August 4 in A.A. History

1947: The 80th U.S. Congress enacted H.R. 2659, (“an act to establish program [sic] for rehabilitation of alcoholics, promote temperance, and provide for medical and scientific treatment of persons found to be alcoholics by courts of District of Columbia, and for other purposes”) into law. Julius S., a member of Washington, D.C.’s Alcoholics Anonymous Cosmopolitan Group, had testified at the bill’s hearings.

Today in A.A. History—August 4–5

2001: An ad hoc Roundtable convened in Manhattan to discuss issues and plan future directions for Area access to group records maintained by the General Service Office (GSO). The Roundtable members included a mix of computer-savvy and less experienced A.A. members, including an Area Delegate, a regional Class B Trustee, at least four area registrars, and three representatives from GSO.

Participants agreed to utilize the Microsoft Access database platform, which was favored by delegate areas in a GSO-conducted survey. Discussions also covered the original purpose and future direction of the ‘DelArea’ program, a joint development between GSO and the Areas concerning group data management, update timing, and record-editing rights.

One attendee remarked, “We were fortunate in having a cross-section of service experience and computer capabilities.” They added that the new DelArea program “will encourage the frequent exchange of information and, consequently, the timely receipt of GSR (general service representatives) Kits for incoming GSRs.”

August in A.A. History—day unknown

1937: Bill and Lois W. [left], along with other members of their small group of recovering alcoholics, ceased attending Oxford Group (OG) meetings in New York City. This decision followed criticism from OG members who faulted Bill for exclusively working with alcoholics, labeling both him and Lois as “not maximum”—an extreme OG insult. Furthermore, OG leaders had prohibited alcoholics residing at Calvary Rescue Mission from attending the “drunk squad” meetings held at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn. These events unfolded while Rev. Sam Shoemaker [right] was on vacation.

Concurrently, in Akron, Ohio, OG members outside the “alcoholic squadron” criticized the OG meetings led by T. Henry and Clarace Williams [left], arguing they overly emphasized assisting alcoholics. These developments initiated Alcoholics Anonymous’s separation from external affiliations and established the foundation for Tradition Six. Despite this, the Akron “alcoholic squadron” maintained its affiliation with the OG for more than two years.

1938: About a year after Earl T. [right] had gotten sober during his initial trip to Akron, Ohio, his boss, aware of Earl’s recovery, asked him to help a salesman, Dick R., who was drinking heavily. Earl visited Dick at the sanitarium where he was being treated. To Earl’s surprise, Dick was receptive to his support, having long wanted to address his drinking problem but not knowing how to begin. After a few days, Earl suggested Dick go to Akron and stay with a local family, which Dick did.

Upon returning to Chicago, Earl and Dick began holding informal daily meetings and seeking others to help.

August 3 in A.A. History

1911: Earle M. [right] was born in Omaha, Nebraska. At age ten, he and his family—his father, mother, and brother—relocated to San Francisco, California, which he would come to regard as home. He later became a distinguished gynecological surgeon. In June 1953, he sobered up, and remained sober for 49 years until his death in 2003. His story, “Physician Heal Thyself,” appeared in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

1918: [Likely date] After crossing the North Atlantic Ocean, the H.M.T. Lancashire (a hired military transport ship) [left] arrived in Liverpool, England, carrying Bill W. and his Coastal Artillery Corps unit.

1985: In her syndicated column [right, as published in the Steubenville, Ohio, Herald-Star, with an edited title], Ann Landers recommended Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, and Alateen:

Dear Ann Landers: My friend was always a heavy drinker, but since his wife died he misses work repeatedly and get dead drunk on weekends.

I have tried reasoning with him, but he gets angry and orders me out of his house. How can I help him? – No Name In New York

Dear No Name: Trying to reason with a drunk is like trying to blow out a lightbulb.

When he is sober let the drinker know, in a nonjudgmental way, that you are concerned. Set aside your hostility and remember you are angry at the illness, not him.

Contact the National Headquarters of the National Council on Alcoholism, 12 West 21st St., New York, N.Y., 10010. They will put you in touch with program and services in your area

Alcoholics Anonymous is the most effective organization for drunks who want to stop killing themselves. Al-Anon is a terrific support group for relatives tives of alcoholics who choose to hang in there. Alateen is a group for teenagers whose parent (or parents) are boozers. The majority of heartwarming thank-you letters I have received over the years have come from people I’ve sent to A.A. and Al-Anon.

1989: The Liberty Bell’s Group—“Half cracked but liberated from booze a day at a time”—was founded at the First Lutheran Church [left], 217 N. Lindsay St., Lake Elsinore, California. An early meeting schedule [right] shows:

Mon. Mixed	[Closed]	As Bill Sees It
Thurs. Mixed	[Closed]	Big Book study
Fri. Men Only	[Closed]	12×12
Sat. Mixed	[Closed]	Discussion
Last Sat. of Month Mixed	Open	Birthday Meeting and Pot Luck	6:30

At some point, the group’s name would be changed to the more grammatically correct “Liberty Bell Group” (losing the possessive).

August in A.A. History—day unknown

1936: Frank Buchman [left] traveled to Germany for the Olympic Games, feeling a heavy burden about Hitler’s actions there due to his deep attachment to the country and its people. While in Berlin, he shared his concerns with Danish journalist Jacob Kronika [right] at the Esplanade, stating,

Germany has come under the dominion of a terrible demoniac force. A counter-action is urgent. We must ask God for guidance and strength to start an anti-demoniac counter-action under the sign of the Cross of Christ in the democratic countries bordering on Germany, especially in the small neighbouring countries.

Upon arriving in Berlin, Moni von Cramon arranged for Buchman to attend a lunch hosted by a German diplomat and his wife, where Himmler

[left] would be present. Buchman hoped to secure an interview with Himmler, believing that through him, he could reach Hitler [right]. He managed to schedule an appointment for a few days later.

However, the “interview” turned out to be a complete disaster. Himmler had hoped to exploit the “absolute obedience” to God exhibited by Moral Re-Armament (MRA, formerly the Oxford Group) for the benefit of his followers in the S.S. and the Nazis, but he completely failed in this.

Younger colleagues who accompanied Buchman to the interview confirmed his account, reporting that Himmler entered with several henchmen, delivered a propagandistic speech about Nazism, and left without allowing Buchman or his associates to speak. Buchman’s immediate response was, “Here are devilish forces at work. We can’t do anything here.”

Ultimately, Buchman never met Hitler and did not make any further attempts to do so.

August 2 in A.A. History

1892: Lawrence Richmond “Rich” W. [right, as an adult] was born to Caroline and Joseph Richmond W. in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the second of six children, with two brothers and three sisters.

In May 1942, Rich got sober and joined Alcoholics Anonymous. He self-published his book, Twenty-Four Hours a Day (also known as “The Little Black Book”) [left: cover and pages 2–3], in 1948. He later wrote For Drunks Only (1987) and The 7 Points of Alcoholics Anonymous (1989).

August in A.A. History—day unknown

1918: While his artillery regiment was delayed outside Winchester, Hampshire, England, by a minor epidemic among the troops, Bill W. [right: in France, 1919] walked alone to Winchester Cathedral. In his “Original Story”—actually the second draft of “Bill’s Story”—he would describe what happened:

I stood in Winchester Cathedral the day before crossing [into France] with head bowed, for something had touched me then I had never felt before. I had been wondering, in a rare moment of sober reflection, what sense there could be to killing and carnage of which I was soon to become an enthusiastic part. Where could the Deity be—could there be such a thing—Where now was the God of the preachers, the thought of which used to make me so uncomfortable when they talked about him. Here I stood on the edge of the abyss into which thousands were falling that very day. A feeling of despair settled down on me—where was He—why did he not come—and suddenly in that moment of darkness, He was there. I felt an all enveloping, comforting, powerful presence. Tears stood in my eyes, and as I looked about, I saw on the faces of others nearby, that they too had glimpsed the great reality. Much moved, I walked out into the Cathedral yard, where I read the following inscription on a tombstone [left]. “Here lies a Hampshire Grenadier, Who caught his death drinking small good beer—A good soldier is ne’er forgot, whether he dieth by musket or by pot.” A squadron of bombers swept overhead in the bright sunlight, and I cried to myself “Here’s to adventure” and the feeling of being in the great presence disappeared, never to return for many years.

1919: Bill and Lois W. embarked on a month-long walking tour, covering several hundred miles from Portland, Maine, through New Hampshire, to Rutland, Vermont [right: portion of 1916 map showing Portland and Rutland]. Lois encouraged this journey to provide them with time for reflection and to help Bill not to drink so heavily.

After leaving the Army, Bill found it difficult to adapt to civilian life, where drinking was typically confined to evenings and weekends, and moderation was expected. He struggled to find a job, where most of them demanded a consistent routine, performing the same tasks at the same time, in the same location, every day. He held various short-lived positions: decoding cablegrams for an exporter [far left: coded cablegram, 1917], clerking in the insurance department of the New York Central Railroad for Lois’s sister Barbara’s fiancé [right: office workers, 1920], and later driving spikes into planks on a pier for the railroad [near left: pier construction]. Not surprisingly, he either resigned or was dismissed from each of these jobs.

To calm his nerves and to escape into dreams of glory, Bill increasingly turned to alcohol, a habit he had developed in the Army. Now, however, he also drank to wallow in self-pity and nurse his resentments, often drinking until closing time, which frequently resulted in vomiting and blackouts.

1935: [Early September?] Phil S., A.A. #5, joined the Oxford Group’s “alcoholic squadron” in Akron, Ohio, where he likely met Bill W. just before Bill’s return to Brooklyn, New York. However, Phil did not achieve sobriety until weeks later, after undergoing the customary 8-day treatment at Akron City Hospital.

Upon Phil’s release, Ernie G. [right] picked him up to help search for his lost car, which Phil had misplaced while drunk. During this outing, Phil stopped “to get a milkshake” and returned drunk just 15 minutes later. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested as a vagrant and sentenced to 30 days in the workhouse.

At that time, Bill D. [far left], A.A. #3 and a practicing attorney, successfully persuaded the judge to release Phil into the custody of Dr. Bob S. [near left] under strict conditions. Phil, now A.A. #6, quickly agreed and was taken to a local drying-out facility. This event marked Alcoholics Anonymous’s first court case.

After one more slip two years later, Phil remained sober for the rest of his life.

August 1 in A.A. History

1993: The General Service Office (GSO) in New York City began distributing group and contribution information on 3½" floppy disks [left] to General Service Areas that maintained digital records. This initiative stemmed from a GSO management task force dedicated to reviewing and enhancing records-keeping procedures.
In April, during breaks at the 43rd General Service Conference, delegates attended a presentation of new computer software. Two non-alcoholic GSO staff members demonstrated the package, which allowed technologically equipped areas to access group records directly from the GSO mainframe (an IBM AS/400 Model 40) [right: against the wall in upper right quadrant].

August in A.A. History—day unknown

1907: Bill W.’s grandparents, Fayette and Ella Griffith, had been raising Bill and his sister Dorothy for about a year when Fayette [left] offhandedly remarked to 11-year-old Bill [right, c. 1905], “It’s an odd thing, I’ve been reading a good deal about Australia lately and no one seems to know why Australians are the only people in the world who are able to make a boomerang.”

Bill was taken aback. “The only people?”

The following day, Bill borrowed two books about Australia from the library. That night, he went to bed with the second volume of the Ency-clopedia Britannica, which featured several columns on the history, uses, and design of a boomerang.

On Saturday, he visited a local French woodcutter and spent the entire afternoon talking to him. This led to more books and conversations with other Frenchmen about the types of wood best suited for shaping a weapon three feet long and weighing no more than eight ounces [~227 g].

As summer turned to fall, every scrap of paper in the house was covered with diagrams and calculations. Bill spent increasing amounts of time in the shed next to the house, where the sounds of sawing, carving, and whittling became constant. What had begun as a mere interest evolved into an obsession. Chores were neglected, the cow was never milked on time, eggs were seldom collected, and in November, a note arrived from Miss Milot, his teacher. She expressed her concern: Bill was failing all his classes.

Now his grandmother was worried. She believed it was plain silly and unnatural. After reading some of his books, she concluded that a returning boomerang was no toy; it was a deadly weapon that could harm both the thrower and the target. She spoke sternly to Willie, as they affectionately called him, as did his grandfather.

Fayette nodded, agreeing to talk to the boy, but believed the time to worry would be when Bill decided to give up and admit failure.

1914: Bill W. traveled to British Columbia to visit his father, Gilman “Gilly” Barrows W. [right]. This was their first meeting in eight years and nine months, as Gilly had deserted his family when Bill was nine years old. During his visit, Bill also met Christine Bock, the woman his father would marry.

July 31 in A.A. History

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

1949: Charlie W. established Central Ohio's first interracial Alcoholics Anonymous group.

1949: A committee led by Bert P. established the Central Ohio Group Fellowship (COGF) and opened a new office. The COGF’s bylaws, primarily authored by Floyd W., Al B., and Harry C., were approved on the same day at Neil House in downtown Columbus. Reverend Faust provided spiritual guidance throughout this process, as he always did. Since its inception, the Central Ohio Group Fellowship has been dedicated to serving groups and members in need.

1952: Henrietta Seiberling [far left] handwrote an eight-page, double-sided letter to Clarence S. [near left]. It stated, in part [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 re-
veals 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

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, serving as Chair from 1950 to 1956. Bill W. called him “the architect of A.A.’s general service structure.”

Earlier that month, due to Bill’s poor health, “Bern,” as he was commonly known, filled in for many of his scheduled appearances at the Fifth International Convention in Miami, Florida, which celebrated A.A.’s 35th anniversary.

1972: Ralston Burdett (Rollie) H. [left], known as “Rollickin’ Rollie,” died at 65 from a heart attack in Washington, D.C. The former catcher had an 18-year Major League Baseball career, earning five All-Star selections. Rollie played for several teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds (twice), St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees (with whom he won the World Series in 1943), and Philadelphia Athletics. After retiring as a player, he managed various minor-league teams and coached for the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics.

Rollie’s struggles with alcohol were legendary, particularly during his time with the Indians. In 1939, during a train trip, he got drunk, poured water on a sleeping porter, threw lit matches into sleeping berths, and climbed into manager Oscar “Ossie” Vitt’s bed, blubbering incoherently. This led to his immediate suspension. In 1939, Indians General Manager Cy Slapnicka presented Rollie with a $1,500 [~$36,000 in 2026] diamond ring, saying it was a gift for Rollie’s daughter. Deeply moved, the tough catcher teared up and vowed to stop drinking. Slapnicka then arranged for him to meet with members of Alcoholics Anonymous, who promptly admitted him to the hospital. After four days, Rollie joined A.A., becoming its 77th member.

2002: The first meeting of the month-long Online Service Conference (OSC) concluded.

Representatives discussed several important issues affecting online A.A. groups, including how to establish an online group conscience, 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;
• electing six members of a Steering Committee to stand for the Conference and prepare an agenda in the interim between meetings.

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 preceding session, no Online Advisory Actions were voted on during this third conference.

July 30 in A.A. History

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

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

1950: Attendees at A.A.’s 1st International Convention at the Cleveland Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, adopt the Twelve Traditions nearly unanimously.

1950: Dr. Bob Smith [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.

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1948: [Late] George H., an Alcoholics Anonymous member from New York City, traveled across the United States, surveying A.A. groups about their views on self-governance. He visited Dr. Bob S., who was recovering from one of several surgeries since summer for his recently diagnosed cancer. After the visit, George sent a wire recording to Bill W. that included a brief message from Bob: “Surgery varies a good deal depending on whether you do it or whether it’s done to you.” He also reported on Bob’s condition—bedridden, losing weight, and given no more than six months to live.

George also shared the results of his survey, detailing the attitudes of old-timers in Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; and Akron, Ohio. He believed these groups were opposed to any changes, while the majority of the 370 groups he had personally visited across the country supported the idea of a conference. George noted that these old-timers felt more entitled to serve on committees than A.A. members elsewhere. They preferred a council of older members instead of a conference and believed that only the Twelve Steps should be emphasized, considering the Twelve Traditions too unwieldy.

Later, Bill W. would reflect on this conversation, possibly to Dr. Bob, saying,

I have just been having a long talk with George about the state of AA affairs throughout the country. And he has sharpened up to me, as he as doubtless did to you, the tremendous necessity of getting some sort of council organized which can relate the foundation to the AA groups. I also went over the internal situation here with George, and on the whole he is inclined to think that the changes suggested in the reorganization plan are really necessary for us here in New York before we start the formation of a council.

1948: [Late] Howard Alfred “Al” S. [right] became the second editor of the A.A. Grapevine, succeeding Tom Y. At that time, the magazine was not widely known across the U.S. or Canada. For many months, Al single-handedly wrote entire issues, signing each article with different initials and various locations. Al also transformed the A.A. Grapevine’s focus, shifting the editorial emphasis from stories about drinking to the theme of “You’re Not Drinking—Now What?”

July 29–August 2 in A.A. History

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

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1947: Excluded from meetings of Group Number One, Kansas City, Missouri’s only Alcoholics Anonymous group, African American and Black members started their own A.A. meeting: The Kansas City Interracial Group. This group welcomed anyone who wanted to stop drinking and eventually adopted the name The Paseo Group [left: Linwood United Church, 3151 Olive Street, current location of Paseo Group meetings, c. 2021].

1947: Ian MacE., New Zealand’s first A.A. member, had his initial 12th-Step success with Alf J. from Davenport [right: looking from Aukland across Waitemata Harbour to Davenport]. Alf’s brother-in-law, Dr. J. Caughey, a non-alcoholic, learned about A.A. through Ian’s efforts in Wellington. Caughey contacted Ian, who sent him his personal copy of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, along with other literature for Alf. Inspired by this, Alf became very active in spreading the A.A. message, holding meetings in his home and at his dental surgery office.

1948: Al S. [left] chaired a dinner, possibly in celebration of Bill W.’s anniversary. Bill attended with his wife, Lois, along with Dr. Bob and Anne S. Al was so excited that he couldn’t remember Dr. Bob’s name.

1948: The first permanent A.A. group in Richmond, Virginia—started in 1941 with 5 members—reported 82 members.

1948: An unidentified member of Alcoholics Anonymous explained the program’s principles on WNBC’s critically acclaimed “Tex and Jinx Show”^* (originally titled “Hi, Jinx” and later “Meet Tex and Jinx”). This morning interview and variety radio show, broadcast nationwide at the time, featured serious discussions of world affairs alongside celebrity interviews.

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^* The hosts were husband and wife John Reagan “Tex” McCrary and Eugenia Lincoln “Jinx” Falkenburg [right]. Tex was a graduate of Exeter and Yale, while Jinx was a model, actress, and expert in tennis and swimming. One reporter called them “Mr. Brains and Mrs. Beauty.” They dedicated most of their airtime to exploring lofty concepts, engaging guests, and 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.”

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

1947–48: Bill W. began to consider the implications for Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole of the eventual deaths of its old-timers. As a result, he started developing what became the Conference Plan, but he would face strong opposition from virtually all sides.

Late 1940s: The National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA) moved its office from New Haven, Connecticut, to the New York Academy of Medicine [left, recent], 2 East 103rd Street in New York City.

July 28 in A.A. History

1914: In Sarajevo, the capital of the recently annexed provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist and anarchist, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie [left: section of Achille Beltrame’s portrayal of the assassination]. This act provided Austria-Hungary with justification to initiate hostilities against Serbia, marking the onset of what would become the Great War, later known as World War I.

Today in A.A. History—July 28–30

1950: Alcoholics Anonymous held its first International Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Cleveland Public Auditorium [right, c. 1950] to celebrate A.A.'s 15th anniversary [left]. The event aimed to honor co-founder Dr. Bob S., who was seriously ill and would die that November, and to adopt the Twelve Traditions by acclamation. Although organizers expected up to 10,000 attendees from an estimated total membership of 96,400, only about 3,000 people registered, with a few hundred more attending without registering.

During the convention, Bill Wilson 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 full in Our Great Responsibility: A Selection of Bill W.'s General Service Conference Talks 1951–1970.

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1947: [Early, perhaps spring] Father William J. “Bill” M., a priest from St. Paul, Minnesota, and a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, established the Calix Society. (The term calix is Latin for chalice, referencing the cup used for consecrated wine in the Eucharist.) Their first meeting took place in a private room at the Rainbow Cafe [right, 1949] located at Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street in Minneapolis, and included four other alcoholics from his parish. Eventually, the group began to meet regularly after Saturday morning Mass to discuss the upcoming Sunday readings and the connection between their faith and the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Inspired by Matt Talbott, they adopted the motto: “substituting the cup that stupefies for the cup that sanctifies.” Bill W. later wrote to Father Bill,

As you know I always have been personally partial to all persons or organizations whose good will and helpfulness to A.A. is beyond question. You need not have said that you strive to keep your efforts within the framework of the traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. I know you have tried and have succeeded.

1947: [Before July 25] The House District Committee of the 80th Congress held the first federal hearing on alcoholism and the need for rehabilitation. The hearing specifically addressed H.R. 2659, an “act to establish a program for the rehabilitation of alcoholics, promote temperance, and provide for the medical and scientific treatment of persons found to be alcoholics by courts of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.” During this hearing, Julius S. of the Cosmopolitan Group of Alcoholics Anonymous testified that he had not had a drink in 18 months [left: screen capture from first televised Congressional hearing, 1951].