August 14 in A.A. History

August in A.A. History—day unknown

1950: The first permanent Alcoholics Anonymous group in Richmond, Virginia—founded in 1941 with just five members—had grown to 250 members.

1950: The Devonport Group in New Zealand, started in June 1948 with three members, had since grown to twelve members.

1950: During this year, up until Dr. Silkworth’s death in March 1951, Bill W. and others raised funds to allow “Silkie” and his wife, Marie [shown at right], to retire in New Hampshire. Silkworth’s most famous patient collected $25,000 [~$346,000 in 2026], which was given to Marie after her husband’s death to support her in her remaining years.

1950: The National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA) changed its name to the National Committee on Alcoholism (NCA). It was renamed again in 1990, becoming the National Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), and in 2021 it was acquired by JBKM, Ltd. [left: common portion of NCEA, NCA, and NCADD logos].

1952: The first Alcoholics Anonymous Roundup in continental Europe was held at the American High School in Wiesbaden, Germany—formerly known as General H. H. Arnold High School [right, 1956].

1952: Bill W. bought several greeting cards from Rust Craft Co., at least one of which featured a translation of the so-called “St. Francis Prayer” [left: card with prayer]. He used this same translation in the chapter on Step 11 in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, published the following year. Several of these cards are preserved in the archives at Stepping Stones.

1953: Art Linkletter [right, c. 1950] interviewed a masked woman who was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous on one of his TV shows, likely “House Party” on CBS.

1953: Hams of Alcoholics Anonymous (HAAM), an international fellowship of amateur (“ham”) radio operators within A.A., was established to “extend warmth and friendship to their members who have difficulty attending regular meetings. A.A. short-wave listeners also are invited to participate.…”

The first known attempt to connect with other ham radio operators in A.A. likely came from Lew in Seaford, Delaware. In a letter to the June 1953 A.A. Grapevine, he wrote, “I have a small homemade transmitter that cost about $20 [~$250 in 2026; left: a vintage homemade transmitter] (I have spent that much plenty of times for whiskey), and have contacted fellows 500 miles [~800 km] away.… I will answer all letters and help however I can.”

A.A. History—month & day unknown

~1954: Annie C. died with about seven years of sobriety. In the second edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, her story was titled “Annie the Cop Fighter.”

August 13 in A.A. History

1944: The Press-Telegram of Long Beach, California, published the article at right, titled “Famous Organization of Rehabilitated Alcoholics Has 100 Members Here,” highlighting the success of Alcoholics Anonymous in Southern California.

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1949: Alcoholics Anonymous published a pamphlet titled “Medicine Looks at Alcoholics Anonymous” [left: 1st printing cover], which contained two talks given to medical societies by Bill Wilson: “Basic Concepts of Alcoholics Anonymous,” presented to the Section on Neurology and Psychiatry at the annual meeting of the Medical Society of the State of New York, in New York City, in May 1944; and “The Society of Alcoholics Anonymous,” presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in May 1949.

1950: The Washington, D.C. Police Court [right, 1938] permitted Alcoholics Anonymous to hold meetings in the courtroom on Saturday mornings. Bob C., a parole officer, began sending parolees to the Cosmopolitan Group, and over time attendance at the weekly A.A. meeting became a condition of their release.

A.A. History—year, month & day unknown

Late 1940s: The National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA) relocated its office from New Haven, Connecticut, to the New York Academy of Medicine [left, recent] at 2 East 103rd Street in New York City.

Late 1940s–early 50s: Annie C., whose story in the 2nd edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, is titled “Annie the Cop Fighter,” was said to be having the time of her life in Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.). Despite having nothing material to her name, she was sober, happy, and enjoying herself—as happy as a lark.

Annie joined A.A. in April 1947, but after a slip, she went to High Watch Farm. Upon her return, her friend Nancy Flynn—whose story, also in the 2nd edition of the Big Book, is titled “The Independent Blonde”—suggested Annie take her fifth step—either with Dr. Silkworth or with a priest. Annie chose the priest, who was likely an A.A. member himself. The meeting took place at Nancy’s apartment; before leaving to give them privacy, Nancy made coffee and encouraged Annie to come to a meeting on 58th Street afterward.

When Annie arrived at that meeting, she looked visibly relieved. Nancy had assured her the fifth step wasn’t a confession—just a chance to tell her story—but Annie treated it like one anyway, telling the priest, “Father, I’ll tell you everything, but don’t ask me how many times.”

Annie was a plainspoken, unfiltered woman who cursed freely when she talked—though she’d catch herself and address a priest in the audience with, “Excuse me, Father, but I’m trying to be careful.”

Nancy, who worked as a hairdresser, charged Annie a dollar for her haircuts. She did this deliberately: Annie was proud, and Nancy wanted her to feel she was paying her way rather than accepting a handout. Later, when Annie visited another salon and was charged six dollars, she balked: “Hell, I can get it done for a buck up on Park Avenue!”

August 12 in A.A. History

1918: Bill W. arrived in Pierre Buffière commune, in France, with his unit, Company C of the 66th Coast Artillery Corps, U.S. Army. They were scheduled to remain there training until 27 September [right: Company C soldiers at Châlus commune, in France, 1918; left: map show these locations in France].

1958: Bill W. replied to a letter from someone named “Howard”:

Dear Howard,

Thanks deeply for your highly interesting letter of July 29th. I was thrilled by your account of the Old Timers meeting with the vast sobriety record that it portended. And also your observations on our 50%-25%-25% claim.^*

I think you have something when you say that perhaps we give false hope to the newcomer by those figures. Actually, those figures have never been intended to apply to all drunks who come within range of A.A. and attend a meeting or so. They apply to those who really come in and take the treatment over a considerable period of time. On that narrow classification, I think the figures will stand up. In Philadelphia, for example, they kept records for a very long time, accurate ones. Not too long ago they case up figures on old timers which seemed to prove our claimed percentages. When the new edition of the A.A. book came out, the same thing happened. The story-tellers had better than the claimed percentage. So I think it ought to be emphasized with each newcomer that his chances are just as the figures say, provided he will jump into A.A. and is willing and capable of working at it.

There is another angle, too. As you say, an awful lot of these people get hospitalized, attend a few meetings and then disappear. What becomes of them?

Probably you've heard me tell the story about a group of 75 of these people that Lois and I once picked out of old address books from the very early days. Over the years, we located more than 60 of them. The 60 had returned to A.A. and most of them had made the grade. Some had been drunk 3, 5, 7, and 10 years. Finally, they were driven back on the do-or-die basis and really got the pitch. So our over-all claims are not excessive in my judgment.

At the office, they continue to get wonderful reports of the change in feeling in your area about the Third Legacy, General Headquarters, and even about me! It is one of the most comforting and gratifying happenings that I can remember in my long A.A. live [sic]. Again, Howard, many thanks to you and to all those who have made this possible.

Devotedly,

Bill

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^*See “Foreword to Second Edition,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th edition, p. xx.

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1949:The first Loners International Meeting bulletin was published under the title The Internationalists Round Robin. It contained a few pages of excerpts from letters received by the General Service Office (GSO) and was sent to a small group of Internationalists determined to stay sober, regardless of their isolation.

Late the previous year, following the publication of a three-part article titled “A ‘Loner’ at Sea” by John “Captain Jack” S. [left: as a young man] in the October, November, and December issues of the A.A. Grapevine, plans for a meeting-by-mail for Internationalists began to take shape. Responses to this Grapevine series led a GSO staff member at the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City to suggest to Captain Jack the idea of starting a “Round Robin Meeting” via letters. Captain Jack welcomed the suggestion and proposed the name “The Far East Internationalist Group.” He believed this name would be fitting, because it

… would leave it open to lone members stationed ashore in the Far East and also to men who sail these waters under flags of different nations.

August 11 in A.A. History

1937: Paul [right] and Hildreth S. of Akron, Ohio, arrive in Brooklyn to visit Bill and Lois Wilson. They would stay until 15 August.

1938: The Trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation—Frank Amos [far left], Willard Richardson [center left], and Bill R. [near right]—held their first meeting.

John Wood was unable to attend; Dr. Bob S.^* had sent a handwritten proxy letter authorizing Richardson to vote on his behalf, adding “I instruct him, however, to vote for Mr. Frank B. Amos for Treasurer of said Foundation.”

The six-day delay in officially establishing the Foundation was due to the time it took to mail the “Trust Indenture” document to Dr. Bob in Akron, Ohio for his signature and notarization, which occurred on the 10th. The signed package arrived in New York City on the day of the meeting.

The Trustees met at the office, #601, of Hank Parkhurst’s business, Honor Dealers, in Newark, New Jersey [left]: 17 Williams Street, c. 2017–18, shortly after being rebuilt], where Ruth Hock [near right], Hank’s secretary at the time, provided administrative assistance. At this first meeting, Frank Amos asked Hank [far right] for an update on their progress. He reported the following statistics on the “Eastern Section”:

41 alcoholics recovered (“Definite on the ball,” per Hank)
6 alcoholics in the questionable class
12 hopeless alcoholics (“so difficult practically denied,” per Hank)
10 alcoholics recovered but out of touch
25 prospects

The Foundation and office would eventually become known as the General Service Board and General Service Office, respectively. Ruth Hock would later become A.A.’s first National Secretary.

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^* Dr. Bob did not attend any of the official Board of Trustees meetings during the critical period of 1938.

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1948: An unidentified member of Alcoholics Anonymous explained the program’s principles on the critically acclaimed “Tex and Jinx Show”^*

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^*The hosts were a married couple, John Reagan “Tex” McCrary and Eugenia Lincoln “Jinx” Falkenburg [right]. Tex was a graduate of Exeter and Yale; Jinx was a model, actress, and accomplished tennis player and swimmer. One reporter dubbed them “Mr. Brains and Mrs. Beauty.” Most of their airtime was devoted to substantive ideas, engaging guests, and lively sidebars. The show was “built on the assumption that the early morning audience was not stupid, as programmers generally assumed; that people in general had fresher minds and were more open to serious topics at the beginning of the day.”

1949: New Alcoholics Anonymous groups were started in Fairbanks and Ketchikan, Alaska [left: map, with Fairbanks in the center and Ketchikan in the southeast corner].

1949: CBS radio broadcast a 10-episode drama about an alcoholic who finds his way to A.A. The Alcoholic Foundation’s office in New York City was deluged with inquiries.

August 10 in A.A. History

1940: With the outbreak of World War II, Cmdr. Junious Lee C. [right] was recalled to the Navy to serve as First Executive Officer in charge of the Aviation Trades Schools at the soon-to-be-commissioned Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida. [left: Aerial view of Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida (1943)]

An Annapolis graduate from the Class of 1918 and a native of McComb, Mississippi, he had retired early to Pasadena, California—in part because of his excessive drinking. His wife, Marie, learned of a fledgling organization called Alcoholics Anonymous and wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City for help. Ruth Hock sent her the address of the Los Angeles group, where Marie bought a copy of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Junious got sober in the Los Angeles group and went on to become a key figure in establishing A.A. in Florida.

2015: To commemorate the 125th anniversary of the birth of E. M. “Bunky” Jellinek [right, at Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies], Judit Hajnal Ward posted an editorial in the Jellinek Special Anniversary issue of the Center of Alcohol Studies (CAS) Information Services Newsletter. Co-authored by Judit H. Ward and William Bejarano, the piece was posted to the “Secrets from the Past” blog within the Rutgers University Alcohol Studies Archive. It included the following reflection:

In remembrance of Jellinek, the first questions should be, as suggested by Thelma Pierce Anderson, Jellinek’s ex-wife [color in original],

Which Jellinek are we talking about? Bunky, the man? Bunky, the scientist? Bunky, the humanitarian? Bunky, the screwball? Bunky, the kind? the ruthless? the genius? (Anderson to Keller, August 22, 1984)

This special issue of the Center of Alcohol Studies Information Services Newsletter aims to present Jellinek’s colorful personality through his own words, deeds, and scholarship, coupled with thoughts and opinions from some leaders of the field. Our goal is to show that Jellinek was everything but the average researcher. Letters, memories, and articles (by him and about him) outline a controversial scholar. He might have been scorned by many and idolized by others, but no one could just ignore him and what he did, whether as a charming gambler in Hungary or an alcohol scientist in the United States.

E. M. Jellinek more than others, saw “the big picture” regarding what was necessary to establish a beachhead for mainstream science’s cultural “ownership” of the nation's alcohol-related concerns in the post-Repeal period. (Roizen, 2014, p. 78)

[Left: highlights of Jellinek’s work from the 2014 SALIS conference; right: timeline of Jellinek’s life.]

August in A.A. History—day unknown

1981: Distribution of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, surpassed three million (3,000,000) copies.

2007: The Московские Начинающие (Moscow Beginners) [left: their logo] and the Доверие (Trust) A.A. group in Kirov, Russia, celebrated their 20th and 10th anniversaries, respectively.

2010: Mongolian A.A. (MAAS) [right: Mongolian A.A. logo superimposed over Mongolian flag] held its 4th National Conference and celebrated the 12th anniversary of A.A. in Mongolia, with the theme “Responsibility.” Following this conference, the 2nd MAAS [General Service] Conference took place, during which delegates elected a general manager and three trusted servants and established a [general] service office.

August 9 in A.A. History

1943: [This event is frequently cited as having taken place in 1890!] The Los Angeles Times reported [right] that 400 members of Alcoholics Anonymous had attended an annual picnic at Sycamore Grove Park the day before. These attendees represented 11 groups, totaling around 1,000 members. During the picnic, it was announced that Bill W. would be visiting Southland (Greater Los Angeles, California) groups for two months, beginning in early October.

August in A.A. History—day unknown

1950: [p. 334 of Pass It On says that this meeting took place on 12 November 1950, just two weeks before Dr. Bob’s death] Bill W. made his final visit to Dr. Bob S. [left: the two of them together, likely in the 1940s] in Akron, Ohio. During the meeting, Bill told Bob that the Alcoholic Foundation’s Board of Trustees would likely approve a General Service Conference if Bob backed the plan. Bill later reported to the Board that Dr. Bob had endorsed establishing the Conference.

1956: A question and answer about how to open a meeting was featured in the “Round-Up of Group Experience” section [right] of the AA Exchange Bulletin (later renamed Box 4-5-9). The section was titled “Variety of Topics Are Highlighted”:

Q. Does A.A. have a prepared “preamble” for use in opening meetings or discussions at an “outside” gathering?

A. Although there is no set procedure, the description of A.A. originally developed for use in “The A. A. Grapevine” is used to open many group meetings and might be considered equally useful at “outside” meetings:
[The piece then quotes the complete Preamble from the A.A. Grapevine at that time, which still mentions “an honest desire to stop drinking.”]

1958: The AA Exchange Bulletin, later renamed Box 4-5-9, announced [left] that September had been designated “AA Census Month.”

All groups were encouraged to conduct an accurate count of their members—those participating in group affairs, as well as members “presently sober who are not known to be affiliated with other groups.”

The same issue included a report outlining plans to increase subscriptions to the A.A. Grapevine:

Russ C., business manager of the journal, reported that test mailings to obtain new subscriptions would be made in three areas before a decision was made on whether to ask all subscribers to join the current circulation effort. The new campaign is based on asking each current reader to obtain at least one new subscription.

1960: The AA Central Bulletin reported [near right] that the A.A. Grapevine, Inc.’s special publication, AA Today [far right: cover], commemorating A.A.’s 25th anniversary, had sold nearly 20,000 copies to date, with only 5,000 copies remaining. A third printing was already planned for the coming winter.

1978: The A.A. Grapevine published a news item announcing the French translation of The Best of Bill:

And here’s a news note on a Grapevine publication, “Best of Bill,” five small pamphlets (enclosed in a folder) reprinting GV articles by our co-founder. The five articles have been translated into French in Canada and have been printed there… in a single pamphlet of standard size. Titled “Par Bill” [left: cover of recent version, now titled Les meilleurs articles de Bill], it is available from Service de Littérature AA du Québec, 7210, rue Saint-Denis, Montréal, Qué., Canada H2R 2E2.

August 8 in A.A. History

1879: Robert Holbrook (later “Dr. Bob”) S. [near right, 1898] was born in the front bedroom of a large, nineteenth-century clapboard house at 20^* Summer Street in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. His parents were Susan A. Holbrook and Judge Walter Perrin S. [far right].

He had a much older foster sister, Amanda Northrop [left],^† who later became a history professor at Hunter College in New York City.

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^*Later renumbered to be 297 Summer Street.

^†Born in 1858, her father died in 1864. Just 18 days short of her 22nd birthday, the 1880 U.S. Census shows her living in Fairfield, Vermont with her mother, who died 4 months later. Presumably this resulted in her being put up for a time as a foster child—beginning no later than 1891—with Judge Walter and Susan S.

1942: The U.S. Army approved Clarence Snyder’s application to enroll in its Volunteer Officers Candidate Program. Earlier that summer, Clarence [right, in uniform] had decided it was time to enlist and had contacted the Selective Service Board to apply.

1944: Ed B.,^* who had previously been in A.A. but had returned to drinking, woke up in the basement of a small community hospital. Once he’d sobered up, Dr. Bob S. came to see him and asked, “What happened, Ed?” Ed later recalled telling him that he’d found himself in a bar with no idea how he’d gotten there. At that, Dr. Bob rose from his chair, pointed a finger at him, and delivered a lecture on the importance of honesty, saying in part:

You’re taking up my time, and I have better ways to spend it than to talk to you. If I were you, I’d go out and get drunk and stay drunk until I made up my mind what I wanted to do. As far as I’m concerned, you stink!

Ed was furious, but later that night he called Dr. Bob’s wife, Anne. After that call, he never drank again. He went on to become editor of the Akron Intergroup News.

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^*This may well be the Ed B. of Akron, Ohio, who was A.A. #59, and whose original sobriety date was in January 1938.

1974: H. Alfred “Al” S. [far left] wrote to Nell Wing [near left] about an article on Anne S., Dr. Bob’s wife, that he had inadvertently taken home 24 years earlier [right: letter].

August in A.A. History—day unknown

1946: The physical dimensions of the 10th printing of the 1st edition of Alcoholics Anonymous were changed to a more conventional size, reducing them from 9 3/16" × 6" to 8 ½" × 5 ⅝" [left: relative sizes]. Despite this change, it continued to be called the “Big Book.”

1947: In his essay for the A.A. Grapevine [right: pp. 3, 8] titled “Last Seven Years Have Made A.A. Self-Supporting,” Bill W. wrote:

Two years ago the [Alcoholic Foundation] Trustees set aside, out of A.A. book funds, a sum which enabled my wife [Lois] and me to pay off the mortgage on our home and make some needed improvements. The Foundation also granted Dr. Bob Smith and me each a royalty of 10% on the book Alcoholics Anonymous, our only income from A.A. sources. We are both very comfortable and deeply grateful.

1948: The Grapevine announced [left: p. 1, p. 16] that, beginning the following month, the magazine would shift to a 32-page format measuring 5½"×7½", replacing its current 16-page, 8½"×11" size [right: old vs new size].