July 31 in A.A. History

In 1879, John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [right] was born in Chelsea, New Jersey, to Robert A. and Annie Taylor M.

In 1949, Central Ohio’s first interracial Alcoholics Anonymous group was started by Charlie W. 
   Around the same time, a committee led by Bert P. was organizing the Central Ohio Group Fellowship and opening a new office. The bylaws governing the COGF were approved on this date, at Neil House in downtown Columbus, with Floyd W., Al B., and Harry C. as the primary architects. As always, Reverend Faust provided spiritual guidance during this process. Since its inception, the Central Ohio Group Fellowship has been dedicated to serving the groups and members in need.

In 1952, Henrietta Seiberling [far left] wrote a handwritten letter to Clarence S. [near left] of eight pages (four pages, double-sided). In part, it stated [underlining in original]:

    It looked for a while as if Bill W[—–] would like to crowd God out but we know that it is up to us to seek more & more of God’s power to help other people to know this way of Life & our fellowship. You certainly are doing your part & thank God, all those who have glimpsed the real vision are doing theirs. The joy of it is, to me, that those who have only been offered “the stone,” are so eager & grab at the “bread,” that we know we have to offer - as you say, it is appalling how little they have been offered by the would be “elder statesman” - but the 12 steps & the fact that, as Stanley Jones say, wherever man opens his mind to God, He reveals himself - they have helped the groping AA’s - who have been denied so much of the real “bread” - & given the “stone” of Bill W[—–]’s designs.
    But, Clarence, I have made one big whale of a surrender of Bill & his schemes - & all thought of him & the possibilities of what harm he could do just left me in the most amazing way. I don’t have to try to “not think of him” again, I just don’t - He is completely consigned to God by me & I know He can handle him - We will be closely knit - even with his taking the money & trying to take the book. I am sure he will need our pity & compassion because he has put himself apart from the real fellowship - more and more I see that the 16th Chapter of Luke that I read in answer to my asking to understand Bill & what he was doing, illuminated the situation - He has put himself with the “children of darkness” - he has his henchmen & ingratiates himself with those in the dark - Let us keep ourselves “children of the Light” & keep serving God, instead of “Mammon.” Bill has made his choice - Read the chapter over.
    I heard talk in Missouri 2 years ago about his connection with Sheen but I don’t imagine it is so. He imagines himself all kinds of things. His hand “writes” dictation from a Catholic priest, whose name I forget, from the 1600 period who was in Barcelona Spain - again, he told Horace C[—–], he was completing the work that Christ didn’t finish, & according to Horace he said he was a reincarnation of Christ. Perhaps he got mixed in whose reincarnation he was. It looks more like the works of the devil but I could be wrong. I don’t know what is going on in the poor deluded fellow’s mind.
    He must be wistful. He asked Bill D[—–] if he knew where I was & Bill said “on Park Ave” & he said “Have you seen her”?
    I learned from a Texas friend that a Chaplain in the prisons said the only way they really reached prisoners was thru Alcoholics Anonymous, even for the non alcoholic - so besides such things as that, Bill & his schemes pale into insignificance for us - I am sure.
    We can stand by & see him claim the “glory” if we can keep the “power” to help transform lives - Thank God, you & so many others are still doing that.…
    I saw Henry S[—–] in N.Y. - Bill D[—–] brought him over. Bill W. wouldn’t let him in the “convention.”…
As ever Faithfully
Henrietta

In 1970, Bernard B. Smith [right], 68, died of a heart attack at his home at 1165 Park Ave. in New York City. He was the longest-serving Trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous, holding the position from 1944 to 1970. Initially a member of the Alcoholic Foundation Board, he later became a Trustee of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, serving as Chair from 1950 to 1956. Bill W. referred to him as “the architect of A.A.’s general service structure.”
    Earlier in the month, due to Bill’s poor health, “Bern,” as he was commonly known, stepped in for many of Bill’s scheduled appearances at the Fifth International Convention in Miami, Florida, which celebrated A.A.’s 35th anniversary.

In 1972, a sober Ralston "Rollie" H. [left], known as “Rollickin’ Rollie,” died at the age of 65 from a heart attack in Washington, DC. He had had a notable 18-year career in Major League Baseball as a catcher, earning five All-Star selections. Hemsley played for several teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds (twice), St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees (winning the World Series in 1943), and Philadelphia Athletics. Following his playing career, he managed various minor-league teams and coached the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics.
    His battles with alcohol were legendary while he played for the Indians. In 1939, while on a train trip, he got drunk, poured water on a sleeping porter, tossed lit matches into sleeping berths, and climbed into manager Oscar “Ossie” Vitt’s bed, blubbering incoherently. As a result, he was immediately suspended. When Cy Slapnicka, the Indians’ general manager, gave Hemsley a $1,500 [~$34,700 in 2025] diamond ring and told him it was a gift for his daughter, the tough catcher was deeply moved and teared up. He vowed to quit drinking on the spot, and Slapnicka arranged for him to meet with some members of Alcoholics Anonymous, who promptly admitted him to the hospital. After four days there, he joined A.A., becoming its 77th member.

In 2002, the first meeting of the month-long Online Service Conference (OSC) concluded.
    During the meeting, representatives discussed several important issues affecting online A.A. groups. Topics included how to establish a group conscience online, the internet publication of A.A. copyrighted documents, online anonymity, relationships with "face-to-face" A.A. bodies, and other relevant concerns.
    The OSC representatives passed two actions:

• ratifying the Conference as beginning a general service structure for online A.A. and planning to meet again in January 2003; and 
• electing six members of a Steering Committee to stand for the Conference and prepare an agenda in the interim between meetings.

In 2003, the third meeting of the month-long Online Service Conference (OSC) concluded.
    Two key actions were discussed: defining online A.A. groups and recommending that these groups provide representatives to the OSC for two-year terms. However, neither proposal achieved substantial unanimity and both were referred for further study. Committees were formed to study the issues, and new members were elected to fill vacant positions on the Steering Committee.
    As with the previous assembly, no Online Advisory Actions were voted on during this third conference.

July 30 in A.A. History

In 1863, the military unit of Gardner Fayette Griffith [right], Vermont’s Company B, 14th Regiment, was mustered out in Brattleboro, Vermont, just a few weeks after its pivotal role in the Union’s decisive victory over Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania [left: a Vermont soldier c. 1863]. Griffith would later become the grandfather of Bill W.

In 1945, Silas B., 63, died in a Stamford, Connecticut hospital after a year of illness [near right: obituary, The Brooklyn (NY) Daily Eagle, 1 Aug 1945, p. 11]. He had been A.A. #3 (or 4) in New York City and, in January 1939, had written the first newspaper article ever published about Alcoholics Anonymous, but he had returned to drinking less than a year later [far right: gravestone].

In 1950, attendees at A.A.’s 1st International Convention at the Cleveland Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, adopted the Twelve Traditions with near-unanimous acclamation.

In 1950, Dr. Bob S. [left] made a brief appearance at A.A.’s 1st International Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, to deliver his final public remarks. His now-famous talk included the following:

There are two or three things that flashed into my mind on which it would be fitting to lay a little emphasis. One is the simplicity of our program. Let’s not louse it all up with Freudian complexes and things that are interesting to the scientific mind but have very little to do with our actual AA work. Our Twelve Steps, when simmered down to the last, resolve themselves into the words love and service.

July 29 in A.A. History

Today in A.A. History—July 29–August 2

In 1971, a 21-member General Service Board (GSB) of Alcoholics Anonymous met for the first time in New York City. With the election of nine new members at the April General Service Conference (GSC), the Board reached a 2:1 ratio of Class A (alcoholic) Trustees to Class B (non-alcoholic) Trustees. This completed a reorganization begun by the 1966 GSC and advocated by Bill Wilson since before 1955. Historically, the GSB had always maintained a majority of non-alcoholic members. The 2:1 ratio has remained largely unchanged since [right: Report of the Trustees’ Nominating Committee to the 1971 GSC; all nominees were were approved by the GSC Trustees’ Committee and elected by the GSC].

July 28 in A.A. History

1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo, the capital of the recently annexed provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina [right: Achille Beltrame’s portrayal of the assassination]. This act provided Austria-Hungary with the justification it needed to initiate hostilities against Serbia, marking the onset of the Great War, later known as World War I. The United States would enter the war in April 1917, and by August, President Wilson would mobilize all National Guard units. At that time, Bill W. was a student at Norwich University and, as such, a member of the Vermont National Guard.

Today in A.A. History—July 28–30

In 1950, Alcoholics Anonymous held its first International Convention [left] in Cleveland, Ohio, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of A.A.’s founding. The event aimed to honor Dr. Bob S., who was seriously ill and would pass away in November, and to adopt the Twelve Traditions by acclamation. While up to 10,000 attendees were expected from an estimated total membership of 96,400, only about 3,000 people registered, with a few hundred attending without registering ahead of time.
    During the convention, Bill W. gave a talk titled “The Group Conscience and the Trusted Servant”* in which he discussed several key points, among them:

    I think that we have developed almost a fetish that this is some terrific infallibility in the group conscience, and I would like to modify it to this extent: that when the group conscience is thoroughly informed, and when experience backs a decision or conclusion it has reached, and when it isn’t too mad or too fearful, it can (and almost always is) supremely wise as to the best interests of Alcoholics Anonymous.

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* This talk is reprinted in Our Great Responsibility: A Selection of Bill W.’s General Service Conference Talks 1951–1970.

July 27 in A.A. History

In 1938, at the request of Bill W., Dr. William D. Silkworth [right] wrote a letter of recommendation titled “To Whom It May Concern” [left] to support fundraising for the book that would eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous. This letter, in modified form, constituted the first part of Silkworth’s contribution to the chapter “The Doctor’s Opinion.” The second part of his contribution was likely submitted just before the Multilith printing in February 1939.

In 1941, Dale A. [left], who had written the Alcoholic Foundation in March after reading Jack Alexander’s article in The Saturday Evening Post, attended his first A.A. meeting. Soon he would be holding meetings in his home across the street from the North City Tavern [right, c. 1927]* in Shoreline, Washington, and would eventually become what many people consider the founding father of A.A. in Seattle, Washington.

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^*17554 15th Ave NE: located 10.6 mi [17.06 km] north of Seattle, it was built as a grocery store in 1927, and is still there, known since 1990 as the North City Lounge.