December 20 in A.A. History

In 1849, Ella A. Brock, Bill W.’s maternal grandmother, was born to John and Nancy Bowen Brock, in East Dorset, Vermont. Ella and her husband, Gardner F. Griffith, would raise Bill from the age of about 10.

In 1945, Rowland Hazard III, 64, died of a coronary occlusion (heart blockage), while at work in his office at Bristol Manufacturing.
    Rowland had carried the spiritual message of the Oxford Group to Ebby T., who then carried it to Bill W.
    The fact that he was a top executive of a major corporation at the time of his death suggests that Rowland had stopped drinking again, despite several known relapses. Nonetheless, some historians question whether he died sober. He had stayed active in the Oxford Group and remained so after it changed its name to Moral Re-Armament (MRA) in 1938. Some early A.A. members said they knew Rowland from his occasional visits to the old 24th Street Clubhouse, which A.A. members had established during June 1940 in a former stable at 334½ West 24th Street in Manhattan. There is no evidence that Rowland ever joined A.A. or considered himself a member.

December 19 in A.A. History

In 1922, Lt. Junius C. and Marjorie Dickerson were married in Pike County, Mississippi. He would become a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1939, Kaye M., a nonalcoholic, held the first A.A. meeting in Los Angeles, California, at her home on Benecia Street in Westwood.
    Kaye became involved with A.A. earlier in the year while trying to help her ex-husband, Ty, get sober. She visited Akron and New York City, attending meetings and talking with members, including Bill W. in New York. After divorcing Ty and returning to Los Angeles by freighter via the Panama Canal, she began spreading the word about A.A. to newspapers and public officials. She fell in with two other nonalcoholics who were trying to help parolees get and stay sober: Genevieve Dodge, a social worker, and Johnny Howe, a psychologist. They had persuaded the Superior Court to allow them to treat alcoholics at Los Angeles County General Hospital [below, c. 1931] Kaye taught them A.A. from her experience and from the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, which she had brought with her. Early successes included Barney H. (or B.) and Hal S.
    Then in December, Chuck and Lee T., members of New York City A.A., visited Los Angeles. Bill W. had given them Kaye's number and they looked her up. Kaye decided it was time to have an A.A. meeting in Los Angeles, which was held on this date. Besides Kaye, Johnny Howe and three other social workers, there were Chuck and Lee T., Barney and Ethel H., Hal S., Chauncey and Edna C., Joy S., Dwight S. and Walter K. Kaye telegraphed news of the meeting—“Los Angeles held its first meeting tonight. Fifteen present.”—to Bill W. in New York.

 

December 18 in A.A. History

In 1917, the U.S. Senate voted 47–8 in favor of a joint resolution to override President Wilson's veto of the Volstead Act; the House had passed the same resolution the day before. The Volstead Act, officially known as the National Prohibition Enforcement Act, would amend the Constitution to prohibit “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes.”^* It then went to the 48 states for ratification. On 9 January 1919, Nebraska would become the 36th state to ratify it, and one year later, on 9 January 1920, it would become the 18th Amendment.
^* Note that it did not prohibit consumption, possession, or production for personal use.

In 1934, Bill W. was discharged from Charles B. Towns Hospital for the last time. The charge for his one-week stay was $125 [~$2,945 in 2024], paid in advance by his brother-in-law, Dr. Leonard V. Strong.

In 1952, ector C. wrote to the General Service Office (G.S.O.) in New York City from Buenos Aires, Argentina, asking for help. Hector had been in treatment for alcoholism there since September. His letter immediately sparked a lively and ongoing correspondence, primarily with staff member Ann M., whom Hector came to consider his sponsor. (At one point, Ann M.’s first letter was framed and displayed in Buenos Aires to commemorate the birth of A.A. in Argentina.)

December 17 in A.A. History

In 1895, Florence Rankin, author of “A Feminine Victory” in the 1^st edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, was born.

 In 1937, Bill W. wrote to Rev. Willard “Dick” S. Richardson, who handled John D. Rockefeller’s Jr. private charities and was Rockefeller’s spiritual advisor and close friend:

The problem is how best to get our message to the great number… if they only knew. How… to preserve sound spiritual construction, simplicity and spontaneity, at the same time making our experience as widely and quickly available as possible, is the conundrum.

In 1949, The Herald Saturday Magazine (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) published John Holden’s article, “Drunkards have found the sober road” [right]. It filled almost half of page 15, and included both a photograph of Lillian R., the Hollywood actress who, with her husband “Jack” McG., helped start Melbourne’s first permanent A.A. group on 13 October 1947. At the bottom of the article there was a cartoon from “‘The Grapevine’ journal of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

 

December 16 in A.A. History

In 1934, [15th? 17th?] “Ebby” T. returned to Towns Hospital to see Bill W., who had had his “white light” spiritual experience two nights earlier. Ebby took Bill through some of what would eventually become Steps—the 3rd through the 8th—and gave Bill a copy of William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience.
    Bill later said that he read it “cover to cover,” admitting that it was very difficult reading, but that he understood the content. He would incorporate some of James' ideas into the A.A. program.

December 15 in A.A. History

In 1945, Dr. James “Jim” S., founder of the Washington Colored Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Washington, D.C., wrote to Bobbie B., National Secretary of the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City,

I wish to state at this time that several of the White group members have visited our group meetings and have taken an active part, many times addressing the group or acting as group leaders. We have found them very inspiring and enthusiastic.

In 1949, a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, presumably from the local Poughkeepsie Group founded in 1946, addressed members of the Duchess County Social Planning Council at a luncheon meeting. The following day’s article “Social Planners Discuss Alcoholism” in the Poughkeepsie Journal (p. 3) read in part:

    Alcoholism is both a physical and spiritual disease and should be treated as a disease…
    The organization of between 80,000 and 100,000 has no opinions and no programs, dealing only with the alcoholic who signifies the desire to stop being one. The individual with whom Alcoholics Anonymous works must be willing to admit that he is an alcoholic needing help.…
    The speaker spoke of two kinds of skeptics, those who cannot understand the spiritual side of the program because of their own materialistic attitudes, and those evangelical persons who believe faith alone can produce a cure.…
    The speaker does not consider an alcoholic ever cured, he is arrested. Judges, he continued, can be of great help in explaining Alcoholics Anonymous, as can policemen. The latter are impressed, he said, when habitual drunks abandon their former habits and voluntarily stay sober. There are five types of drinkers, he said, the occasional social drinker, the heavy social drinker, the habitual drinker, the compulsive drinker who drinks to deaden the pain, or because he wishes to forget, and the alcoholic.
    There is an open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous at Christ Church every Friday night at 8:30 o’clock.

December 14 in A.A. History

In 1934, [perhaps the 13th] Ebby T. [right] visited Bill W. at the Charles B. Towns Hospital, where Bill had been admitted three days earlier. Ebby again explained the practices of the Oxford Group and may have tried to get Bill to surrender to the care of Jesus Christ.
    After Ebby left, Bill fell into a very deep, dark depression and finally cried out, “I’ll do anything! Anything at all! If there be a God, let him show himself!” He then experienced a blinding light and felt an ecstatic sense of freedom and peace. This was Bill’s spiritual experience (or “hot flash” or “white light” experience, as he later called it).
    When Bill later told Dr. William D. Silkworth, Towns’ medical director, about the event, the doctor replied, “Something has happened to you I don’t understand. But you had better hang on to it.”

December 13 in A.A. History

In 1913, the president of the Kentucky Distiller’s and Distributing Co. in Kansas City, Missouri, W. Franklin, wrote a letter to the Keeley Institute in Dwight, Illinois, a commercial medical operation that offered alcoholics a treatment known as the Keeley Cure or the Gold Cure from 1879 to 1965. It read:

Gentlemen: Our customers are your prospective patients. We can put on your desk a mailing list of over 50,000 individual consumers of liquor. The list is the result of thousands of dollars [$1,000 in 1913 ~$32,000 in 2024] of advertising.
    Each individual on the list is a regular user of liquor.
    The list of names is new, live and active. We furnish this list in quantities at the prices listed below. Remittances to accompany each order.

40,000 to 50,000	$400 [~$12,700 in 2024]
20,000	$300 [~$9,540 in 2024]
10,000	$200 [~$7,050 in 2024]

    We will not furnish this list in lots of less than 10,000. Discontinuance of business January 1 is the occasion for selling our mailing list.

    The Anti-Saloon League responded by publishing the letter in its official journal, The American Issue, with commentary [right].

In 1937, Bill W. and nine other men—Dr. Silkworth of Towns Hospital; Dr. Leonard Strong, Bill’s brother-in-law; and seven other alcoholics—Dr. Bob S., Paul S., Hank P., Ned P., Bill R., Joe T., and Fitz M.—attended a 6 p.m. dinner given by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in the executive dining room at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Although Mr. Rockefeller did not attend, the Rev. Willard “Dick” Richardson did. He brought select Rockefeller associates: Albert Scott, A. LeRoy Chipman, and Frank Amos. After dinner they adjourned to the boardroom next to John D.’s office. Bill was told that he was sitting in the seat just vacated by Mr. Rockefeller himself. The dinner and meeting lasted five hours, until 11 p.m.
    On his way out, Amos caught up with Bill and asked him to take on an alcoholic known to both Amos and Richardson: Jack D. This must have felt like a test to Bill. Nevertheless, Bill agreed to "start work with him, providing [Jack D.] was willing.”

In 1939, [or Dec 20, possibly Nov 29] The Akron “alcoholic squad” withdrew from association with the Oxford Group. Meetings were moved from the home of T. Henry & Clarace Williams to the homes of Dr. Bob and other members. 

In 1941, the first A.A. meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was held in Room 152 of the Henry Hotel. It had been arranged by two non-alcoholics, Tim O’Leary and attorney David Janavitz, both of whom had alcoholic employees. Attendees were Si H., Howell J., Jake H., Arch K. and Jim K. In early 1941, the group would move to the downtown YMCA on Wood St. They would soon have to vacate the “Y” as space was needed for servicemen preparing for war. The group would move half a dozen more times in its first few years.

In 1949, in a letter to Jack Alexander, Bill W. first wrote down a description of how he had written the Twelve Steps 11 years earlier. Almost two years earlier, he had described this verbally to Paul H., who almost immediately dictated his recollection.

December 12 in A.A. History

In 1865, Ella A. Brock and Gardner F. Griffith were married in Dorset, Vermont, by Rev. W. W. Whitney. They would have three children: Clarence H. (’67), Emily E. (’70?), and Amelia B. (’76). Emily would give birth to Bill W.

In 1890, William “Bill” D. was born in Bardwell, Kentucky. He would sober up in June 1935 at Akron Ohio’s City Hospital with the help of Bill W., Dr. Bob S., and possibly Edgar R. His story, “Alcoholic Anonymous Number Three” appears in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1937, Bill W. held a “set up meeting” the night before a group of alcoholics—chosen by Bill—were to attend a Monday dinner given by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.. The attendees were Lois W.^*, Dr. Bob S., Paul S., Hank & Kathleen^* P., Ned P.^†, Bill R., Joe T.^‡, and Fitz M. There is no known record of what transpired.
^* Nonalcoholic
^† Ned had recently joined the New York Group. Hank had given him a job at Honor Dealers, but he wouldn’t stay sober long, and would turn out to be a con man, relieving the Parkhursts of “a car, a new suit, and some of Hank’s papers” within a couple of months.
^‡ Joe had been associated with the New York Group since 1936, but had vacillated between drinking and sobriety; he was apparently deemed sober enough at this time to be invited to the dinner.

In 1940, an A.A. meeting was held in St. Louis, Missouri, the first in the city. After returning from his meeting with Bill W. at the 24th St. Clubhouse in New York City, Father Ed Dowling was contacted by F., who said his son-in-law had a drinking problem. Of course, it was F. himself who had the problem and needed help. With Father Ed’s help and encouragement, F. gathered four other prospective members and held the first A.A. meeting in St. Louis—and in the state of Missouri—at the Gibson Hotel, 5883 Enright Ave.

December 11 in A.A. History

Towns Hospital

In 1934, it was a typical winter day in New York City: temperature around 20℉ [-6.7℃], windy and cloudy. After a disastrous day of drinking following an angry fight with his wife, Lois, and all-night subway rides begging for money to buy booze, Bill W. came home to 182 Clinton St., Brooklyn, in the morning. Lois was at work.
    When he saw the damage he had caused by throwing Lois’s sewing machine against the wall during the argument, he became deeply remorseful. Remembering Ebby T.’s success in the Oxford Group, he left a note for Lois explaining that he was on his way to Charles B. Towns Hospital [right] for another round of alcoholism treatment, his fourth. He had 6¢ in his pocket; the trip would cost a nickel. On his way to the subway entrance, he saw a grocery store where his credit was still good and bought four bottles of beer. He arrived at Towns Hospital with a beer in one hand and two philosophy books in the other. He announced to Dr. William Silkworth that he had found the answer. Those beers would be Bill’s last, as he was admitted for the last time to undergo the Towns-Lambert treatment.^*
    For the rest of his life, Bill would give this date as that of his last drink.
^* The treatment that Bill received on each of his four visits to Towns Hospital is, in brief:

• Every hour, day and night, for two days, give a mixture of three herbal extracts: Belladonna (deadly nightshade, 7.4 ml), Hyoscyamus (prickly ash, a trace?) and Xanthoxylum (henbane, 3.7 ml).
• Note that omitting any of these ingredients will interfere with the “cessation of desire” effect (i.e., stopping cravings).
• The dosage depends on how the body reacts to the belladonna. If the face flushes, the throat dries up, and the pupils dilate, stop or reduce the dosage until these symptoms disappear.
  
• BUT it must be continued until these signs appear or the cravings will not disappear completely.
  
• Also, every twelve hours, give a strong laxative of C.C. (Compound Catharic) pills (80 gr. extracti colocynthidis compositi, 60 gr. hydrargyri chloridi mitis, 16 gr. cambogiae and 20 gr. resinae jalapae) and blue mass (typically 34% rose honey, 33% mercury, 25% althea (or hollyhock or marshmallow), 5% licorice and 3% glycerin).
• Once lots of green stools appear, give castor oil to clean out the gut completely.

In 1937, Dr. Bob S. and Paul S. drove from Akron, Ohio to Brooklyn, arriving late in the day. They would be among the alcoholics attending a dinner given by associates of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. the following Monday, two days later.

In 1941, The Dallas Morning News reported that A.A. had formed a chapter in Dallas, Texas.

December 10 in A.A. History

In 1934, having gone—drunk—with Ebby T. to Calvary Church Rescue Mission just three days earlier, and then spending two days at home detoxing, Bill W. came home roaring drunk. This provoked an argument with Lois, who angrily shouted, “You don’t even have the decency to die! You’re crazy! You’re! Crazy!” Bill then picked up her sewing machine and threw it against the wall, terrifying Lois. Bill left, and rode the subways all night, panhandling for money to buy booze. Lois was plagued for a long time with deep regret for her outburst.

In 1975, the first Birds of a Feather (BOAF) Nest (i.e., group) was formed in Seattle, Washington.

Birds of a Feather International is a worldwide network of meetings based on the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. It was established for pilots and cockpit crew members active or inactive in private, commercial or military aviation. BOAF provides AA meetings worldwide (including ZOOM [oops! not what you might think] meetings), a yearly convention, a newsletter and a website for pilots and cockpit crew members in recovery.

December 9 in A.A. History

In 1985, David “Dave” B., 76, died with 40 years of sobriety. In April 1944, he founded the Montreal Group, the first A.A. group in Quebec, and served as a Class B (alcoholic) Trustee from 1962–64. His story, “Gratitude In Action,” appeared in the 4th edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.
    In 1959, Quebec had formed its own literature committee—Les Editions Francaises A.A.—where Dave had played a major role in translating the Big Book and other A.A. materials into French, advising the General Service Office of the difficulties encountered. One result was a French version of the Big Book, le Gros Livre, Les Alcooliques anonymes, which became the basic text for all French-speaking groups around the world.

December 8 in A.A. History

An earlier, probably unmanned, flight

In 1903, test pilot Charles Manly made a second attempt at manned flight in Professor Langley’s heavier-than-air craft. His first attempt in October had resulted in a crash into the Potomac River after a wing apparently clipped the launcher. The plane was still catapulted; still had no landing gear; still had controls only for pitch and yaw; and still had none for roll. On this second attempt, the plane broke apart as it was launched toward the Potomac. Miraculously, Manly again survived.
    Newspapers made great sport of the failures, and some Congressmen harshly criticized the project.
    The Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, refers to these events in the chapter “We Agnostics” on page 51.

December 7 in A.A. History

In 1934, Ebby took a drunken Bill W. to the Oxford Group meeting at Calvary Church Rescue Mission after Bill had expressed interest the day before. Bill ended up “testifying” from the podium, perhaps even accepting Jesus Christ as his Savior. Amazingly, on the way home, Bill lost all desire to drink and spent the next two days in his bedroom, tapering himself off alcohol.

In 1949, Sister Ignatia accepted the College of Steubenville’s 1st annual Poverel-lo Medal of St. Francis of Assisi on behalf of “the entire fellowship” of Alcoholics Anonymous, in recognition of its “tremendous contribution… to Humanity.”

In 2022, The United Kingdom’s BBC Two premiered the documentary I’m An Alcoholic: Inside Recovery, in which Alcoholics Anonymous (UK) allowed cameras into meetings for the first time, protecting members’ anonymity with deep-fake image, a troubling visual manipulation technique that might actually have demonstrated a positive use here. (The altered faces were unrecognizable to close friends.) The one-off documentary also looked at the organisation’s roots in the pre-World War II United States and discussed its role in modern society. It also recognized A.A.’s 75th anniversary in the UK. The Guardian called it “a sensitive and impeccably balanced documentary.”

December 6 in A.A. History

In 1934, Ebby T. visited Bill W. for a second time, this time with Sheppard “Shep” Cornell, to talk to Bill about the Oxford Group. Bill was unimpressed by Shep, but his curiosity led him to ask Ebby to take him to Calvary Rescue Mission, the site of regular Oxford Group meetings, where Ebby was staying. Lois later wrote that Ebby visited several times.

In 1939, Herbert “Bert” T., who had a fashionable clothing store on 5th Ave. in New York City, loaned Works Publishing $1,000 [~$22,700 in 2024]. Bill W. had asked for this loan to tide the company over until Morris Markey’s article “Alcoholics and God” appeared in the September Liberty magazine. Bill expected the article to generate interest and sales of the book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Bert’s store was fully mortgaged and he didn’t have the money. So he asked a wealthy Baltimore customer, Mr. Cochran, to loan Works Publishing $1,000 in exchange for the right to buy “a couple thousand” of the books at a “considerable” discount to place in libraries. After hearing what Works Publishing’s balance sheet looked like, he declined. Bert then asked if he would lend the money on the credit of his tailor shop, to which Mr. Cochran readily agreed.

In 1940, Dr. Gilbert “Gib” K. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, wrote again to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City requesting contact information for the nearest A.A. groups (Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois) and a copy of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, for which he enclosed $3.50 [~$79 in 2024]. More than 6 weeks earlier, on October 23, he had written to the Foundation asking for help. The reply, dated December 3, informed him that the book cost $3.50 and offered to send him contact information for the two nearest A.A. groups if he requested them.

In 1979, Henrietta Buckler Seiberling, 91, a key figure in the founding and development of Alcoholics Anonymous, died at her home in New York City. In 1935 she had opened her home, Stan Hywet’s Gate Lodge in Akron, Ohio, to two alcoholics, Bill W. and Dr. Bob S. From that meeting grew the worldwide movement of A.A., in which she had remained involved until the end of her life.

December 4 in A.A. History

In 1950, Bill W. wrote to Scott B. that one of the compelling motives for wanting to write Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions was the realization that the original text of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, had become “frozen”—too “sacred” even for the taste of its principal author: Bill himself.

 December 3 in A.A. History

In 1940, the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City responded to an October 23 request for help from Dr. Gilbert “Gil” K. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

As you already know, our work extends far beyond the book itself and is carried on mainly through the efforts of one alcoholic who has recovered in behalf of others. This mutual effort in various localities gradually leads to weekly meetings which are held without dues, fees, or obligations of any sort whatever, merely a desire on the part of AA members, now numbering some 1,500, to aid others similarly troubled. Since you already acknowledge the fact that alcohol is a problem to you, you have already taken the most important step toward a solution. And too, since you are obviously seeking an answer to the problem you are naturally another step closer to reaching an answer. Therefore, if you are at all open minded to the principles and methods of AA you should have little difficulty in solving the problem as we have. We are sorry indeed to advise you that we have no A.A. Fellowship in Milwaukee or its immediate vicinity; the closest to you being located at Madison, Wisconsin or Chicago Illinois. If you are interested in contacting our members at either locality, and it is possible for you to do so, please let us hear from you again and complete information will be forwarded.

December 1 in A.A. History

In 1940, the Sunday Times and Daily Times of Chicago, Illinois, began a four-part series by Nall Hamilton on Alcoholics Anonymous that would generate hundreds of inquiries and bring in many new members.

In 1941, the Columbus Group of Columbus, Ohio moved from the basement of the Columbus Y.M.C.A. to the Southern Hotel. It had grown to 21 members, having been started by six alcoholics just 28 days earlier.

November 29 in A.A. History

In 1945, Universal Pictures released The Lost Weekend. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett had adapted Charles R. Jackson’s novel of the same name into a hard-hitting film about alcoholism.
    Wilder was drawn to the material after working on an earlier film with a recovering alcoholic who relapsed during their collaboration. The Lost Weekend starred Ray Milland and Jane Wyman, and became a sensation, winning four Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor). It was the first film to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Palme d’Or [French for “Golden Palm”], the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.^* Its realistic portrayal of alcoholism generated favorable publicity for Alcoholics Anonymous, leading three Hollywood studios to offer A.A. as much as $100,000 [~$1.75 million in 2024] for the rights to its own story. The Alcoholic Foundation declined to sell those rights.
^*Only two others have done so since: Marty (1955) and Parasite (2019).

November 28 in A.A. History

In 1934—sometime around this date, which seems to be the most likely date—Ebby T. came to Bill & Lois W.’s home at 182 Clinton St. in Brooklyn and carried his Oxford Group message to a drunk Bill. Their accounts of what happened were very different. The better known account—from “Bill’s Story” in the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous—had them at Bill’s kitchen table.
    Both accounts had Bill drinking while Ebby was sober. Bill wrote his account in mid-1938, 3½ years after the event. The following is an edited version of Ebby’s account, from a 1958 recording (24 years later):

    I called him up one night. I didn’t get Bill but I got Lois… and told her what had happened to me. Lois said, “Why don’t you come over to dinner some night?”… and she mentioned a date. I said, “Fine.”
    I went over about half past five… The only person home was an old colored man named [Elias] Green, who I’d known for years; he’s been with the family, Lois’s family that is.… And he said, “They’re both out, both Mrs. and Mr. Wilson are out, but come in.” Pretty soon Bill appeared. He’d been drinking, but he wasn’t too bad.… He made the excuse that he to go get some ice cream and something else for supper. Of course, I knew what he was going after… I’d done it a million times myself.
    Then Lois came in. There was another girl invited because she lived upstairs in an apartment. So we all sat down for dinner. We had dinner then we all moved upstairs (in those houses back there in the East most living rooms are on the 2nd floor).
    After a little hemming and hawing, Lois said, “Well, let’s hear about yourself.” So I started in. I guess they got me wound up and I guess I talked to pretty near one o’clock in the morning.
    And I remember Bill said, “I’ll walk to the subway with you.”… On the way over he put his arm around my shoulder, just before I went on the subway, and said, “I don’t know whacha got, kid, but you got something, and I wanna get it.”

In 1943, At the invitation of Warden Clinton T. Duffy, Bill W. was guest speaker at the A.A. meeting at San Quentin State Prison.In 1988, The first A.A. group in Mongolia, called “Бид” [“We”], opened its doors with the participation of Drs. O. Byambasuren and Z. Tuya of the Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology.

November 27 in A.A. History

In 1939, Cleveland, Ohio’s Plain Dealer published an unsigned article, “Watches Religion Save Alcoholics,” reporting on and quoting extensively from the sermon given the previous day by Rev. Dilworth Lupton at the First Unitarian Church. The sermon was based on Lupton’s experience with Clarence S., whom he referred to in the sermon as “Mr X”, and who had started the first A.A. group in Cleveland. Among many other details, it reported that “Lupton noted that there was room in A.A. for all creeds, through the concept of God as ‘a Power greater than ourselves.’ Such an attitude ‘displays nothing short of genius,’ he said.”
    While Clarence was still drinking, his wife Dorothy had often pleaded with Lupton to intervene and talk to Clarence. Lupton did so on several occasions. But Clarence was unable and unwilling to stop drinking. Finally, Lupton gave up and told Dorothy to turn her husband’s problem over to God. She told Lupton that was exactly what she had done when she had come to him for help. But Lupton explained that there was nothing more to be done and that all that was left was prayer. Lots of prayer.
    After Clarence sobered up in Akron, Ohio, Dorothy went back to Rev. Lupton again, but this time to interest him in coming to see the miraculous “new cure” in action. Lupton replied that as far as he was concerned, as long as this “cure” was associated with the Oxford Group, it didn’t stand a chance and he couldn’t be a part of it. “Nothing good could come out of the Oxford Group,” he said.
    After the Cleveland A.A. Group split from the Oxford Group, Dorothy approached Rev. Lupton yet again. This time she brought A.A.’s Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the names of some Roman Catholic members.  In 1954, Dorothy recalled that visit:

    I felt that now we had fallen away from Akron, now there was no Oxford Group, Dr. Lupton should be interested. So I went back to him and said we were no longer an Oxford Group, and asked him to please come to a meeting.
    He read it [the Big Book], and he said that he would definitely come to one of our meetings. He did, and he was so impressed that he said, “Dorothy, you go back to the Plain Dealer and you tell them that I’m going to preach on A.A.”
    That was for publicity. He was one of the really big Protestant ministers in Cleveland, and what he said was good copy.

    As a result of the Plain Dealer article, the Cleveland Group was inundated with calls and inquiries. In 1954, Dorothy recalled that “within… about two weeks, our meetings grew from about 15 to 100.” In 1940, Dorothy wrote to Ruth Hock and Hank P. about the aftermath:

A few sourpusses pinned Clarence to the cross in no uncertain fashion last night, exploiting “paid publicity, profit for the book, liar,” and whatnot. It hurt, I know, as they were all people he had helped. But how it is making him grow!

    Clarence himself said:

When the [Plain Dealer] article appeared, it stirred up a hornet’s nest It wasn’t great literature, but it had a tremendous effect. Someone said, This guy is a reporter. He’s gonna put our names in the paper!
“No” I said, “he's one of us—a rummy.”
“Yeah, he's a rummy all right, but he's a newspaperman.”
It didn't make any difference. They were against it.

In 1977, Warren C. recalled:

There was hell to pay when those stories broke. I mean, they really lacerated him [Clarence]. Of course, it was the greatest move that was ever made for A.A. [In Cleveland] A.A. started in a riot. It grows in riots, We got upset by the Plain Dealer business, We thought Clarence was going to ‘get money,’ and voted him out of the group. He took others with him and started another group.

 November 26 in A.A. History

In 1895, William G. “Bill” W. was born at 3 a.m. on a wintry day in East Dorset, Vermont, behind the bar of the W—– House, a village hotel run by his father’s mother, to Gilman B. and Emily G. W.
    The night before, Emily’s pain had driven her from the kitchen to the north parlor. She lay on a couch, trying to breathe, writhing as contrac-tions tore through her. In and out of conscious-ness, she screamed and cried out as midnight passed. The midwife and Emily's mother tried to comfort her.
    Outside, Mark Whalon, whom Bill would call his only close local friend, and a crowd of young neighborhood boys gathered on the porch to listen to Emily’s screams, evidence of the strangeness of the adult world. Later, Emily would say that Bill’s birth had nearly killed her.

In 1939, at the First Unitarian Church at Euclid Ave. and E. 82nd St., in Cleve-land, Ohio, Rev. Dilworth Lupton preached a sermon titled “Mr. X and Alcoholics Anonymous” about an alcoholic he had seen recover from alcoholism—Clarence S. The sermon would be reprinted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and would become one of A.A.’s first pamphlets.

In 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that gasoline rationing would begin four days later, on December 1, to conserve rubber (not gasoline). This would significantly reduce the number of 12th Step calls A.A. members could make. The following day, a headline on page 1 of The New York Times would read 
        Full ‘Gas’ Rationing Dec. 1 Ordered by the President.
According to the article, dated November 26, 1942,

President Roosevelt served notice tonight that… the government… would begin the nation-wide rationing of gasoline to conserve rubber on Dec. 1, as scheduled

In 1965, Nancy M.-O., founder and original moderator of A.A. History Lovers on Yahoo Groups, got sober and joined A.A.

November 25 in A.A. History

In 1940, Dave W., who would become one of the founding members of A.A. in Seattle, Washington, learned that the national secretary at the Alcoholic Foundation with whom he had been corresponding—R. Hock—was a woman! He decided to conceal this information from other men with whom he was working.

In 1947, Mrs. Marty M. spoke to the Economic Club of Detroit—and a radio audience—about the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA) and about Alcoholics Anonymous. She began,

    I stand before you here today on behalf of two groups. One group is made of free people, free because they have knowledge. The other group is made up of prisoners, prisoners of their condition, held prisoners by ignorance and fear.
    The first group is that whom I officially represent, the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism, made up of men and women of science and medicine of the clergy and of the arts, of business and of public life who are aware of the nature of this problem and who are determined to do something about it.
    They have done me the honor of appointing me Executive Director of that group and have made me the spokesman for their program.
    The other group has not appointed me. The other group is not organized. It frequently does not know there is a group.
    These prisoners that I spoke of are the alcoholics of America, three million strong.
    Many of them are unaware of their own condition; are unaware of its nature; and are unaware that there is anything whatsoever to do about it.
    They did not need to appoint men; I belong to that group. I myself shared their condition of being a prisoner until the truth made me free.

November 24 in A.A. History

In 1895, John Paul S., usually called Paul, was born to Emma Savercool and Charles S. in Pennsylvania, probably somewhere near Scranton, where he was christened on 29 December. He met Dr. Bob S. in January 1936 and sobered up on 2 July 1936. His story, “Truth Freed Me!” appeared in the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1939, Mrs. J. J. Stewart, of Seattle, Washington, whose husband was an alcoholic, wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation, “[W]e have the book Alcoholics Anonymous and have read it,” then asked if there was any A.A. unit in Seattle. The return letter, almost three months later, would suggest she contact “the growing Fellowships in San Francisco and Los Angeles.” Mrs. Stewart’s letter was Seattle's first contact with A.A. She would eventually be involved in starting Seattle’s first A.A. group, although her role is uncertain.

In 1942, Rev. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick was the speaker at the 8th anniversary dinner of the Manhattan A.A. group. In 1939, he had written the first favorable review of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, for Religious Digest.

In 1976, Elise Valentine Shaw, 85, died. She was Lois W.’s oldest and closest friend (since childhood); the widow of Bill W.’s Wall Street patron, Frank Shaw; and the matron of honor at Bill and Lois W.’s wedding.

November 23 in A.A. History

In 1939, Ray W., who had just held the first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on the west coast of North America, wrote to Ruth Hock, National Secretary for the Alcoholic Foundation, about that meeting.

Dear Miss Hock -
   You probably think I am an awful piker for not having acknowledged your letters sooner.
   As a matter of fact I have seen quite a number of individuals whose names you sent — some of them several times. I won’t go into detail here except to say that I had three (3) of the best “bets” -— Ted C, Dave L, and Don B for several hours with the result that they are going to start a group here and start in by taking care of all the others who wrote you. Dave had his secretary make carbons of the lists you sent and I started them in by having them make some “dates” with some of our prospects over the phone from my room. I talked to them first then turned the phone over to the boys here. Things look better than I would have hoped for.
   You know, I had the misguided idea that I had been busy at other times in my life, but until I made this trip I didn’t know what it was to be busy. They have been “on my neck” day and night. You will hear from some of them and I will give you all the dope when I get back.
⋮ [Here Ray wrote two paragraphs on other matters]
   Will be back Tuesday and give you a ring.
Best regards to everyone, Ray W

    Gabriel Heatter had said that if just one person was helped by hearing Morgan Ryan's A.A. story, which had aired on Heatter’s “We the People” radio show in April, it would be a real service. Well, very many people were helped by that broadcast and what followed. Today, 85 years after that first meeting, there are over 600 A.A. groups in San Francisco alone, and many thousands more in California and other parts of the West.

In 1941, although there were earlier A.A. meetings, the Seattle Group became the first Alcoholics Anonymous group in Seattle, Washington. It had three members: Dale A. [right], Bob E., and Lindsay M. The group would struggle for most of the next year. Dale and Lindsay were the only regulars. In December, Lindsay would join the Merchant Marine, leaving Dale pretty much alone. He was determined to keep A.A. going in Seattle and he succeeded. As a result, he is considered by many to be the founding father of A.A. in Seattle and the state of Washington.

November 22 in A.A. History

In 1912, in Manchester, Vermont, the Rev. Sidney Warlow of Arlington, Vermont, assisted by the Revs. William F. Weeks, bishop-coadjutor of Shelburne, Vermont, and Philip Schuyler of Bennington, Vermont, conducted the funeral of 18-year-old Miss Bertha Bamford at Zion Episcopal Church, where her father was rector. Five days earlier, Miss Bamford had died of a hemorrhage following surgery to remove a tumor at Flower Hospital in New York City. Newspaper accounts noted the “profusion of beautiful flowers” and “the floral tributes.” The Manchester Village and Manchester Cenchester Center schools were closed so that teachers and students could participate.
   Miss Bamford was the classmate and first love of Bill W. Nearly all the students from Burr & Burton—about 70 altogether, including Bill—attended as a body and marched as such to the vault at Manchester Center in which Miss Bamford’s remains were temporarily placed. Prof. James Brooks, Prof. Walter Shaw, Bill W., Clifford Wilson, Roger Perkins and John Jackson were pallbearers. Miss Bamford’s remains would later be taken to Jeffersonville, Indiana, where they would be buried.

In 1928, Bill W. wrote a second pledge in the family Bible: “Thanksgiving Day 1928. My strength is renewed a thousandfold in my love for you.” There would be four such pledges before Bill stopped making them.

November 21 in A.A. History

In 1939, four men held the first A.A. meeting on the North American West Coast in Ray W.’s room at the Clift Hotel on Geary St. in San Francisco, California. Here’s how it came about.
    In April, Morgan R.—A.A. member, former ad man, asylum patient, and friend of the host—was a guest on Gabriel Heatter’s nationally broadcast radio show “We the People.” Morgan very briefly told his story, and closed by mentioning the newly pub
lished book, Alcoholics Anonymous. One non-alcoholic listener, Mrs. Gordon Oram, ran a boarding house at 51 Potomac St. in San Francisco. She liked one boarder, Ted C., but was concerned about his drinking, which had gotten him into multiple state hospitals and jails. He considered himself one of the “worst alcoholics” in the state. Mrs. Oram wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City and obtained a copy of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, for Ted.
    Others in the Bay Area had also heard the program, or had read Morris Markey’s article, “Alcoholics and God,” in the Sep 30th issue of Liberty magazine; they too had contacted the Alcoholic Foundation office. So when New York A.A. member Ray W. came to San Francisco for sales training in November, he brought a list of all who had inquired. From his room in the Clift Hotel, Ray called each and arranged a meeting in his room.
   Besides Ray and Ted, Don B. and Dave L. also attended. The meeting lasted two hours. Ray gave his list of local contacts to the three men, and all four begin to contact them. They were from Berkeley, Oakland, and Alameda, as well as San Francisco. Unfortunately, Ted would be unable to stay sober.
   Bill W. vividly described the historic meeting and its immediate aftermath in Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age (p. 88).

Ray had been an atheist and he still stuck to it.... He said, “Now, boys, this A.A. is great stuff. It really saved my life. But there’s one feature of it I don't like. I mean this God business. So when you read this book [the Big Book], you can skip that part of it.” Ten days later, Ray was on his way back East, leaving a shivering and divided group in his wake.
   But they soon found… Dr. Percy Poliak, a psychiatrist who had been impressed with A.A. as he had seen it at work in Bellvue Hospital in New York. No at the San Francisco County Hospital, Dr. Poliak gave the group his full support.… Mrs. Oram… opened her flat for the first [sic] A.A. meeting late in 1939…

In 1942, the Lakewood Group (near Cleveland, Ohio) celebrated its 3rd anniversary at Townsend Hall in Lakewood. The Dec 1942 Central Bulletin reported, “A pot-luck supper was served and cards and games followed. A large crowd enjoyed the festivities.”

In 1952, Rev. Willard S. Richardson, 86, died. He was A.A.'s initial connection to the Rockefeller Foundation in October 1937. Affectionately known as “Uncle Dick,” he was the Alcoholic Foundation treasurer and later, the Chairman of the Board. 

 November 20 in A.A. History

In 1923, Bill W. left Brooklyn Law School for good. He was in the process of repeating a class he had failed earlier in the year, which prevented him from graduating as expected in June. Contrary to what his wife would later write in her memoir, Lois Remembers, he never completed the requirements for a law degree.

In 1939, in Cleveland, Ohio, the Orchard Group split from the newly formed Borton Group. They met at 15909 Detroit Ave, which today is an automobile sales lot. There were eleven original members, and its prime movers were William B., Warren C., William L., and Edward H. The group’s secretary was Elvira B., William B.’s wife. The group would later rename itself the Lakewood Group.

In 1941, The Fresno (California) Bee published a 3-page article titled “Alcoholics Plead for Aid in Correcting Drink Problems.” It reported on reader response to the formation of Fresno’s first A.A. group, which had been reported the previous week. The article noted

… a welcome response from twenty-eight persons seeking aid in solving their excessive drinking problems. Some of the messages were from wives and mothers asking for help for husbands and wives.… Membership in the local chapter has increased from three to fifteen and plans have been outlined for the first meeting.… The meetings will be conducted following rules established in other chapters. Each member takes his turn as chairman and conducts the meeting as he sees fit.… Alcoholics Anonymous is not a reform group. There is no religious affiliation and members are not concerned with prohibition.… One of the letters to the chapter requested women be included in the membership. This is being considered by the members and it is expected arrangements will be made for feminine affiliation in the near future. Plans will be made for dances and card parties.

November 19 in A.A. History

In 1840, the Washingtonians held their first public meeting. The movement would grow rapidly. Widespread and enthusiastic support came from thousands of existing temperance societies, as the Washingtonians would have great success in mobilizing public attention for temperance through their “experience sharing” of alcoholic debauchery followed by glorious accounts of personal reformation. One of the movement’s leaders remarked,

There is a prevalent impression, that none but reformed drunkards are admitted as members of the Washingtonian Society. This is a mistake. Any man may become a member by signing the pledge, and continue so by adhering to it.

In 1912, Bill W. hurried into chapel and took his seat with the other students. Nothing could have prepared him for what was to come. He later recalled,

The principal of the school came in and announced with a very grave face that Bertha, the minister’s daughter and my beloved, had died suddenly and unexpectedly the night before. It was simply a cataclysm of such anguish as I’ve since had but two or three times. It eventuated in what was called an old-fashioned nervous breakdown, which meant, I now realize, a tremendous depression.

In 1935, Ebby T. came to live with Bill and Lois W. at 182 Clinton St. in Brooklyn.

In 1939, Cleveland’s first Spanish-speaking meeting, Serenidad, is founded (three days after the Borton Group, the longest continually meeting group in Cleveland and the first group anywhere with no Oxford Group affiliation).

In 1941, The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) published “New Way Out for Hopeless Drinkers” by Edith Johnson. It began,

Because they known just how it feels to be befogged and sick and thoroughly miserable through days or weeks or months of intoxication Alcoholics Anonymous are having success in helping others to discard the drink habit that is no less than startling.

November 18 in A.A. History

In 1912, Bill W.’s schoolmate and first love, Bertha Bamford, 18, daughter of Julia Howard Read and Rev. Walter H. Bamford, the rector of Zion Episcopal Church in Manchester, Vermont, died of a hemorrhage following surgery to remove a tumor at Flower Hospital in New York City.

In 1946, the first ever meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland, and indeed in Europe, was held in the home of one of the S. brothers in Rathmines, a suburb of Dublin. Seven members likely attended this meeting: Conor F., Richard P., Jimmy R., Jimmy the Teacher, brothers Matt S. and Leo S., and another man.
    Conor F. had immigrated to the U.S. from County Roscommon, Ireland, and had gotten sober in 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He and his wife were on vacation in Ireland. She read an Evening Mail interview with Father Tom Dunlea also vacationing, from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In addition to reporting on his “Boys Town Home” project, he spoke at length about about the success of the Sydney A.A. group with which he was involved. This interview introduced A.A. to the general public in Ireland. Conor’s wife suggested that he try to get A.A. started in Ireland.
    While they were in Derry, he tried to get people interested, but was told that there were no alcoholics in the north and that he should try the south. In the south he was told that problem drinkers there should join the Pioneers (Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart, an international association of Catholic teetotalers). He also gave an interview to the Evening Mail, along with a box number for the paper to give to anyone interested in contacting him. He received a letter from a man asking that his brother be contacted. The brother was contacted but said “He’s the one you should talk to.”
    Conor was about to accept defeat when he met Eva Jennings, who was staying at his hotel, the Abbotsford Hotel on Harcourt Street in Dublin. They met for breakfast and he confided in her the difficulties he was having in getting A.A. started in Dublin. She was sympathetic and advised him to meet with Dr. Norman Moore, head of St. Patrick’s [psychiatric] Hospital, where a close relative of hers was under his care. Conor met with Dr. Moore, 0who had read about A.A. in Readers Digest, and gave him a copy of Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book). Dr. Moore said of one of his 0patients, Richard P., “whom he feared he might be saddled with for life,” that “if you [Conor] can help this man, I’ll believe in A.A. 100 0percent!” 0Dr. Moore introduced Conor to Richard, who showed interest and was then escorted to Conor’s hotel. The two men ‘clicked’, and Richard was discharged from the hospital.
    Together the two men arranged the first closed meeting in Dublin. Brothers Matt and Leo S., who had considered each other alcoholics but not themselves, both joined, and ironically, the first public meeting of A.A. was held in one of their homes.

November 17 in A.A. History

In 1943, the first meeting of the Board of Trustees of The Alcoholic Foundation, Inc. was held. Originally incorporated as a trust, it was reorganized as a membership corporation and the number of trustees was increased from seven to nine.

In 1947, with the help of A.A. members Harry B. knew in Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah, the Idaho Falls (Idaho) group helped organize the first meeting in Pocatello, Idaho. Founded by Harry six months earlier, Idaho Falls Group #1 had grown to 38 members.

In 1948, Bill and Lois W. made a return visit to Milwaukee, Wisconsin [left], primarily to see Dr. Gilbert “Gib” K., who was near death from cancer. Gib urged Bill to accept his violin as a gift, which Bill did; he cherished it for the rest of his life. With only a few hours’ notice, local A.A. members organized an evening open meeting. Over 500 people showed up. Bill also visited Group 7, where no one recognized him. 
    Lois was taken to the alcoholism ward at St. Michael’s Hospital to visit a female patient. Lois talked with the girl for a while and then started to leave. As she was leaving, Lois turned and took a small corsage from her suit jacket and pinned it to the girl’s nightgown. She said, “You know my dear, it’s as easy to kick yourself up as it is to keep kicking yourself down.” 
    They stayed with George S., who had started a second A.A. meeting in Milwaukee. He wanted Bill W.’s advice on whether or not to go into the alcoholism field full time, since he was already very involved as a volunteer. Bill waited until the morning of his departure to answer. Over breakfast Bill said

George, I don’t think there is much of a choice. Someone must begin to spearhead the dreams we have of working with the public to make the lot of the alcoholic a better one.

George made his choice and became a towering figure in the field. He would continue his A.A. activities, including serving as Area 75’s first Delegate on Panel 1 of the General Service Conference (1951–52).

November 16 in A.A. History

In 1939, The first meeting of the Borton Group—the longest continuously meeting group in Cleveland, Ohio and the first group ever to be unaffiliated with the Oxford Group—was held at 2427 Roxboro Rd. [right, Sep 2009] in Cleveland Heights, the home of a well-known non-alcoholic financier, Thomas E. Borton. A.A. had sobered up one of his alcoholic employees, and he was so grateful that he offered his home for meetings. Clarence S. started the Borton Group after being kicked out of the original Cleveland Group—which he also started—after only six months for secretly inviting Elrick B. Davis, a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, to meetings and for the explosion of local interest in A.A. that followed the publication of Davis’ articles about A.A in the Plain Dealer. Warren C. [A.A. #12] later recalled that the original Cleveland Group, which met at the home of Albert “Abby” G.,

   … was a mixture of Oxford Group plus those who came in new like myself. That was the first group where the Oxford Group people and the A.A.’s [sic] weren't mixed.
   … there were probably half a dozen Akron people who came up to Cleveland—Doc S—– [Dr. Bob], the S—– boys [Paul and Dick], Bill D. [A.A. #3], and so forth. Not every week, but once in a while. We sort of supported each other in the beginning.

Also in 1939, Lois W. wrote in her diary:

Drove to Cleveland [Ohio] for meeting. Tremendous gathering. Clarence [S.], Jack [perhaps Jack D. of New York, one of Bill’s pigeons], and Bill [W.] spoke. Then, Bill and I dashed to a second meeting. Met Mr. Lupton, Unitarian minister who is to give sermon on Nov. 26, and Elrick Davis, who wrote [the Cleveland] Plain Dealer articles.

Whatever Bill W.’s feelings about the Cleveland split, he played no favorites; he went to both meetings.

In 1949, Father Ed Dowling [left] came to the 24th St. Clubhouse in New York City to meet Bill W. for the first time.

 In 1950, Serenely remarking to his attendant, “I think this is it,” Dr. Robert H. S., 70, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, died at noon in City Hospital in Akron, Ohio. He was cremated in Cleveland, Ohio and his remains were interred in Akron’s MountPeace Cemetery next to those of his wife Anne. Rev. Walter Tunks officiated. During his 15 years of sobriety, Dr. Bob treated more than 5,000 alcoholics, never accepting a fee for his professional services. Several hundred of them ended up in A.A. In his eulogy, Bill W. described Dr. Bob as “the prince of the Twelfth Steppers.”

November 15 in A.A. History

In 1952, a memorial service for Dr. Bob S. was held at the 24th Street Clubhouse in New York City. A recording of his last talk was played and a portrait of him was unveiled. Bill W. then addressed the gathering, beginning by saying

    Dr. Bob’s recorded voice has come down to us across the air since he died in 1950. Some may say that his actual voice is still forever, but you and I know that is not so and that his spirit will be with us so long as this well loved society of ours endures. Now, I happen to be one who believes that people never die, that on beyond death there is another life and it could be that Dr. Bob is looking down upon us now, seeing us, hearing what we say and feel and think and have done in this meeting. I know his heart will be glad.

    Dr. Bob was a chap who was modestly and singularly against taking any personal acclaim or honor but surely now that he is no longer with us he can’t mind, I don’t believe and for him I wish to thank everyone here who has made this occasion possible and the unveiling possible, with all the work and love that that has entailed. Again, I wish to thank each and everyone.

In 1960, Bill W. wrote Howard C. about A.A. rejecting the Oxford Group because of the emphasis on Absolutes

    … As you so well understand, we drunks are all-or-nothing people.

    In the old days of the Oxford Groups [sic], they were forever talking about the Four Absolutes—Honesty, Purity, Unselfishness, and Love. There we saw people going broke on this sort of perfection—trying to get too good by Thursday.

    … There is another factor, too, which perhaps you have overlooked.

    Absolutes in themselves are not necessarily destructive. Every sound theological system contains them. When we say that our destiny is to grow in the likeness and image of God, we are stating a healthy relation between a relative and an absolute state of affairs. Therefore when writing the Twelve Steps, it was necessary to include some sort of absolute value or else they wouldn’t have been theologically sound.…The could have been unfortunate. However, we couldn’t make them as promising and as misleading as we found them in the Oxford Group emphasis. So in Step Six and Seven, and in the use of the word God, we did include them.

In 1967, with the approval of the General Service Board, Bill W. sent a letter proposing a “World Service Meeting” to representatives of 13 countries/zones:

    Australia        Belgium              Central America    Finland   France     
    Germany        Holland               Mexico                  Norway   New Zealand
    South Africa   South America   United Kingdom
This letter said, in part

    … I am proposing that A.A. take first steps toward forming a world service conference. The time will come when our overseas population may well exceed that of the United States and Canada.…

    There are many problems of growth and relations that call for an international exchange of experiences. The problems of public relations, of anonymity, of self-support, of relations with medicine and religion—these are all keenly felt in many A.A. countries. The problem of printing and distributing literature is another one that can best be solved by exchange of experiences and policies.

    … I propose a World Service Meeting—not a conference, since it would not be fully representative of world A.A. This meeting could be held in New York so that delegates would have access to the experience of staff members and board members, and delegates would have the opportunity of seeing a 30-year-old service office at work.…

November 14 in A.A. History

In 1939, New York City A.A. members, their spouses—more than 50 in all, including Jimmy B., Bert T., Morgan R., and Tom B.—and at least one non-alcoholic Trustee, Leonard Harrison, sign a letter to Bill W. The letter said, in part

We all know that, like the rest of us, you are confronted with the necessity of making a living… We feel that we owe a debt to you which can be measured only in terms of life itself and therefore, perhaps, it is hardly appropriate that we should ask that you to continue to make the sacrifices which you have in the past for the benefit of ourselves and others yet unknown. Yet we ask you, if you find it possible to do so, to continue for a time with the work of Alcoholics Anonymous. We feel that the loss of your guidance at this most critical period in the development of the movement would be nothing less than a major catastrophe. On our own part, we pledge ourselves to do whatever we can in every way to help you carry the load.

In 1940, the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City mailed the first issue
the A.A. Bulletin to groups. Its purpose was to inform groups of important events. It evolved over the years and underwent several name changes. Today it is known as Box 4-5-9.

In 1943, in Los Angeles, California, at an open meeting at a Veterans Administration theater, Bill W. told 600 attendees how A.A. had enabled 10,000 alcoholics to recover. To the left is the Los Angeles Times article about this event.

In 1945, Bill W. wrote to Rev. Sam D., co-founder of A.A. in Atlanta, to enlist his help in stopping Carl K. from misrepresenting A.A. and causing controversy. Carl was the editor of his own magazine, The Empty Jug, for which Sam wrote a column, “Sam Talks Sense.” Bill complimented Sam’s column, but said that it was “completely surrounded by a whole page of hate,” and that Carl had had a “50 round bout with the demons of the liquor industry.” Bill stressed the need to avoid the subjects of “politics, religion and reform.”