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.