August 22 in A.A. History

1945: The first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) meeting in Scotland took place. This event was reported in an article [left], titled “Alcoholics Anon­ymous Comes to Scotland,” published in Scotland’s The Sunday Mail:

Six men who met in a Church vestry in Perth this week-end made Scottish history—when they formed the first Scots branch of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Most unorthodox movement in the world—it began in America—Alcoholics Anonymous has as its only members people who are addicted to alcohol.

They set out as drunkards to help cure one another, to the extent of being prepared at a moment’s notice to go out at any time of the day or night to help a “brother” in distress.

The two churches most likely to have hosted this meeting are St. Matthew’s (West Church) [far left] and St. John’s Kirk [right].

1985: Francis “Barry” L. Jr. [left: middle-aged Barry], 66, died at his home in Manhattan [far right: obituary]. He was buried [near right: gravestone] in Weather­ford, Texas, where he had grown up.

Barry earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and Journalism from Texas Wesleyan College in Fort Worth, Texas, where he taught those subjects for two years in the early 1940s. He later completed his doctorate at Yale University.

In 1944, he relocated to New York City, where he got sober in 1945. He became one of the first openly gay members of Alcoholics Anonymous and played a crucial role in discussions about inclusivity within the organization, particularly concerning LGBTQ+ members, including early efforts in 1945 to establish special meetings for gay men.

Barry testified before the U.S. Congress and appeared on television to advocate for legislation addressing alcoholism. He authored Living Sober [far left, 1st ed. 1st prtg.] (1975) and the pamphlet “Do You Think You’re Different?” [near left, 1st ed. 1st prtg.] (1976), which included two stories by gay authors. He also co-authored Lois’s book, Lois Remembers [right: 1st ed. 1st prtg.], and worked as a staff writer at the General Service Office (GSO) of A.A., where he recorded and wrote many of the early General Service Conference final reports. He additionally worked on the staff of the A.A. Grapevine. Barry retired from GSO eighteen months before his death.

He became a trusted friend of Bill and Lois W., growing particularly close to Lois after Bill’s death in 1971. In 1978, Lois presented Barry a copy of the original multilith manuscript of the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous [left: 1st page of Chapter 5, “How It Works"]. The following year, Barry signed a notarized letter gifting the manuscript to A.A. World Services, while retaining possession of it for the remainder of his life—a fact he discussed publicly shortly before his death in 1985.

His final major public appearance was at the 8th International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous, celebrating the organization’s 50th anniversary in Montreal, Quebec, just a month before his death. 

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

1950s: [Late] In Dallas, Texas, Lester F. hired Merl—“a perfect lady”—to run the Dallas Central Office. According to Lester, she kept the place “real clean and orderly” during the time she worked there.

August 21 in A.A. History

1988: During the 1st Canadian National A.A. Convention at the Halifax Metro Centre [left, 2006]—renamed Scotiabank Centre in 2014—in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a group of LGBTQ members met at the Sheraton Hotel. In 2011, Mike A., who attended the event, recounted the details of that meeting:

In August, 1988 we had the first Canadian National AA Roundup [sic] which had nearly 5,000 people at one time in the Metro Center. People from all over the US and Canada (and perhaps other continents, not sure) came to this gathering. Eyebrows were raised, eyes rolled when 3 people who got up to read Steps, Traditions, etc. said “Hello, my name is _____ and I am a GAY alcoholic.” The G Word caused a slight flap. One member, JJL―― [right], met a number of friends of Bill W. and ‘Dorothy.’ He was tall and carrying a shoulder-bag, they couldn’t miss him. Someone said, “There are an awful lot of ‘us’ here, perhaps we should have our own meeting!” A Flyer [sic] was typed up and put on notice boards and a member from Vancouver said we could have a meeting in his Suite (at the Sheraton, now the Marriott) which had a large meeting room.

Twenty-seven people came to our meeting on Sunday afternoon. Surprise! We’re everywhere! It was a most uplifting meeting, we were all impressed that so many nice people came on short notice. Several people said, “Hey! We could have our own Roundup!”

Georgina C―― and Leonard, Mike A.’s partner, were surprised that they were nominated—right out of the blue—to be our first Co-Chairs. They accepted (relent­ed?) and a date was set for October to have a meeting to discuss the possibilities.

The result would be the Courage Roundup [left: logo], “an annual gathering of LGBT alcoholics and those affected by the alcoholism of others, that is, an LGBT Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon.”

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1959: [Late] The General Service Office (GSO) and A.A. Grapevine staff, having moved to 141 E. 44th St. [right, c. 1940] a few years earlier, were now experiencing a “hopelessly cramped” environment there. A small group that included Bill W., Nell Wing, and Edward “Ed” Bierstadt, a writer and editor assisting Bill with various writing projects, worked separately elsewhere. To address the overcrowding, Alcoholics Anon­ymous. rented the entire 18th floor at 305 E. 45th St. [left, in background, c. 1940], consolidating both groups in a building that had once housed GSO’s shipping department on the 12th floor. Since the new location was a loft, the space required the construction of offices, restrooms, and work areas, a process that took about a year. Nell, who shared a large office with Bill, was “tickled” to be reunited with the rest of the GSO team.

For Dennis Manders [right, 1967], GSO’s longtime non-alcoholic controller responsible for overseeing the ½ mile [~800 m] move, the experience was a nightmare, particularly because the 44th Street building was partially residential. Building managers prohibited the furniture from exiting through the lobby, so every desk, chair, and file cabinet had to be carried to the basement and maneuvered up a narrow staircase to the sidewalk and into the moving truck. The entire move was completed overnight, after the office closed.

There was no extra space at the new location. Shortly after the move, GSO began knocking down walls to expand, and additional space was acquired on another floor for meeting rooms. Nevertheless, the annual rent decreased from about $6.50 [~$75 in 2026] to $3.25 [~$37 in 2026] per square foot.

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

1950s: [Late] Alcoholics in Argentina began organizing La Oficina de Servicios Generales (OSG) de Alcohólicos Anónimos en Argentina (The General Service Office (GSO) of Alcoholics Anonymous in Argentina).

August 20 in A.A. History

1940: Clarence and Dorothy W. S. [right, respectively], two strong personalities, both active in Alcoholics Anonymous, were divorced.

Clarence wrote to Ruth Hock [left]:

Oh well, it is about in line with about everything else I hear about myself, including being engaged to seven different girls, secretly married to four, drunk and disorderly, married to an heiress and engaged to two others, and a wife beater. So what the hell. On the contrary, I am doing fine, officially single, sober (3 years) don’t ever expect to slip, don’t beat anyone’s wife, no heiress’ [sic] have proposed to me, but just going along. Have been fired out of the finance business and am now selling Fords… Have had a lot of interesting experiences in the past 3 years and have since listened to some screwy ideas. Which convinces me that all the nuts aren’t alkies... All in all it’s a great world.

Dorothy wrote to Ruth as well:

Dear Sugar-Puss, Tell Bill that Prince Blue-Flame is getting a divorce from his “100% I Am” wife—said that a man needed a woman—I gather that spir­itual mysticism wasn't enough.

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1959: Alcoholics Anonymous came to Austria.

Two A.A. members from Bad Reichenhall, Germany, decided to carry the A.A. message across the border into Salzburg, Austria. With the help of their first contact—a doctor at a local clinic for nervous diseases—they helped a small number of alcoholics form a group.

Meanwhile, to the east in Vienna, two alcoholic women undergoing treatment at Dr. Rotter’s psychiatric clinic learned about A.A. and started a group of their own. Joined by a man from Linz, they began meeting in private homes. Both groups, working independently, sought guidance from German A.A. groups and received German-language A.A. literature [right: map showing the location of Bad Reichenhall, Germany; and Salzburg, Linz, and Vienna in Austria].

1959: The third printing of the second edition of Alcoholics Anonymous—the Big Book—was published with a dust jacket that incorrectly labeled it “The Third Edition”—an error made in two separate places on the jacket [left].

Additionally, this printing was the first to append the misattributed* Herbert Spencer quote to the end of Appendix II, “Spiritual Experience.” Ray C. had opened his story, “An Artist’s Concept,” in the first edition of the Big Book with this quote:

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.

Ray’s story was dropped from the second edition, and this quote was added to Appendix II, but not until this print­ing.

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^*Scholars assert that Herbet Spencer [right] (1820–1903) would never have written such a statement. The correct attribution belongs to William Paley [left] (1743–1805), an English clergyman, author, and college lecturer. In his work A View of the Evidences of Christianity (1794), he wrote, “The infidelity of the Gentile world, and that more especially of men of rank and learning in it, is resolved into a principle which, in my judgment, will account for the inefficacy of any argument, or any evidence whatever, viz. contempt prior to examination.” Rev. William H. Poole [right] (1820–1896) may have been the first to render the quotation in its more familiar form, in Anglo-Israel or, The British Nation: The lost [sic] Tribes of Israel (1879): “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is, contempt prior to examination.”

August 19 in A.A. History

1936: After attending the Olympic Games in Berlin—where he met Heinrich Himmler but failed to secure a meeting with Adolf Hitler—Frank Buchman [right: in Miami, Florida, 1945] sailed for New York City.

1941: The first A.A. meeting in Denver, Colorado [left: aerial view, 1940], was held at the home of Sarah McP. and was attended by 11 people.
This gathering followed the March 1941 publication of Jack Alexander’s article, “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others,” in The Saturday Evening Post. Inspired by the article, a Denver alcoholic named Venard F. traveled to Houston, Texas, to observe an A.A. group’s practices there. Upon returning, he brought back a copy of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, along with some pamphlets. He then published an article in a local newspaper, including his P.O. Box number. It is likely that the 11 attendees at the first meeting were those who had responded to Venard’s article.

1941: The Finance Committee of the Central Group Committee held a meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. The minutes recorded that

…the representatives of the groups that they in turn propose to their respective group that they deposit with the Finance Committee the Sum of one dollar each week beginning January 1st 1942.

The minutes went on to state that

Such funds are to be used for the purpose of defraying normal expenses of the Central Committee Group such as P.O. box rental, postage and such other incidental expenses as may be required… [And to] make contributions to the [Alcoholic] Foundation in New York and such other charities as may be recommended to the finance committee by the various groups and approved by the finance committee.

1981: The United States Postal Service (USPS) issued a special 18¢ [~66¢ in 2026] stamp [right], bearing the message, “Alcoholism/You Can Beat It!” Nearly 100 million (97,535,000) of these stamps were printed. Some mistakenly claimed the phrase was a slogan used by Alcoholics Anonymous. The stamp sparked controversy, as many feared recipients might read the message as an implication that the sender doubted their drinking habits. This reluctance to use the stamp underscored the deep-seated stigma surrounding addiction.

At the time, sending a first-class letter weighing up to 1 oz [~28⅓ g] cost 18¢, though the rate rose to 20¢ just 74 days later. Today, this stamp in mint-condition would sell for about 20–50¢.

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1958: Bill W. wrote to Harrison Miller Trice [left], a nonalcoholic Trustee, explaining his reasons for wanting to change the ratio of alcoholic to nonalcoholic Trustees in order to increase the number of alcoholic Trustees:

Because of the increased press of work with which we have no business to saddle the nonalcoholic members; because of the increasing importance of proper determination of the A.A. policy and its administration, which the nonalcoholics [sic] have, wrongly, I think, disclaimed all ability to handle; because of the need for a wider representation geographically of alcoholic trustees; and finally, because it is unsound psychologically for a movement of the present size and maturity to take a childish and fearful view that a majority of alcoholics cannot be trusted to sit on our most important board—well, these are the reasons for the change as I see them.

August 18 in A.A. History

1938: The second meeting of the Alcoholic Foundation Board took place in the office of A. LeRoy Chipman [left] at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. During this meeting, the board decided to transfer the remaining $2,150 [~$51,000 in 2026] from the fund John D. Rockefeller Jr. had established to the Alcoholic Foundation, to support A.A. efforts in Akron. Additionally, they agreed to provide Dr. Bob S. [right] with $200 [~$4,700 in 2025] per month from September 1938 through April 1939.

Today in A.A. History—August 18–21

1988: Around 5,000 people attended the 1st Canadian National A.A. Convention in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the Halifax Metro Centre (renamed the Scotiabank Centre in 2014) [left: aerial view from the east, early 1980s; right: notice of this event in the “Calendar of Events” section of the August–September issue of Box 4-5-9].

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1956: Switzerland's first Alcoholics Anonymous group formed after a Geneva alcoholic learned about A.A. through a lecture. He obtained A.A. literature and, with friends, organized a French-language meeting [left: aerial view of Geneva, 1956].

1956: The National Committee on Alcoholism (NCA) — formerly the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA) — was renamed the National Council on Alcoholism.

1957: [Jan/Feb] The editorial offices of the A.A. Grapevine moved to 141 E. 44th St. [right] in New York City, joining the General Service Office (GSO)—also the headquarters of the Alcoholic Foundation—which had been located there since May 1950.

1957: Professor Emeritus E. B. (Ernest Bradlee) Watson [left], president of the Dartmouth class of 1902, which included Dr. Bob S. [right: portrait from an April 1994 issue of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine], wrote to the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous, recalling a discussion regarding Bob at a house party on Cape Cod:

We think there has hardly ever been a more widely beneficial uplift effort of any sort to genuine, so fruitful in human rescue, and so practically sensible as your wonderful Alcoholics Anonymous.

He went on to describe his late classmate as…>

a great reformer of himself and others. As a class, we are proud to have had as a fellow member so dynamic and socially beneficial a creative figure as Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith, whose influence now extends to the ends of the earth.

He had earlier written about Bob:

Although he indulged somewhat excessively in beer (the only beverage then obtainable in New Hampshire), he did not become a slave to alcohol until his graduate schooling.

In an undated interview, Dr. Philip P. Thompson [left], who was Bob’s roommate at Dartmouth, described him as “a tall lanky gentleman, a little bit abrupt in manner,” “restless,” and “rather quick spoken.” He also recalled a Saturday when several classmates engaged in a seemingly endless debate about where to go and what to do that afternoon, during which the topic of alcohol arose a couple of times. Dr. Thompson remembered Bob saying, “Well, if we’re going to get drunk, why don’t we get at it?”

August 17 in A.A. History

1958: Henry Berton “Bert” D. married Hazel Martin in Saline, Arkansas. In October 1935, Hazel would give birth to a daughter, Dorothy Sue, who, tragically, would die of acute enteritis (inflammation of the small intestine, usually caused by ingesting food or drink contaminated with pathogenic microbes) a few days before her first birthday. Bert and Hazel would remain married until Bert’s death in 1970, and together, they would found Harbor House [right: logo], a treatment center in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1962.

In 1976, Harbor House would publish a biography of Bert, titled Bert D.: Hardhat, Inebriate, Scholar [far left: 1st edition cover], written by Al S. [near left, 1947]

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1956: The American Medical Association (AMA) recognized alcoholism as an illness. In the words of one doctor, Marvin A. Block, M.D. [left, 1959], who was a member of the AMA’s Committee on Alcoholism:

A resolution was brought before the House of Delegates of the AMA urging all general hospitals throughout the country to admit alcoholic patients to their general medical floors. This resolution had been approved by the Council on Mental Health and the Board of Trustees. It was imperative that if physicians in training were to understand the problem, that patients with the diagnosis of acute or chronic alcoholism must be admitted without prejudice to general hospitals. The resolution was unanimously passed by the House of Delegates. This represented a tremendous victory. The largest medical organization in the world had now recognized alcoholism as a disease which warrants admission to general hospitals for those suffering from it.

The AMA defined alcoholics as:

those excessive drinkers whose dependence on alcohol has attained such a degree that it shows a noticeable disturbance or interference with their bodily or mental health, their interpersonal relations, and their satisfactory social and economic functioning.

1956: WWJ-TV in Detroit, Michigan, launched a program titled “Mr. Hope.” Featuring Alcoholics Anonymous members wearing Lone Ranger masks [right], the show gave members a chance to share their personal stories while preserving their anonymity. After its debut, A.A.’s Detroit headquarters was flooded with phone calls and letters from people seeking more information. Broadcast Sundays at noon, the program included appearances by Bill B. (who remained sober as late as 1998), the Detroit police commissioner, and several local judges.

The program was one of three from WWJ-TV nominated for a 1956 George Foster Peabody Award

[left], widely considered the most prestigious honor in electronic media.

1956: Bill W. and Eve M. from the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous appeared as guests on the popular Martha Deane Show, an interview and entertainment program that aired on WOR radio [left: WOR radio and TV Tower, North Bergen, New Jersey, c. 1956] in New York City from 1934 to 1973.

The 45-minute show was broadcast daily at 10:15 am and was hosted by Marian Young Taylor ^* [right], who was the last of three women to use the persona of “Martha Deane.” Taylor is known for having interviewed over 10,000 guests, including many prominent figures, some of whom made headlines on her program. She has been described as “the most famous female journalist almost no one remembers.”

The interview, during which neither Bill nor Eve disclosed their last names, began…

Ms. Deane:	I agree to abide by the rules of Alcoholics Anonymous. But Bill, co-founder of A.A. is here. Good morning, Bill!
Bill W.:	Good morning to you! Thanks very much for having us on the air with you.
Ms. Deane:	I’m glad you’re here too.…

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^*The three hosts of the Martha Deane Show were (1) Mary Margaret McBride, who began in 1934 but left to start her own radio show on CBS; (2) Bessie Beatty, from 1940, up to the time that (3) Marian Young Taylor took over in April 1941. She became the longest-running host, continuing until her death at age 66 on 9 December 1973, spanning more than 32 years. In the film Bill W. by Dan Carracino and Kevin Hanlon, she was portrayed by Laura Kauffmann.

August 16 in A.A. History

1939: [the 18th?] Dr. Robert “Bob” S. [right] and Sister Ignatia (née Bridget Della Mary Gavin) [left] facilitated the first admission of an alcoholic to St. Thomas Hospital [below right, c. 1940] in Akron, Ohio, using Dr. Bob’s diagnostic guise of “acute gastritis.” At the time, alcoholism was viewed as a disease, leading hospitals to generally deny admission to alcoholics under a policy of “not treating drunks.” Sister Ignatia later vividly recalled a day when she had come…

… to the [hospital’s] Chapel for prayer shortly after five one morning, only to be met by the night supervisor, who told me in unmistakable terms that the next time I admitted a D.T. [delirium tremens case] to the hospital, I had better stay up all night and run around the corridors after him.

The first patient admitted was Walter B., “a notorious alcoholic and a regular consumer of paregoric.” His story, “The Back-Slider,” later appeared in the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, as did that of his non-alcoholic wife, Marie, whose story was titled “An Alcoholic’s Wife.”

This admission marked the beginning of the partnership between Dr. Bob and Sister Ignatia at St. Thomas, which became the first religious institution to welcome Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and would eventually dedicate an entire wing to the treatment of alcoholism. Sister Ignatia later said, “I was pretty well governed by whatever Doctor said as to the length of the stay and type of treatment.” Dr. Bob, however, could never remember the hospital’s policy, nor did he ever ask. Before his death in 1950, he and Sister Ignatia had cared for 4,800 alcoholics. A similar arrangement was made by the New York City group with Knickerbocker Hospital, but not until 1945.

Initially, Sister Ignatia had no idea that Dr. Bob was a recovering alcoholic himself. He later disclosed his own past problems with alcohol and his recent recovery.

1987: A group of Russian alcoholics founded "Московские Начинающие" (Moscow Beginners), the first official Alcoholics Anonymous group in Russia [left: Moscow, 1987].

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

1950s: [Early] Hector G. co-founded Argentina's first known Alcoholics Anonymous group in Buenos Aires alongside Arthur M. After struggling with alcoholism, Hector found hope through reading Alcoholics Anonymous and seeking help from a local doctor. He had written to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City, which sent him A.A. literature in Spanish and asked permission to list him as a contact for Argentinian referrals. Arthur had been one of those referrals. By 1954, the group had grown to eight members.

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1955: The Group Secretary—a newsletter sent regularly to Alcoholics Anonymous groups from the Alcoholic Foundation’s New York City office since 1947—was renamed The General Service Bulletin. First published on 14 November 1940 as the A.A. Bulletin [right: 1st issue] , it had already been renamed The Group Secretary in September 1952. In May 1956, it would be consolidated with several other A.A. bulletins to form the A.A. Exchange Bulletin [far left: Vol. I, No. 1]. Finally, in December 1966, the A.A. Exchange Bulletin would become Box 4-5-9 [near left: 1966 Holiday issue].