May 21 in A.A. History

1945: The New Republic published “Blueplate Gospel,” a review by Dr. Leslie H. Farber [left, c. 1981] of September Remember [right: cover], a novel by Eliot Taintor.^* A chapter from the book had been serialized in the March and April 1945 issues of the A.A. Grapevine. The review stated, in part,

    The advantage of the present 300-page pamphlet (disguised as a pulp-style novel) over the shorter booklets distributed by AA, lies in its detailed revelations of group ac­tivity. While the formal weekly meetings are devoted to inspirational talks by ex-alcoholics, coffee is drunk in no blue-nose spirit; good fellowship abounds (“You can get that sense of abandon without liquor”). AA members feel a natural solidarity: the way they would “get up and talk at meetings, really let their hair down, made other contacts seem thin and superficial. Other people shadowy.”

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^*“Eliot Taintor” was the pseudonym used by the married couple Ruth F. and Gregory M., one of whom was an A.A. member.

1960: The Saturday Evening Post [right: cover] published “I Always Have Help” anonymously. An introductory note read:

    A man who has had more than his share of trouble—alcoholism, shattered marriage, tragic losses—tells anonymously how he manages to face life, one day at a time.

The anonymous author wrote,

    As I write this I’m in as warty a financial pickle as a small businessman could contrive—broke, no property, heavy family responsibili­ties, head of a small concern which is also broke, with creditors expecting in a few months to be paid $20,000 [about $225,000 in 2026] it hasn’t got. Less than this has driven highly strung people to break­down and even suicide, and I confess I am a little uneasy. But because of a limited grasp of a philosophy which members of a celebrated secret society call The 24-Hour Plan, I’m fairly confident of pulling through.… I took up with some people who were supposed to know how to lay hold of a situation of this kind. They gave me a book called Alcoholics Anonymous, and my eye fell on a remarkable passage. Be­fore I tell you what it said, let me assure the reader that he doesn’t have to be an alcoholic to proceed with this article; everyone concerned with open-minded living may find something of interest.

May in A.A. History—day unknown

1954: The A.A. Grapevine [left: cover] published a brief item titled “Calling All AA ‘Hams’: A Meeting in the Ether,” stating:

    Several AAs around the country who are amateur radio operators would like to contact each other via the air waves. Send us your signal, if you’re a “ham,” and we’ll print it.

1954: [Early; Pass It On wrongly says 1956] Bill W. received a letter from the notorious robber, kidnapper, and rapist Caryl Chessman [right, 1953], popularly known as “The Red Light Bandit.” In May 1948, Chessman was convicted on 17 of 18 counts for crimes committed during the first three weeks of January 1948. He was sentenced to death under California’s “Little Lindbergh Law”^* and, at the time he wrote to Bill, Chessman was on death row at San Quentin Prison [left: inside view, c. 1950s], awaiting execution on May 14. (He was granted a stay. Over nearly twelve years on death row, Chessman filed dozens of appeals, acting as his own attorney. He avoided eight execution dates, often by only a few hours.)
    Later, in 1954, Prentice-Hall published Chessman’s autobiography, Cell 2455, Death Row: A Condemned Man’s Own Story [right: cover].^† In it, Chessman drew a comparison between psychopaths and alcoholics. This prompted Jack Alexander, who likely saw a prepublication copy, to encourage him to write to Bill. Alexander wondered whether criminals could “recover” through a surrender similar to that of A.A. members, writing to Bill:

    There is a close resemblance between the criminal psychopath and the alcoholic mind. Both are grandiose, resentful, defiant, and hating of authority; both unconsciously destroy themselves trying to destroy others.

On 9 February 1954, Chessman wrote to Bill, saying in part:

I woke up to the fact I’d been nothing more than a cynically clever, aggressively destructive and sometimes violent damn fool. The question of guilt or innocence aside, it dawned on me that my condemnation was a public proclamation of spectacular failure. As I saw it then, two courses were open to me. I could spend my time figuratively or literally whining and indulging in a narrow self-pity or I could see—perhaps a more appropriate word is envision—myself and all that a death sentence implied in terms larger than my own predicament.… I could tell my story and plead, not my personal cause, but society’s cause and the cause of those who—in my opinion, needlessly—are criminally damned and doomed.… I am most hopeful it will make a very useful contribution to a most vexing social problem.

    On 31 March, Bill replied, including a copy of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. On 25 May, he wrote to Father Ed Dowling, enclosing copies of Chessman’s letter to him, his own reply to Chessman, and his reply to Jack Alexander’s letter noted above. A postscript added,

P.S. Brother Chessman got another stay—maybe 60 days. Have a most interesting letter from him in response to my last. Will send it on.

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^*This law had been repealed by the time Chessman’s trial began but was in effect at the time of his crimes, and the repeal was not retroactive.

^†Chessman began writing this memoir after San Quentin Prison Warden Harley Teets encouraged him to do something with his life. With Teets’s support, he chronicled his descent into what he called criminally insane behavior. When the book was published, it became a bestseller and was adapted into a movie of the same name in 1955. Its success led Teets to try to prevent Chessman from writing any more; however, three additional books by Chessman were later smuggled out of prison and published. In 1957, Teets died while serving as warden.
    Clinton T. Duffy, the first warden to introduce the A.A. program into prisons and a prominent opponent of the death penalty, was warden when Chessman first arrived. Duffy described him as one of the most dangerous men he had ever met: tough, mean, contemptuous, arrogant, deviant, a troublemaker, and a constant threat—“Chessman represented nothing.”

May 20 in A.A. History

1908: Sybil A. [left: with her two older brothers] was born in Melrose, New Mexico, to Addie Florence Jones and Henry Filander A., a poor but hardworking couple. (The family likely resided at 108 Fifth Street, their home in 1910 [right: 100 block, Aug 2019]). The family soon relocated to Simmons, a small oil town in Texas.
    Sybil began drinking around the age of 14 after her family relocated to Los Angeles, California, from Texas. She had a child with her first husband, James S., a sailor. She believed that having the child would help her stop drinking, but instead, she drank more than ever. Eventually, her parents took the child from her.
    In 1928, she married Lyle H., with whom she had two children—one who died the day she was born, in 1929, and another in 1931. They lived at 7319 S. Halldale Street, Los Angeles [far left, Dec 2017]. In 1938, she married Richard M., and they lived for many years at 7711 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles [near left, before being rebuilt in 2009].
    As Sybil M. [right: Sybil as a young adult], she became the first woman west of the Mississippi to get sober in Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.). She later became best known by her fourth and second-to-last married name, Sybil C.

1938: Two days after receiving an advance from Charles B. Towns, Bill W., then less than 3½ years sober, began writing the book that would eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous. He likely started with his own story, marking the first of three attempts at the manuscript. This initial effort is a handwritten manuscript of fourteen paragraphs on eight sheets of yellow legal paper, titled “The Strange Obsession” [left: page 1].

1941: The 15th Alcoholics Anonymous group in the Cleveland, Ohio area, the first known women’s group, formed with 16 members and met at 12214 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, Ohio [right, Nov 2015].

May in A.A. History—day unknown

1950: Nell Wing [left], a non-alcoholic who had worked at the Alcoholic Foundation since 1947, became Bill Wilson’s secretary. In 1955, she would begin collecting archival items, eventually organizing A.A.'s archives and becoming its first Archivist.

1950: The General Service Office (G.S.O.), formerly known as A.A. “Headquarters,” and the A.A. Grapevine’s two-person editorial staff relocated just a two-minute walk away in New York City, moving from 415 Lexington Ave. to 141 E. 44th St. [right: respectively, c. 1940]. At the same time, a system for rotating Senior General Secretaries was established.

1951: Al-Anon was founded by Lois W. and Anne B. [left, respectively], both spouses of Alcoholics Anonymous members. Al-Anon considers its founding to have occurred throughout the entire month. 
    After the 1st A.A. General Service Conference, Lois invited the wives of the Delegates to the Conference to lunch at her home. This led Lois and her close friend and neighbor, Anne, to open an office at Stepping Stones [right]. They obtained a list of 87 family groups and nonalcoholic individuals or family groups across the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Ireland from the Alcoholic Foundation. To unify them, Lois and Anne sent a combination invitation/questionnaire [left: cover letter]. Eventually, the name Al-Anon Family Groups was chosen for the resulting new fellowship. With A.A.’s permission, Al-Anon adopted the Twelve Steps and, later in 1954, the Twelve Traditions as its guiding principles.

May 19 in A.A. History

1942: As a supplement to its Commerce Reports, the U.S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce published Trade Information Bulletin No. 231, “British Dyestuffs Industry” [far left], authored by Dr. Frederick B. [near left, 1923], the American trade commissioner to Germany.

1942: The War Department’s Office of the Adjutant General responded to Bill W.’s 6 March 1942 request for a World War II commission with a non-responsive form letter [right] that stated, among other things:

• All new applicants for the Army or the Army Specialist Corps are now being asked to fill out a revised form of questionnaire in duplicate.
• You will note that the new questionnaire calls for more details than the old form you filled out originally. The reason for asking for more details is that they are needed by the Army Specialist Corps so that the applicant’s training, experience, skills, and interests can be adequately considered by that Corps when the branches of the Army call upon it to locate and appoint civilians fitted for specific technical, professional or administrative duties.
• Sending you the new form to fill out does not mean that an offer of appointment will necessarily be made in the immediate future. All that can be said is that the revised system will make it easier to consider your application when men with your qualifications are needed. You are particularly requested not to make inquiries of the War Department as to the probability of your employment.

2000: Dr. Paul Hubert O. [left, with wife Max], sometimes referred to as “the funniest man in A.A.,” died at 83 in Mission Viejo, California.
    His story, “Bronzed Moccasins,” initially credited to “A Physician in California,” first appeared in the May 1975 issue of the A.A. Grapevine. It was later republished in the third edition of Alcoholics Anonymous as “Doctor, Alcoholic, Addict,” and in the fourth edition as “Acceptance Was the Answer.” Dr. Paul began his journey to sobriety in December 1966, achieving permanent sobriety in July 1967.

    Though he founded Pills Anonymous and Chemical Dependency Anonymous, he did not attend either group. Notably, he also did not introduce himself as “an alcoholic and addict,” and was irritated by those who sought to include addictions other than alcoholism in A.A. meetings. In a July 1995 interview with the A.A. Grapevine, he expressed concern that his story may have “overshot the mark” because it was used to justify drug discussions in meetings. He felt “most uncomfortable” when members recognized him and thanked him for providing justification for such discussions. Despite these reservations, he maintained there was nothing in his story he would change.

Today in A.A. History—May 19–25

2019: The 69th General Service Conference was held at the Crowne Plaza Times Square [right: view from an upper floor] in New York City. Among the Advisory Actions were the following:

• “a draft Fourth Edition of the Spanish Big Book, Alcohólicos Anonimos, be developed;”
• “the pamphlet ‘A.A. for the Black and African-American Alcoholic’ be updated;”
• language be added to “Questions and Answers on Sponsorship” to emphasize anonymity;
• “update the pamphlet ‘The Twelve Steps Illustrated’;”
• “update the pamphlet ‘The Twelve Concepts Illustrated’;”
• “allow time for discussion [during] the ‘Process for Polling the General Service Conference between Annual Meetings’;”
• “A.A. World Services, Inc. apply for Google AdWords/Grants, for the purpose of providing information about A.A. to the public;” and
• “The pamphlet ‘A.A. for the Older Alcoholic—Never Too Late’ be updated with a revised introduction; current and inclusive stories; reference to online A.A.; and an updated ‘How Do I Find A.A.?’ section;”

May 18 in A.A. History

1926: [Date uncertain^*] Bill and Lois W. [right: on the Harley, 1925] were involved in a serious motorcycle accident while traveling through the eastern U.S. on their Harley-Davidson, conducting research on publicly traded companies. The day before, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, they had decided to head straight home to arrive in time for her sister Kitty’s wedding on June 17. In 1973, Lois wrote,

    Just outside of Dayton, Tennessee, I was driving on a sandy road, which apparently ran straight ahead, when suddenly, hidden by a large barn, it made a sharp angled turn to the right. I tried to force the wheels, but the sand was too deep and over we went. Bill, in the sidecar, was thrown over my head, breaking his collarbone as he landed; I twisted my leg, causing water on the knee; the equipment flew in every direction; and the trunk burst open.
    Luckily a man in a car soon came along and drove us, dazed and badly scratched, to a doctor in town who set Bill’s shoulder, bandaged my knee, and there being no hospital, settled us in a hotel room over his office.
    During our week’s stay there, Bill and I tried to picture what the town had been like the year before during the Scopes Evolution trial. We imagined William Jennings Bryan as he paced back and forth on one of the hotel’s five fancy grill-railed balconies rehearsing his speech, and Clarence Darrow with his chair tilted back against the wall and his feet on the rail, haranguing a coterie of youths; while the streets were crowded with visitors come to hear the great orator and see the show.
    It wasn’t too long before we were able to return to the fateful corner. The man who had picked us up had collected all our duffle and put it and the motorcycle into the barn, as he said he would. Although the door was left open, and more than a week had passed, not a single article was missing; even such attractive and easily packed items as the traveling clock, compass and radio were all there.
    We made arrangements to have the motorcycle and most of the gear shipped to Brooklyn. Then in a few days, when the doctor said we could travel, we took the train for home.

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^*Lois and Bill had arrived in Muscle Shoals on the evening of the 16th, just before dark. On the 17th, Lois wrote her final diary entry, noting: “There are great plans for the development of the whole area around Muscle Shoals…” The date of their departure for home, given here as the 18th, assumes they spent the 17th exploring Muscle Shoals. The distance to Dayton, Tennessee, is only about 210 miles [~340 km].

1950: Upon learning that A.A. members in Akron, Ohio, were hoping to erect a large monument to him, Dr. Bob S. told Bill W., “I reckon we ought to be buried like other folks” [left: Dr. Bob and Anne’s grave]. Bill recounted this in his “Dr. Bob” tribute in the January 1951 A.A. Grapevine:

    A year ago, when Anne passed away, the thought of an im­posing shaft came uppermost in the minds of many. People were insistent that something be done. Hear­ing rumors of this, Dr. Bob promptly declared against AAs erecting for Anne and himself any tangible memorials or monument. These usual symbols of personal distinction he brushed aside in a single devas­tating sentence. Said he, “Annie and I plan to be buried just like other folks.”

1978: At 1:10 a.m., an explosive device, believed to be dynamite, detonated at the front door of what the FBI identified as “the Alcoholics Anonymous Faith Club” [right] at 2814^* Clovis Road in Lubbock, Texas. While there were A.A. meetings there, the Faith Group & Club—its proper name—was also a bingo parlor and a drug and alcohol treatment/recovery center. Fortunately, no injuries were reported; however, property damage was estimated at $2,500 [~$12,700 in 2026].
    Lubbock police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene. The FBI, Secret Service, and an Assistant U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of Texas were also notified. The ATF agreed that the “FBI would assume jurisdiction… due to possible terrorist involvement.” The FBI attempted to determine whether any “known militant Mexican-American organizations operating in the Lubbock area, or any incidents which would create a climate for militant activity,” However, no suspects were ever identified, and no charges were filed [left: first non-cover page, redacted, of 37-page FOIA response regarding this incident].

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^*Now 2819 Clovis Road.

May 17 in A.A. History

1926: From Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Lois W.’s entry in her Diary of Two Motorcycle Hobos [left: cover of initial self-published version, 1973] reads:

    We [Bill and Lois] are not stopping in Pittsburgh as first planned, but are driving straight home, in order to be on time for Kitty’s [her sister’s] wedding. Now that we are on the home stretch, we can hardly wait to get there.

    The next entry, written almost 50 years later, begins:

    Because of an accident on the motorcycle [just outside Dayton, Tennessee] I discontinued my diary. The following account is set down from memory.…

1942: A New Haven, Connecticut, newspaper reportedly published an article about Alcoholics Anonymous, accompanied by a photo showing members seated in a circle.

1942: The Journal-Herald in Dayton, Ohio, published two stories [right] about Alcoholics Anonymous, under the titles “‘Alcoholics Anonymous’” and “‘AA’—National Organization Without Officers and Dues.” The articles included photos of members wearing Halloween masks to protect their anonymity.

1942: The Denver Post in Colorado published an article [left] in its Sunday magazine section about A.A., titled “Cured by their own ‘HORRIBLE EXAMPLES’.”

1942: The photo shown right, front and back, was taken and sold exclusively to Saturday Home Magazine, but it may not have been used by them, according to a note on the back. The text, which could have served as a caption or “cutline” for the photo, states:

    Members of ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ are not reformers. They find that helping others, as this member is doing for the hospitalized man on the bed, is a vital part of the cure for themselves. It's all a part of their own courageous battle which, experience has taught, can be won through confidence and comradeship.

    The date “May 17, [19]42” appears on the back. This usually indicates the intended publishing date, the date the photo was taken, or when the magazine obtained it. This photo did appear in the article in Denver, Colorado’s The Denver Post on that same date, which is likely what it signifies.
    The individual in the photo certainly appears to be Bill W.

May in A.A. History—day unknown

1948: Before learning of his terminal illness, Dr. Bob Smith wrote to Bill Wilson about the concept of a General Service Conference:

    However desirable many of these changes may be, I have the feeling that they will be brought about without too much sudden upheaval. If the trustees are wrong, they will hang themselves. I am just as interested in A.A. as you are, but am not 100 percent sure as to the wisest course to follow and the wisest ultimate setup. “Easy Does It” is the best course to follow [emphasis added]. Maybe it would be wise to let the trustees act as trustees and perhaps insist that they do so, which might be effected with some outside pressure. The objection to the idea would be that they might mess things up badly while they attempt that. But they would surely get some unpleasant repercussions from the groups if they did.… Keep your shirt on for a bit, and remember that whatever happens, we love you a lot. Smithy.

May 16 in A.A. History

1941: Ruth Hock learned that Joseph Hooker W., Jr. had a “wet brain.”*
    Joe, an early member of New York City A.A. whom Bill W. called “our first literary light,” was a former writer for Metropolitan Magazine† [right: Sep 1917 cover]—who had recently been “scraped out of the Bowery.”
    He is sometimes credited‡ with coining the title Alcoholics Anonymous around October 1938, reportedly inspired by members’ habit of calling themselves “a nameless bunch of drunks.” According to Bill, Joe made “a burning issue” of the title, though his own sobriety remained “on and off.”

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^*“Wet brain” is the informal term for Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a condition caused by chronic alcohol intake. It results from a severe deficiency of vitamin B1 (thiamine) due to inadequate dietary intake, malabsorption from the gastrointestinal tract, and impaired cellular utilization. Without thiamine, the brain cannot process glucose, leading to a loss of energy and function.

^†While some have speculated otherwise, there is no evidence that Joe was a founder of Metropolitan Magazine or a founder and writer for The New Yorker.

^‡The earliest documented use of “Alcoholics Anonymous” as a name for the group and book is “likely” the first week of June 1938, according to William Schaberg. The term appears in Bill W.’s first draft of “There Is A Solution” and in Hank P.’s handwritten notes for the book, both from early June. Lois W. dated its first use to 15 June 1938, and Frank Amos used it in a letter to Albert Scott on 24 June 1938.

Today in A.A. History—May 16–19

2020: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 70th General Service Conference (GSC) was held online as a so-called “virtual conference” over four days [left: Michele Grinberg, Class A Trustee and A.A. Grapevine Chair addressing the 70th GSC]. With only a month’s notice, the General Service Office staff had scrambled to organize the event and, as a result, only a limited number of agenda items were addressed.
    Advisory Actions included:

9.	That the General Service Conference implement electronic voting for trustee elections starting in 2021.
11.	That all A.A.W.S. video titles be adjusted for search engine optimization (SEO).
12.	That [one] sentence in Article 4 of the current Conference Charter… [b]e amended to read:
	“It will be further understood, regardless of the legal prerogatives of the General Service Board, as a matter of tradition, that a three-quarters vote of all Conference members participating in the vote may bring about a reorganization of the General Service Board and the directors and staff members of its corporate services, if or when such reorganization is deemed essential” [add the four italicized words].

    Of the eight proposed floor actions, all but two were forwarded to the 71st GSC for consideration.
    A floor action to “approve the slate of Directors for Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. as originally presented by the General Service Board to the Conference Committee on Trustees” did not pass. However, a proposed slate of Directors was one of the floor actions forwarded to the 71st GSC.
    The Conference declined to consider extending the 71st GSC by up to three days, an action proposed due to the numerous agenda items deferred from the 70th GSC.

May 15 in A.A. History

1945: The Canadian magazine Maclean’s [right: cover] published “I Was a Drunk,” as told to J. J. Dingman. The article was subtitled “A Personal Experience of Reclamation by Cooperation: The Story of a Practical Fellowship—Alcoholics Anonymous.”

1949: Ed W. [far left], principal author of The Little Red Book [right], wrote from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Bill W. His letter updated Bill about how “marvelously improved”^*< Barry C. [near left] was. He included copies of The Little Red Book.
    Published in 1946 by Ed and Barry, The Little Red Book served as a guide to A.A.’s Twelve Steps. Dr. Bob S. contributed to its editing, consulted on the text, and distributed copies. It was A.A.’s first step book, conceived as a companion to the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, much like Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions would later become. Along with Akron, Ohio’s guides and pamphlets, The Little Red Book provides insight into how Dr. Bob practiced and taught the steps.
    Despite Bill W.’s high praise for The Little Red Book, the Alcoholic Foundation declined to publish it. The Trustees sought a book that A.A. could own, leading to the eventual publication of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions in 1952.

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^*What Barry was recovering from is unknown; the date and contents of Ed’s message are only revealed by Bill’s reply on 31 May 1949.

1954: The Baltimore, Maryland Area Groups of Alcoholics Anonymous held their 9th Annual Banquet [far left: program] at the Emerson Hotel [near left], located at the intersection of Baltimore and Calvert Sts.

1961: Bill W.’s mother, Dr. Emily Ella Griffith Strobell [far right, with Bill in Yosemite National Park, 1947], died at the age of 91 in a nursing home in Dobbs Ferry, New York [near right: her gravestone].

1962:  In a letter to the Calix Society^* , Bill Wilson wrote:

    As you know I always have been personally partial to all persons or organizations whose good will and helpfulness to A.A. is beyond question. You need not have said that you strive to keep your efforts within the framework of the traditions of Alcoholics Anony­mous. I know you have tried and have succeeded.

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^*Founded in the 1940s, Calix is a Catholic organization dedicated to supporting individuals recovering from alcoholism and other addictions, along with their families and friends. It helps members maintain sobriety by integrating their Catholic faith with the principles of 12-Step recovery.