May 2 in A.A. History

1856: Matt Talbot was born in Dublin, Ireland [right: only known photo].

1935: Following Prohibition’s failure, Everett Colby [left] hosted a dinner in New York City to secure funding from “drys” for his educational program, “The Council for Moderation,” which promoted temperate drinking. In Alcoholics Anonymous and the Rockefeller Connection, Jay D. Moore says,

    The dinner was… educa­tional in nature, luminaries made presentations… and the invitees included a who’s who of American power… In fact, perusing the list of those who attended the dinner one finds many of the names that at­tended the dinner for Alcoholics Anonymous.

    According to Moore, the refusal of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. [right] to fund this project, proposed by his Brown University college roommate illustrates…

    that his self-imposed philanthropic limits were invio­late… The Colby dinner draws a parallel to the 1940 AA Rockefeller dinner that cannot be brushed off. The similarities are unmistakable…

1943: In New Orleans, Louisiana, The Times-Picayune reported in an article [left] titled “Alcoholics Anonymous Unit Is Being Formed in Orleans” that the city’s first A.A. group was being formed.

    Organization of a New Orleans chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous [is] underway with a nucleus of more than a dozen members, part of a unique group of more than 8000 men and women in the United States that have banded together to fight the disease of alcoholism.

May in A.A. History—day unknown

1932: Sober for five weeks, Bill W. traveled with several engineers to Bound Brook, New Jersey, in mid-May to investigate a new photographic process at Pathé Laboratories [right]. Bill, managing partner in a stock-buying syndicate he had formed with Arthur Wheeler and Frank Winans in April, faced high stakes: his partnership agreement stipulated that if he drank, he would forfeit his entire share, including his original investment.
    After dinner, the engineers started a poker game and invited Bill to join, but he declined. Soon, a jug of applejack, known as Jersey Lightning [left], appeared. Bill repeatedly refused offers of a drink. By midnight, his thoughts drifted to his drinking past: the Bronx cocktail that had been his first, the brandies he had on the ship to Europe during World War I, and the French wines. He began to mentally list his drinking history, wondering what he hadn't tasted. When the engineers offered him a drink again, he realized he had never tried Jersey Lightning. He thought, “Why not? What harm could one taste do?”
    He was drunk for three days. When his partners learned what had happened, they dismissed him, and he forfeited his entire interest in the syndicate.

May 1 in A.A. History

1939: The mortgage on 182 Clinton Street [right, c. 1940] in Brooklyn was foreclosed. Five days earlier, Lois and Bill W. had moved in with Hank and Kathleen P. at their Montclair, New Jersey home, 344 N. Fullerton Ave. [left, recent].

1944: The Alcoholic Foundation’s New York City headquarters, later known as the General Service Office (GSO), moved from 30 Vesey Street to a three-room office at 415 Lexington Avenue, directly across from Grand Central Station [right: Vesey, Lexington locations, respectively].

Today in A.A. History—May 1–7

2008: The 58th General Service Conference was held at the Crowne Plaza Times Square [left: view from an upper floor] in New York City. Advisory Actions included:

• the trustees’ Finance and Budgetary Committee gather input from the Fellowship on the benefits and liabilities, both spiritual and practical, of fully funding G.S.O. services to the Fellowship (G.S.O. functional expenses) by the voluntary contributions of A.A. members and groups;
• the Online Intergroup of A.A. (OIAA) be listed in a new section titled “Online Intergroups” under the section “lnternational Correspondence Meetings” in the A.A. Directories above where “Online Meetings” appear; and
• the amendments to the 2007 General Service Board Bylaws, as forwarded from the General Service Board to include options for interim changes to member trustee ratio and composition in response to the 2007 Advisory Action, which instituted consideration of all eligible Class A and Class B trustees when selecting the chairperson of the General Service Board be approved.

May in A.A. History—day unknown

1919: Two months after his honorable discharge on March 14, Bill W. [right: in France] returned home from service in what was then called the Great War (WWI). His regiment, which had remained in France, had shipped out just six days before his arrival.

1923: Lois W., Bill’s wife  [left: Bill and Lois, c. 1925], suffered a third ectopic pregnancy—a condition in which the fertilized egg develops outside the uterus. Her first two had occurred in June and July of 1922. In her memoir, Lois Remembers, she later wrote:

    In May 1923 the improbably happened—a third ectopic. I was tutoring a young girl in Latin when I felt the first symptoms. After another operation I made a quick recovery. By then both tubes and the complete cystic ovary had been removed. A small portion of the other ovary was kept so that I might retain my feminine characteristics, it was said. Bill was often too drunk, for days at a time, to come to see me in the hospital.
    We had both deeply desired a family. But after my second ectopic, Bill and I knew positively that we could never have children. My tubes had apparently been closed since birth. Bill, even when drunk, took this overwhelming disappointment with grace and with kindness to me. But his drinking had been increasing steadily. It seemed that after all hope of having children had died, his bouts with alcohol had become even more frequent.
    I knew I had done nothing to prevent our having children; yet somehow I could not help feeling guilty. So how could I blame him for the increase in his drinking?
    This kind of thinking made me try harder to understand him and to be tolerant when he was drunk. But there were many times when I lost my temper. He never hit me, but I hit him. I remember with shame on time toward the end of his drinking, when I was so angry as he lay drunk on the bed that I beat his chest with both my firsts as hard as I could.

April 30 in A.A. History

1941: Dr. Gilbert “Gib” K., a dentist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Harry S. of Waunakee, Wisconsin; and Earle T. of Chicago, Illinois, arranged a special open A.A. meeting in the Lotus Room of Milwaukee’s Plankinton Hotel [right]. Gib later wrote:

    We invited as many members as would come from both the Chicago group and the Madison group. Well they really turned out in numbers kind of far beyond our most fervent hopes. There were some 15 to 20 members here from Chicago and nearly that many from Madison, and a number of them also brought their wives. These together with our local group which stands at 20 now was tangible evidence for the visitors that we had invited.

    These visitors included a judge, a warden, a sheriff, probation officers, social workers, doctors, a clergyman, journalists, private individuals, and even guests accompanying the invited.

1989: My Name is Bill W. [far left: movie poster; near left: video capture], a Hallmark Hall of Fame film presentation, was broadcast at 9 pm on the ABC television network. Directed by Daniel Petrie and written by William G. Borchert, it starred James Woods as Bill, JoBeth Williams as Lois, and James Garner as Dr. Bob.

Today in A.A. History—April 30–May 6

1995: The 45th General Service Conference was held at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza [right] in New York City. Advisory Actions included:

• based on an expressed need, a Spanish edition of the Grapevine be produced, contingent on [certain conditions] for up to five (5) years… If, after five (5) years, the Spanish edition of the magazine is determined to be no longer feasible, publication be discontinued;
• changes in “The A.A. Group” pamphlet be implemented…;
• a pocket edition of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions be published;
• simultaneous translation be made available at future General Service Conferences;
• a second delegate be admitted from Washington Area (Area 72);
• each Conference will determine… whether or not that… Conference will be smoking or non-smoking; and
• after a thorough examination of the issues… and acknowledging that there may have been problems with communication at many service levels in the past, it was the sense of the committee that there has been improvement and, therefore, in the interest of maintaining A.A. unity and finding there was not sufficient cause, the committee unanimously recommended that the proposal to censure the General Service Board be dismissed.

2000: The 50th General Service Conference was held at the Crowne Plaza [above right] Manhattan in New York City. Advisory Actions included:

• Southern California Area 05 be granted an additional delegate area; and
• a draft copy of the Fourth Edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous,… be brought to the 2001 Conference Literature Committee, keeping in mind that if a Fourth Edition Big Book is published, it will require Conference approval and the 1995 Advisory Action that: “The first 164 pages of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, the Preface, the Forewords, ‘The Doctor’s Opinion,’ ‘Dr. Bob’s Nightmare,’ and the Appendices remain as is.”

April 29 in A.A. History

1998: [April 30?] Sybil C. [right] died in Los Angeles, California, just 21 days before her 90th birthday. A woman of many past lives, she had been a bootlegger and a dance-hall girl. She was also a foundational figure in Alcoholics Anonymous, notably serving as the first executive secretary for California A.A. and archivist for the Long Beach (California) Central Office (now Harbor Area CO). Sybil held the distinction of being the first woman to join A.A. west of the Mississippi River, maintaining her sobriety since 23 March 1941. In later talks, she famously introduced herself with the memorable line, “My name is Sybil Doris Adams Stratton Hart Maxwell Willis C., and I’m an alcoholic.”

Today in A.A. History—April 29–30

1950: The Third Annual Regional Alcoholics Anonymous Conference held a two-day event at the Onondaga Hotel [left, 1910], located at the corner of S. Warren and E. Jefferson Streets in Syracuse, New York. Session topics included [right: pp. 2-3, 4 of program]

• A.A. Life or Death Matter	• A.A. Information Not Reformation
• A.A. Meetings as an Opportunity for Growth and Service	• John Barleycorn—Friend or Foe?	• A.A. Traditions
• A.A. Group Life and Conscience	• Our Debt of Gratitude to Non-Alcoholic	• A.A. Women Only
• Our A.A. Prayer	• Area Harmony	• Working with Others

April in A.A. History—day unknown

1961: In his A.A. Grapevine [left: cover] article, “The Dilemma of No Faith,” Bill W. argued that “God As We Understand Him” is Alcoholics Anonymous’s most important phrase. He explained that this phrase ensures the program’s spiritual inclusivity, welcoming members without requiring adherence to any particular faith or theology. Wilson worried that misunderstanding this principle keeps desperate alcoholics away, and then, with a striking confession, turned the lens on himself:

In AA’s first years I all but ruined the whole undertaking with this sort of unconscious arrogance. God as I understood Him had to be for everybody.

    Bill then recounted what he called “purely a social evening” with “an M.D. and a fine one” and his wife. During the evening, Bill monopolized the conversation, focusing solely on A.A. The couple “seemed truly interested,” and the doctor “asked many questions.” One question led Bill to suspect the doctor might be an atheist or, at least, an agnostic. Triggered by this realization, Bill “set out to convert him, then and there,” admitting he “actually bragged about my spectacular spiritual experience.” The doctor, mildly, wondered aloud if that experience might be interpreted differently than Bill believed. In response, Bill became “downright rude.” Despite Bill’s behavior, the doctor remained “uniformly courteous, good humored [sic] and even respectful” throughout the conversation.
    Three years later, Bill encountered the doctor’s wife again and learned he had died the previous week. Deeply affected, she spoke of her husband’s profound contributions to those around him, made despite suffering that only became known after his death. Bill then said,

    This was the story of a man of great spiritual worth. The hallmarks were plain to be seen: humor and patience, gentleness and courage, humility and dedication, unselfishness and love—a demonstration I might never come near to making myself. This was the man I had chided and patronized. This was the "unbeliever" I had presumed to instruct!
    … for the first time, it burst in upon me how very dead faith can be—when minus responsibility. The doctor had an unwavering belief in his ideals. But he also practiced humility, wisdom and responsibility. Hence his superb demonstration.

    His message was a call for humility and genuine tolerance, to be fostered both within the fellowship and in his own heart.

April 28 in A.A. History

1983: Raymond M., an A.A. member from Grandville, Michigan, wrote [right: letter] to Dr. Carlton Turner [left, 1982], director of the Drug Abuse Policy Office during President Ronald Reagan's administration, enclosing his personal story:

RAYMOND E. M―――――――
2714 Donna, S.W.
Grandville, MI 49418
  April 28, 1983

Mr. Carlton Turner
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D.C. 20001

Dear Mr. Turner:

     Alcoholics Anonymous, as you know, is a bi-partisan organization numbering in the millions. Members include men and women, young and old, from all walks of life. The work they do, which is almost entirely on a voluntary basis, is an inspiration and a powerful statement of what can be accomplished through simple human kindness and concern.

     I am enclosing and forwarding to you a story I have written which displays the spirit of A.A. I hope you will find it interesting and inspirational. Without the splendid help these people and others in the field of substance abuse perform, this world, certainly this country, would not be as well off as it is. As an A.A. member myself, I am proud to be able to make this statement.

     Thank you for your kind attention and continued support of A.A.

          Sincerely,
           <signature>
                   Raymond E. M―――――――

REM:m
enc.

April in A.A. History—day unknown

 

1961: Bill W. declined to be the subject of a Time magazine cover story [right: mock cover], even though his full name would not have been used and he could have been photographed from behind. He later remarked:

    For all I know, a piece of this sort could have brought A.A. a thousand members—possibly a lot more. 
    Therefore, when I turned that article down, I denied recovery to an awful lot of alcoholics—some of these may already be dead.… in a sense, my action has pronounced a death sentence on some drunks and condemned others to a much longer period of illness.…
    I estimated that it would be better for some to die and others to suffer, rather than set such a perilous precedent.

    He rejected the honor, as he had many others, because accepting it would threaten the very existence of A.A. and violate the principles he himself had written into Traditions 10, 11, and 12. Bill later noted that his refusal would likely be remembered far longer than having his face splashed across a magazine cover for a week.

April 27 in A.A. History

1942: Dr. G. Kirby Collier [right] laid the groundwork for Rochester, New York’s first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
    He gathered three or four of his alcoholic patients into his office at The Hiram Sibley Building [left] on East Ave. at Alexander St. There, he explained the A.A. program’s basics and provided literature he had acquired during a December visit to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City. Then, as he put it, he “threw them overboard.”
    Following Collier’s guidance, this small group began meeting in one of the members’ homes—the lower right apartment at 192 N. Goodman St. [right]—establishing Rochester’s inaugural A.A. meeting. Within weeks, the group would expand to six people.

Today in A.A. History—April 27–May 3

2003: The 53rd General Service Conference was held at the Crowne Plaza [left] Manhattan in New York City. Advisory Actions included:

• the trial period [started at this Conference] for use of laptops at the General Service Conference be extended through the 54th G.S.C.;
• a draft Introduction to… Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions be developed;
• the trustees’ Literature Committee initiate a comprehensive review of “The A.A. Group;” and
• development of a Third Edition of Alcohólicos Anónimos be approved.

2008: The 58th General Service Conference was held at the Crowne Plaza [above left] Times Square in New York City. Advisory Actions included:

• the Online Intergroup of A.A. (OIAA) be listed in a new section titled “Online Intergroups under the section “International Correspondence Meetings” in the A.A. “Online Directories” above where “Meetings” appear.

2014: The 64th General Service Conference was held at the Hilton Westchester [right] in Rye Brook, New York. Advisory Actions included:

• a plan be created by the General Service Office to translate Conference material (background material, Conference Manual, etc.) into French and Spanish for use during the Conference;
• the pamphlet on spirituality with the title “Many Paths to Spirituality” be approved;
• during a two-year trial period[, in 2015 and 2016,] the General Service Conference include one day of electronic voting on all nonelection [sic] votes; and
• [add] to the Glossary of General Service Terms [in] The AA. Service Manual:
• “Advisory Action—Represents the informed group conscience of the Fellowship, as the result of a recommendation made by a Conference committee or a floor action, which has been approved by the Conference body as a whole,” and
• “Additional Committee Consideration—An item that was discussed by a Conference committee, but with no action taken or made by the Conference as a whole.”

April 26 in A.A. History

1939: Bill and Lois W. were forced to leave their home at 182 Clinton Street [right, c. 1940] in Brooklyn, where they had lived since May 1933, when Lois’s father remarried and moved out following her mother’s death. The bank held a mortgage but, preferring to have the property occupied rather than empty, had allowed them to stay on a month-to-month basis for a “nominal” payment of $20 [~$508 in 2026]. With the Great Depression loosening its grip, however, foreclosure restrictions had eased, allowing the bank to foreclose and sell the building. This was a difficult blow for Lois, who had lived there her whole life.
    With no place to keep their belongings, most went into storage. As Bill later remarked, “There wasn’t enough money to even get our goods into storage. We had to go on the cuff [on credit] with the drayman [wagon driver].”
    With nowhere to live, Bill and Lois moved in with Hank and Kathleen P. in Montclair, New Jersey. Lois's terse diary entry simply reads, “Left 182 for good. Went to P―― [sic].” This would be just the first of over 50 temporary homes in which they would live over the next two years.
    In her memoir, Lois Remembers, Lois noted that “soon after we left Clinton Street, Hank and Kathleen started holding Sunday meetings at their new home.” This was a clear sign that the A.A. movement was still alive and growing, even though Bill remarked of their ouster, “So climaxed four years of Alcoholics Anonymous,” suggesting a difficult turning point.
    A few days later, Bill and Lois moved again, this time to a remote bungalow in rural Green Pond, New Jersey. Lois’s diary entries, many of which are included in her memoir, suggest that this stay was one of her happiest times during Bill’s first five years of sobriety.

1958: The first International Convention of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA—which defined “young people” as individuals under 40 — opened at the Hotel Niagara [left, c. 1930s] in Niagara Falls, New York. The A.A. Exchange Bulletin (precursor to Box 4-5-9) explained that its purpose was…  

to provide delegates with a thorough rundown of the application of our A.A. program to the individual difficulties encountered by young people in dealing not only with alcoholism but also with the other problems peculiar to their generation.

1959: This Week magazine published “Don’t Tell Me I’m Not an Alcoholic” [near right: cover; far right: first 2 pages] by John Boit M., as told to Arthur Gordon.

1986: Bob P. [left], General Manager of the Alcoholics Anonymous’ General Service Office (GSO), delivered his farewell address at the closing brunch of the 36th General Service Conference at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City. This was his final conference before retirement, making the occasion particularly significant. The Final Report described his address as “a powerful and inspiring closing talk titled 'Our greatest danger: rigidity.'” His best-known comment from this talk was the following.

    If you were to ask me what is the greatest danger facing A.A. today, I would have to answer: the growing rigidity… And in this trend toward rigidity, we are drifting farther and farther away from our co-founders. Bill, in particular, must be spinning in his grave, for he was perhaps the most permissive person I ever met. One of his favorite sayings was, “Every group has the right to be wrong.” He was maddeningly tolerant of his critics…

Today in A.A. History—April 26–May 2

1981: The 31st General Service Conference was held at the Roosevelt Hotel [right, 2008] in New York City. Advisory Actions included:

• All future events such as the International Convention not be planned to operate on a deficit basis, and it was also recommended that all future events of this type be self-supporting.
• The suggestion to publish a pamphlet for the homosexual alcoholic be tabled [to] 1982.
• A footnote be added to Tradition Eight in the book “Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,” page 169, to update the job description of present-day G.S.O. staff members. The suggested footnote to read: [Their work has no counterpart in commercial organizations.]
• [That] The AA. Service Manual and Twelve Concepts for World Service be combined.

1987: The 37th General Service Conference was held at the Roosevelt Hotel [above right] in New York City. There were two significant sets of presentations addressing internal concerns that had arisen out of the 36th GSC, with discussion following.
     The first set of presentations was titled “Right of Decision”:

1. “The Right of Decision Makes Effective Leadership Possible (Concept III),” which said, in part: 
       At last year’s Conference there seemed to be some doubt or feeling of unrest about… the trustee's report on the… Conference Committee. The scope of the Conference… Committee is to review and approve the agenda… make recommendations to the Conference for approval, disapproval, or amendment…
2. “The Principle of Mutual Trust (Tradition Two),” which said, in part:
       [Let us] reflect upon why we… have presentations at Conference after Conference questioning the trust or lack of trust between the different levels of A.A. service… It may… suggest that we are all to quick to become guarded or to doubt. Both… contribute to mistrust. Perhaps it is time for us… to be open with one another…
       The second set presentations, “The Use of Surveys in Making Conference Decisions,” included three talks, two by Area delegates and the third by a Class B trustee:
1. “PRO—Don't Surveys Help Take the Pulse of the FeIlowship?,”
2. “CON—Surveys Don’t Help in Making Conference Decisions,” and
3. “How Can Survey's be Utilized?”

    These grew out of criticism that the Conference may be avoiding its responsibility by recommending surveys of the membership to determine whether or not we should, for example, publish a soft-cover format of the Big Book or a daily reflections book.

2009: The 59th General Service Conference was held at the Crowne Plaza [left] Times Square in New York City. Advisory Actions included:

• the revised draft pamphlet, “For the Native North American,” be approved;
• the trustees' Literature Committee undertake a through review of the pamphlet, “Questions  and Answers on Sponsorship,” and eliminate or revise outmoded ethnic. cultural and vocational references;
• the title of the pamphlet, “44 Questions,” be changed to “Frequently Asked Questions About A.A.;”
• the General Service Board develop a procedure for the submission of Concept V minority appeals to the General Service Conference; and
• we develop Conference-approved literature that focuses on spirituality and includes stories from atheists and agnostics who are successfully sober in Alcoholics Anonymous.