unfortunately, the book was sent to Harlan, who was drunk at the time, and it was returned.
    Later, Sterling's boss, Foster Vineyard, read about Rockefeller's dinner for A.A. in Time magazine and informed Sterling. This prompted Sterling to request another Big Book, this time having it sent directly to him. Harlan would soon sober up and then help Bud G., who was incarcerated in the “nut house” (i.e., State Hospital) for his drinking problems. Bud would read the Big Book three times and underwent a remarkable transformation. His psychiatrist, Dr. Nick Hollis, would be so impressed that he would order a second copy of the book.
    In June, Sterling, Harlan, and Bud G., would found Little Rock's Central Group, the first A.A. group in Arkansas.

1940: The Alcoholics Anonymous group in Detroit, Michigan, which had started with three alcoholics and one non-alcoholic, had grown to seven members and started meeting in the basement of a non-alcoholic couple, the Bensons, on Taylor Avenue. This location was affectionately referred to as “Benson's Basement.”
    The group later relocated to 4242 Cass Avenue, where it became known as the Downtown Group.

1945: The A.A. Grapevine published “Points of View: Arkansas Style,” written by Bud G., a founder of A.A. in Little Rock, Arkansas.

    It all began in March, 1940, in the mind and heart of a Little Rock (trumpet playing) insurance executive, an alco­holic who had been dry for five years after reading Peabody and practicing an unlabeled brand of A.A. He had had very little success with fellow alcoholics and when he read the first notice of A.A. he sent for the book.
    He roped in a furniture salesman (without wares) and a broken down (young) newspaperman who had buried him­self (for keeps he thought) deep in the oblivion of the State Hospital for Nervous Diseases.
    These pioneers in what Bill calls the “mail order section” went to local newspapers and obtained a modest notice in each; rented a Post Office box; began contacting ministers, police and court officials, and exploring flophouses, pool­rooms, courts.
    Business was brisk.
    Within a few weeks the membership included 25 men and two women.
    The troubles began early. Some of the men got the idea that they had joined a wet nursing organization and pro­ceeded to turn it into one; the women turned out to be less alcoholic than unattached. One by one the members sloughed off.
    Result: three months after founding, four charter members remained, two shaky.
    At this time, prospects were given only the book, the weekly meeting, the offer of association, and were more or less on their own. One of the charter members drafted a program which, after several overhaulings dictated by tryouts, be­came known as The Little Rock Plan, or the Approach Program. The sole motive behind it was to improve effective­ness of the group's service to alcoholics.

1949: The first Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland, were established with significant contributions from Sir Philip Dundas [right], the head of one of Scotland’s oldest clans. In 1948, the Alcoholic Foundation had registered him as a loner in Campbeltown. Earlier that February, Sir Philip, a Scottish gentleman farmer, had gone to an International Christian Leadership conference in the United States, where a group of businessmen were working to integrate faith into industry by creating breakfast prayer clubs. He believed that engaging in such positive endeavors might help him stay off the drink. Bill W. later wrote,

    At the very first session he met an old time Philadelphia A.A. member, George R., who gave him A.A. right off the spiritual main line. The head of one of Scotland’s most ancient clans sobered up on the spot. He took A.A. back to his native heath, and soon alcoholic Scots were drying up all the way from Glasgow ship chandlers to society folks in Edinburgh.

    Later in February 1948, the Foundation sent a letter to A.A. members in London, describing him as 

    … an alcoholic who stopped drinking some four years ago on spiritual principles, but on his own and before he heard of A.A

1949: Dr. John P. joined Alcoholics Anonymous and got sober. His story, “The Professor and the Paradox,” appeared in the second and third editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.
    Born in Atlanta, Georgia, John was recognized for his thick Southern accent. He described himself as naturally shy, sensitive, fearful, envious, and resentful—traits he believed contributed to both his successes and challenges. These characteristics motivated him to earn a Ph.D. and to publish extensively, partly as a way to compete with or defy others.
    Professionally, John served as an English professor for 21 years at the University of Alabama before moving to Kent State University in Ohio. He became a social drinker in his early twenties without immediate problems, but his drinking escalated under life’s pressures, eventually leading to full-blown alcoholism after graduate school.
    John’s alcoholism resulted in significant consequences, including a harrowing incident where he became “violently insane” during a drunken episode and ended up in jail—this served as his turning point before joining A.A. In his writings and talks, he humorously explored the ironies of alcoholism and recovery, outlining four central A.A. paradoxes:

1.     We surrender to win.
2.     We give away to keep.
3.     We suffer to get well.
4.     We die to live.

    John was known for his wit and insight in A.A. discussions, and he updated his story for the January 1968 issue of the A.A. Grapevine, highlighting the necessity for personal change beyond merely quitting drinking. He believed that recovery in A.A. involved transforming self-centeredness, honestly working through the Twelve Steps, and addressing emotional shortcomings.
    In summary, Dr. John P. was a respected academic and writer whose personal battles with alcoholism, engaging personality, and contributions through A.A. talks and writings left a lasting impact within the fellowship.

February 3 in A.A. History

1953: Lillian R. appeared on This is Your Life [right: still from this episode], a reality documentary TV series that aired on NBC from 1952 to 1961. She was one of the first celebrities to openly discuss her alcoholism and recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous. Lillian was described as a “topflight torch singer of the Prohibition era,” who “cheerfully admits that she had been a hopeless drunk for 16 years before being rescued by Alcoholics Anonymous.” Ralph Edwards, the creator, producer, and host of the series, described Lillian’s struggles with “impending blindness, an inflamed sinus, and a form of alcoholic insanity.” He also invited a psychiatrist who had treated her, a brother-in-law “who had paid her bills,” and several “glamorous foul-weather friends” to join the discussion.
    This appearance would later inspire both the book and movie I’ll Cry Tomorrow.

2023: Jimmy D., Class B (alcoholic) Regional Trustee and new Interim Chair of the General Service Board, announced in a letter [left] that 

    … during its quarterly board weekend [27–30 January 2023]… at the board’s request, Linda Chezem [right] has resigned as a Class A Trustee and Chair of the Board.…  As First Vice Chair of the General Service Board (per the slate of officers elected at the 2022 General Service Conference), and with the approval of the Board in a special session held last Monday, I have now assumed the role of Interim Chairperson until the close of the GSC in April 2023. My service as Southwest Regional Trustee will also end at that time.