May 5 in A.A. History

1940: Robert A. Erwin’s article, “Victims of Alcohol Hold Weekly Meetings to Aid One Another in Overcoming Weakness for Drink” [right], published in Washington, D.C.’s The Sunday Star (presumably the Sunday edition of The Evening Star), offered a favorable report on the Washington Group, the first Alcoholics Anonymous group formed in the District of Columbia.
    John Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [left] was one of Bill W.’s early successes at Charles B. Towns Hospital in the fall of 1935. Although he lived in Cumberstone, Maryland, he spent much of his early sobriety in New York City, making the long trip from home to attend A.A. meetings at Bill’s home in Brooklyn.
    In 1939, Fitz moved to Washington, D.C., where he immediately contacted Hardin C., whose inquiry to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City had been forwarded to Fitz. They began meeting at Hardin’s apartment and soon recruited Ned F., who had also gotten sober in New York City, along with a retired Navy Commander from California, and other individuals. Their first female member, Dorothy H., joined the following year. James “Jim” B. [right] of Philadelphia significantly assisted the D.C. members. He considered the weekly meetings at Philadelphia General Hospital essential to the success of the Philadelphia group and urged the D.C. group to work with alcoholics at the Psychopathic Ward of Gallinger Municipal Hospital. He also introduced the practice of serving coffee and doughnuts at meetings.
    The D.C. members revisited the discussion Jim and Fitz had previously held in New York City regarding the references to God in the Big Book. Jim emphasized the psychological approach, while Fitz focused on the religious aspect.
    The Sunday Star article would attract many new members, and by the end of the year, the group would grow to 70 members.

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    The article also briefly mentions a “colored group” meeting on Thursday nights at an unnamed Arlington, Virginia, church. This group was established by a “prominent businessman in the [Washington, D.C.] group.” This businessman, presumably white, brought some of his Black employees, who “needed help to find freedom from rum,” to these meetings. The group was only mentioned again in a later A.A. pamphlet, “Black in A.A.” (P-51), which quoted from the same article.
    If true, this would be the oldest Colored/Negro/Black/African-American group of Alcoholics Anonymous, predating the AA-1 Group in St. Louis, Missouri, by approximately five years.

May in A.A. History—day unknown

1935: [Late, after May 20] Joseph H. “Joe” W., Jr.^* edited Bill Wilson’s second draft of “The Strange Obsession.” The third draft of this story would later serve as the basis for “Bill's Story” in the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. The editor^† of Vol. III, No. 3 (Apr–Jun 2007) of Culture Alcohol & Society Quarterly wrote:

    In Jim B[urwell]’s account of early AA, one Joe W. (Jim actually records the last name, but it will not be used here) is identified as the man who told Bill to call the book (and the fellowship) Alcoholics Anonymous rather than Anonymous Alcoholics. Jim records that this Joe W. was with The New Yorker, but no New Yorker records available confirmed this. Research among various Joseph W’s who might have been ours provided a Joseph Hooker W., Jr., b. Bridgeport CT February 2, 1895, son of Emma (b. 1875) and Joseph Hooker W. Sr. (1868-1941), a telegrapher and then metering clerk for the railroad. This identification was confirmed when the first page of signatures in the “First Big Book Bought” in the Archives at GSO showed the name Joseph Hooker W-----, Jr. Further research (Bridgeport Post) indicated he was married in the late summer of 1923, when working for the New York Post, and a son. Joseph Hooker W----- III was born October 13, 1924, at which time the W-----s lived in Cos Cob [sic] CT. The marriage notice provides the information that bride and groom would be living on Livingston St. in Brooklyn Heights, that the bride had attended the Pratt Institute and worked for Franklin Simon, and that the groom had attended Bridgeport High School and the Park Avenue Institute, and previously worked for Metropolitan magazine.

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^*Former President Theodore Roosevelt inscribed [far left] a copy of his autobiography [near left: cover] to Joe. It reads: “Inscribed for / Joseph Hooker W―― Jr. / with the best wishes of / Theodore Roosevelt / May 10th 1916”.

^†Unsigned, this text was presumably written by the editor, Jared Lobdell, who listed himself as editor from July 2003 to December 2013 on his résumé.

May 4 in A.A. History

1940: The first Alcoholics Anonymous group in Washington, D.C., held its inaugural meeting. Fitz M. [right] is traditionally recognized as the founder of A.A. in the Washington area. Along with Ned F., he brought the A.A. experience they had gained from the established New York Group to this region, helping alcoholics stay sober even before 1939. During that first year, their efforts—along with those of several other alcoholics—shaped the group into what it would ultimately become.

1946: Marty M. [left] “explained Alcoholics Anonymous and the work of the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism” during Gabriel Heatter’s nationwide radio show, We the People. She was interviewed by Milo Boulton [right]. What follows are excerpts from the transcript:

MB:	The story of the young lady who is beside me now at our microphone can be told in just seven words. I want her to repeat those seven words for you.
MM:	For ten years, I was an alcoholic.…
MB:	Mrs. M——, it seems incredible that a young and beautiful woman like you should have once been an alcoholic.
MM:	Mr. Boulton, I still am an alcoholic.
MB:	But—I thought you’d been cured.
MM:	Oh, no. You must realize that alcoholism is a disease—a disease which today is as prevalent as tuberculosis or cancer. My illness has been arrested, and I think and hope it will stay that way, but people like me can never safely touch alcohol again, so we can never say we’re cured.…
MB:	Well, then—I assume that Alcoholics Anonymous is responsible for your rehabilitation.
MM:	Indeed they are. They didn’t lecture me, or look down on me, or make me sign a pledge. They did advise me to promise myself that I would not drink for 24 hours, and when the 24 hours were past, to make myself another promise. They taught me to live without alcohol.… We want the public to realize drunks shouldn’t be jailed, but sent to hospitals—because a drunk is as sick as a man with a mortal disease. But he can, with proper treatment, become a useful citizen. I am proof of that. And I am devoting all my energies to aid those who are afflicted with this dread disease

1983: Carlton E. Turner [left, 1982], director of the Drug Abuse Policy Office during President Ronald Reagan’s administration, responded [right]  to a letter from Raymond E. Materson, an A.A. member from Grandville, Michigan, written six days earlier.

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 4, 1983

Dear Mr. Materson:

Thank you for your letter of April 28, 1983 and for forwarding me a copy of your story “There's A Long-Distance Loneliness…”

Many people have given a great deal of time and energy to helping others overcome the serious problems of alcohol and drug abuse. Thank you for all you have done and for sharing your most touching story.

Please let us know if this office can be of any assistance. Best regards.

Sincerely,
<signature>
Carlton E. Turner, Ph.D.
Special Assistant to the President
for Drug Abuse Policy

Mr. Raymond E. Materson
2741 Donna, s.w.
Grandville, MI 49418

1986: Ruth (Hock) Crecelius [left, holding the five millionth copy of A.A.’s Big Book], 74, died of cancer in Washington, Ohio.
    In July 1985, Ruth attended the 50th Anniversary International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in Montreal, QC, with her daughter, Laurie. At this event, she received the 5,000,000th copy of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, the first edition of which she had transcribed from Bill Wilson’s dictation.
    During this time, she began to feel unwell but convinced her family and friends that she was fine. Later that year, she sold the family home and retired from her job. In January, she was diagnosed with cancer and passed away four months later.
    From 1937 to 1942, Ruth served as Bill’s nonalcoholic secretary, answering thousands of letters inquiring about the new organization for alcoholics following the publication of Jack Alexander’s article in The Saturday Evening Post. Her numerous trips to assist fledgling groups earned her the title “Flying Ambassadress of A.A.”

May 3 in A.A. History

1943: The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, New York [left: Main Street, VE-Day, 1945], published an unattributed article titled “Anonymous Group Holds First Dinner” [far right]. It described Rochester’s first annual Alcoholics Anonymous dinner, held at the Hotel Seneca [near right, c. 1940s] and attended by sixty people.

May in A.A. History—day unknown

1935: [Early, before May 11] In Akron, Ohio, Bill W. [left: with Lois c. 1941] remained optimistic about winning his proxy fight for control of National Rubber Machinery Company. He wrote to his wife, Lois,

    The life is so different here and so interesting, it would make a brand new girl of you in six months—and I am pretty sure we are headed toward Akron.

1935: Knowing Bill W. had no money, Henrietta Seiberling [right] arranged for her neighbor, John Rudolph Gammeter [left]—Akron’s first airplane owner and pilot (c. 1908)—to put him up at the Portage Country Club for a couple of weeks. During his stay, Wilson played golf with some of Akron’s wealthiest citizens.
 
1935: Within two weeks of meeting Dr. Bob S., Bill wrote to his wife, Lois:

    Dr. S—— is helping me to change [sober up] a Dr. McKay, once the most prominent surgeon in town, who developed into a terrific rake and drunk.

    Dr. Roy McKay [right] lived at 581 N. Portage Path and shared an office building with Dr. Bob. Once wealthy, McKay had lost his fortune, and his wife committed suicide on Christmas night, 1934. Despite Bill and Bob’s efforts to help him, they ultimately failed, and he missed the chance to become A.A. #3 (or even #2). He died in Florida in November 1936, at age 53, reportedly due to complications from a fall.

1937: [Very late] Bill W. moved in with Dr. Bob and Anne S. at 855 Ardmore Avenue [left] in Akron, Ohio. He informed his proxy partners in New York City of his stay in Akron. To his surprise, they wired him cash and suggested he hire a lawyer to investigate potential fraud in the results of the National Rubber Machine Company’s stockholders’ meeting.

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.