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.