Alcoholics Anonymous History
History of AA, Topic by Topic, Book by Book, Your Real
A.A. Facts
Dick B.
© 2012 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
This 2012 Draft is
Not the End of the A.A. History Story. It presents Dick B.’s own comments on
how the A.A. history of the 12-Step Movement can be used by Christian Recovery
Leaders Today and achieve the success rates of old school A.A. Documentations
and footnotes can be found in the various books and articles cited. And a day
never passes without our seeing or hearing or learning some new bit of A.A.
history that helps fill in many decades of gaps
This will focus readers on accurate, comprehensive
Alcoholics Anonymous History—particularly as it extends from the pre-A.A.
Christian roots of the 1850’s to the period just after Bill Wilson published
his First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939. You can study A.A. history,
chunk by chunk, and find the resources that document it. Then you can make an
honest decision as to whether Alcoholics Anonymous History—as fully and
completely reported—offers you a solution for your alcoholism and addiction
problems today.
Let’s Begin with Alcoholics Anonymous General Services
Conference-Approved Literature
I began my own search for Alcoholics Anonymous History by
reading all the available, accurate, relevant literature published by A.A.
itself. I still get grounded there and recommend looking at A.A. literature
first—instead of speculating on what A.A. is or isn’t. Once that is done, the
reader can fill in the holes, straighten out the distortions, and find out what
most in the recovery community have simply not heard. The recommended books, in
the order of the publication, are:
Alcoholics Anonymous,
1st ed., Works Publishing Company, 1939 (non-approved).
“RHS” The A.A.
Grapevine issue dedicated to the memory of the Co-Founder of Alcoholics
Anonymous, DR. BOB, 1951.
Alcoholics Anonymous,
2d ed., 1956.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Comes of Age, 1957.
As Bill Sees It, 1967
The Co-Founders of
Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks (Pamphlet
P-53), 1972, 1975.
Alcoholics Anonymous,
3rd ed., 1976.
DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers, 1980.
“Pass It On,”
1984.
The Language of the
Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings, 1988.
Alcoholics Anonymous,
4th ed., 2001.
Now, Look at Reliable Alcoholics Anonymous History Literature that Can
Be Helpful
Piece by piece, manuscript by manuscript, research trip by
research trip, archive by archive, library by library, interview by interview,
Alcoholics Anonymous History—in its full form, and in a form that is
comprehensive, accurate, and able to be used and applied in recovery
today—emerged from and is reported in the following Alcoholics Anonymous History
literature:
Alcoholics Anonymous: The Original 1939 Edition, Introduction by Dick B.,
Dover
Publications, 2011.
AA of Akron Pamphlets, n.d., – Available at Akron Intergroup Office
(revised several times)
See Wally P., But for the Grace of God, 1995, 30-46.
A
Guide to the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
A
Manual for Alcoholics Anonymous
Second
Reader for Alcoholics Anonymous
Spiritual
Milestones in Alcoholics Anonymous
Autobiographies of
Bill Wilson:
Bill
W.: My First 40 Years
Chapter 1 “Bill’s Story,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001,
1-16.
The many manuscripts by Bill that I
found at Stepping Stones, most of which are
discussed in Dick B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s
Spiritual Roots and Successes,1997.
Biographies of Bill
W.:
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 2006.
Susan Cheever, My Name is Bill W., 2004.
Francis Hartigan, Bill W., A Biography. . . , 2000.
Matthew Raphael, Bill W. and Mr. Wilson, 2000.
Tom White, Bill W.: A Different Kind of Hero, 2003.
Nan Robertson, Getting Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous, 1988.
Robert Thomsen, Bill W., 1975
Biographies of Dr.
Bob
RHS,
1951.
The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches, P-53.
“Doctor Bob’s Nightmare,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 171-181.
DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 1980.
Dick B. and Ken B.,
Stick with the Winners How To Conduct More
Effective 12-Step Recovery
Meetings Using Conference-Approved Literature:
A Dick B. Guide, 2012
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide,
3rd ed., 2010.
Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous,
Dick B.,
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
1998.
Dr. Bob and His Library, 3rd
ed., 1998.
“Alcoholics
Anonymous and Dr. Bob,” http://mauihistorian.blogspot.com/
“16 Specific
Practices Associated with the Original Akron A.A. "Christian
Fellowship" Program,”
http://internationalchristianrecoverycoaliti.blogspot.com
“Honest
With Yourself, Pray. Alcoholics Anonymous Advise,” The Tidings,
Page 17, Friday, March 26, 1948.
D. J. Defoe, "I Saw Religion
Remake a Drunkard" in Your Faith (September
1939), 84-88. (Your Faith is
"a McFadden Publication")--Dr. Bob is called "Dr. X" in
this article.
http://www.silkworth.net/aahistory/drbob/drbob_interview_fm_0939.html
The Christian and
Biblical Origins of the Worldwide Christian Recovery Movement
Dick B., The First Nationwide Alcoholics Anonymous
History Conference, 2003
Dick B., God and Alcoholism: Our Growing Opportunity
in the 21st Century, 2002
Dick B., When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, 3rd
ed., 2006
Dick B., Real Twelve Step Fellowship History: The Old School A.A. You May Not
Know,
2006
Dick B., Why Early A.A. Succeeded: The Good Book in
Alcoholics Anonymous Yesterday
and
Today (A Bible Study Primer for AAs and other 12-Steppers), 2001
Dick B., By the Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A.
Groups & Forming Similar Groups
Today, 2000
Biographical on A.A.
Number Three, Bill D.
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide,
3rd ed., 2010.
“Alcoholics Anonymous Number Three,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 182-192
“Pass
It On,” 356-357.
“Bill Dotson: A.A Number Three’s
Recovery by the Power of God”
http://MauiHistorian.Blogspot.com
“Bill Dotson – AA’s Number Three”
http://silkworth.net/aahistory/print/bdotson2.html
“Bill Dotson: A.A. Number 3”
http://www.barefootsworld.net/aabilld-aa3.html
Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001
Biographical on
Rowland Hazard
[Rowland had been told by Dr. Carl Jung that he had the mind
of a chronic alcoholic but could possibly be cured by a conversion. Rowland
returned to America, became associated with the Oxford Group, studied with Rev.
Sam Shoemaker, and became active in Shoemaker’s Calvary Church. Rowland had
been impressed by the simplicity of the early Christian teachings as advocated
by the Oxford Group. Rowland made a decision for Jesus Christ. Rowland and two
other Oxford Group friends (Cebra Graves and Shep Cornell) had decided to
witness to Ebby Thacher and told Ebby many Oxford Group principles and
practices. Ebby, an old drinking friend of Bill Wilson’s who had become a “real
alcoholic,” recalled that two of Rowland’s Oxford Group friends (an old friend
of Bill Wilson’s and a “real alcoholic”) had told Ebby “things they had gotten
out of the Oxford Group based on the life of Christ, biblical times.” Ebby
said: “It was what I had been taught as a child and what I inwardly believed,
but had lain aside” The men had suggested that Ebby call on God and try prayer.
Rowland and the two others lodged Ebby in Shoemaker’s Calvary Mission.
Occasionally, a religious writer—either disdainful of, or
unfamiliar with, A.A. facts and origins will say: “Alcoholics Anonymous does
not use the words sin or conversion” See Linda Mercadante, Victims & Sinners, 1996, 70. Or, as she does on 91: “God does
not ask any more than simple acknowledgement of divine existence.” The reader
should look at A.A.’s Third Step prayer—“May I do Thy will always” and A.A.’s
Seventh Step prayer—“Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your
bidding. Amen.” Then spend a moment with Exodus 15:26, Exodus 20:1-17—the Ten
Commandments; Matthew 22:36-40—the two Great Commandments; and James 2:8-11;
and read all of Hebrews 11:6]
T. Willard Hunter, ‘IT STARTED RIGHT THERE,” 2006
Bill C. and
Jay S., Kitchen Table A.A. Sponsorship
Workshop, Carlsbad, 2007
Jay
Stinnett, “Why Our Lives Were Saved,”
A.A. Spiritual History Workshop,
Reykjovik,
Iceland, March 11, 2007.
“Pass It On,” 1984.
Mel B.,
Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.,
1998.
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.
Bill
W. My First 40 Years
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age
Biographical on
William D. Silkworth, M.D.
[Silkworth’s name itself may not be well known to most AAs.
But they certainly know of the “Doctor’s Opinion” written by Silkworth as an
introduction to their Big Book. And they probably have grasped the fact that
Silkworth established in Bill Wilson’ thinking that alcoholism was a disease—an
allergy of the body kicked into gear by an obsession of the mind. But, as
Silkworth’s biographer observed after he had researched Silkworth’s life and
papers, Silkworth has not been given credit for the role he played in
convincing Bill and others that they could be cured of their alcoholism by the
“Great Physician,” Jesus Christ. And that solution—long since tossed aside
before the Big Book was published--became the foundation of Bill’s conviction
that “conversion” was the answer to alcoholism and that it was manifested by a
“spiritual experience.” “Divine Aid,” Bill was still calling it in his address
at the Shrine Auditorium in 1948 with Dr. Bob on the stage with him as well.
The information about the Great Physician and cure was conveyed to Bill on his
third hospitalization when he was given a virtual death sentence promise if
Bill did not quit drinking immediately. The specifics of Silkworth’s advice on
alcoholism was confirmed by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.]
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.
Dick B. and Ken B., The Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed.,
2010
Bill
W., My First 40 Years, 2001
Norman Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ
Biographical on Edwin
Throckmorton Thacher, “Ebby,” Bill’s Sponsor
[While Ebby was in Calvary Mission, he went to the altar and
made a decision for Jesus Christ. He then visited Bill as he himself had been
visited by Rowland Hazard, Cebra Graves, and Shep Cornell. Ebby told Bill he
had “found religion,” and that he had tried prayer—something he specifically
recommended to Bill Wilson. Bill said he concluded that Ebby had been “reborn.” But
taking no chances, Bill went to Shoemaker’s Calvary Church, listened to Ebby’s
testimony, and then decided that if the Great Physician had helped Ebby, he
(Bill) could probably receive the same help. Armed with Silkworth’s advice and
Ebby’s eye-witness testimony, Bill went to Calvary Mission himself. He went to
the altar. He made his own decision for Jesus Christ. He quickly wrote, “For
sure, I had been born again.” And then, still drunk and still despondent, Bill
made his way to Towns Hospital where he decided to call on the Great Physician
and had the experience—which Silkworth called a conversion experience—and
sensed the presence of God in his room. He proclaimed: “Bill you are a free
man. This is the God of the Scriptures.” And never drank again.]
T. Willard Hunter, “IT STARTED
RIGHT THERE.” 2006
Bill
W., My First 40 Years
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks.
Mel B. Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W., 1998
“Pass
It On.”
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age
Richard M.
Dubiel, The Road to Fellowship, 2004.
Rowland Hazard] “must have had
some sort of influence on early A.A.’s who knew about him, whether at first or
second hand. . . it is clear that behind Ebby Thatcher [sic], the messenger who brought the message of salvation to Bill
Wilson in the kitchen of Bill’s apartment in November 1934, lay the figure of
Rowland Hazard III, the mysterious messenger behind the messenger.” 79-80.
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide,
3rd ed.
Biographical on Dr.
Bob’s Wife, Anne Ripley Smith
Dick B.,
Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939, 3rd
ed., 1998
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
2d ed., 1998
Bob Smith and Sue Smith Windows, Children of the Healer, 1992
Charlotte Hunter, Billye Jones,
Joan Zieger, Women Pioneers in 12 Step
Recovery, 1999
Biography on Bill
W.’s Wife
Lois
Remembers, 1979.
William Borchert, When Love is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson
Story
Biography on
Henrietta Buckler Seiberling
Dick B., Henrietta B. Seiberling: Ohio’s Lady with a Cause
Charlotte Hunter, Billye Jones,
Joan Zieger, Women Pioneers
Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d, ed,
Biography of T. Henry
and Clarace Williams
Dick B., The
Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d ed.
Biographical on Dr.
Frank N.D. Buchman, Founder of the Oxford Group
Garth Lean, Frank Buchman: A Life, 1985
Frank Buchman, Remaking the World, 1961
H. W. “Bunny” Austin, Frank Buchman as I Knew Him, 1975
Peter Howard,
That
Man Frank Buchman, 1946
The
World Rebuilt: The true story of Frank Buchman. . . , 1951
Frank Buchman’s Secret,
1961
R.C.
Mowat, The Message of Frank Buchman, n.d.
T. Willard
Hunter, World Changing Through Life
Changing, 1977
Alan
Thornhill, The Significance of the Life
of Frank Buchman, 1952
Biographical on Rev.
Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr
Dick B.,
New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker,
and A.A., 2d ed.
Good Morning!: Quiet Time, Morning Watch,
Meditation, and Early A.A.
Irving Harris,
The
Breeze of the Spirit, 1978.
“S.M.
S.—Man of God for Our Time,” Faith at Work, 1964.
Norman Vincent Peale, “The
Unforgettable Sam Shoemaker,” Faith at Work,
1964.
Louis W.
Pitt, “New Life, New Reality: A Brief Picture of S.M.S.’s Influence,”
Faith at Work,
1950
Sherwood
S. Day, “Always Ready, S.M.S. as a Friend,” Calvary Evangel, 1950.
Helen
Smith Shoemaker, I Stand by the Door,
1967
Bill
Wilson, “I Stand by the Door,” The A.A. Grapevine, 1967
“Ten of America’s Greatest Preachers,”
Newsweek, 1955,
“Calvary
Mission,” Pamphlet, NY Calvary Episcopal Church, n.d.
John
Potter Cuyler, Jr., Calvary Church in
Action, 1934.
Samuel
M Shoemaker, Jr.
“So I Stand by the Door and Other
Verses,” Pittsburgh, Calvary
Rectory, 1958
“My Life Work and My Will,” Pamphlet, 1930
“A First Century Christian Fellowship,” Churchman, 1928
Calvary Church Yesterday and Today,
1936.
“How to Find God,” The Calvary Evangel, 1957.
Get Changed; Get Together; Get
Going: A History of the Pittsburgh
Experiment, n.d.
Biographical on
Clarence H Snyder
Three Clarence Snyder Sponsee Old-timers and
Their Wives, Comp & ed. by
Dick B., Our A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community: A
Twelve-Step Guide
For Those Who Want to Believe, 2005
DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 1980
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age
Clarence
Snyder,
Going through the Steps, 2d ed., 1985
My Higher Power-The Light Bulb,
1985
Mitchell
K., How It Worked: The Story of Clarence
H Snyder and the Early Days
of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland,
1997.
Dick B., That
Amazing Grace, 1996.
Biographical on
Sister Ignatia
[Mary Darrah endeavors to select an earlier date for the
A.A.-Ignatia connection. But, it is clear that Ignatia came on the A.A. scene
about mid-August 1939. And her contributions were with Dr. Bob at St. Thomas
Hospital from that point on. Her book makes clear that Father John C. Ford,
S.J. had—like Father Dowling, S.J.—had a real part in editing Bill Wilson’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions and
his Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age—both
published in the 1950’s]
Mary Darrah, Sister Ignatia, 1992, 13, 25-26, 33-37.
DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 1980
Biographical on
Father Ed Dowling, S.J.
[Fr. Dowling did not meet Bill until the winter of 1940. He became
a friend and sponsor to Bill, and edited Bill Wilson’s Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions]
Robert Fitzgerald, S.J., The Soul of Sponsorship, 1995. See
55-66, 89]
“Pass
It On,” 1980, 240-243, 281-282, 354, 371, 387.
Central Bulletin, Volumes I – III, Cleveland Central Committee,
Dec. 1942-Dec. 1945
Nell Wing, Grateful to Have Been There, 1992.
Stewart C., A Reference Guide to the Big Book of
Alcoholics Anonymous, 1986.
Bill Pittman and Dick
B., Courage to Change: The Christian
Roots of the Twelve Step
Movement, 1994
Bill Pittman, AA The Way It Began, 1988.
How to Study and
Apply the Historical Elements Today
Dick B.
Utilizing Early AA.’s Spiritual Roots for Recovery
Today, 2000.
By The Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A.
Groups & Fog Similar Groups
Today, 2000.
God
and Alcoholism: Our Growing Opportunity in the 21st Century, 2002
Cured!:
Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts, 2d ed, 2006
Twelve Steps For You: Take the Twelve Steps
with the Big Book, A.A. History,
and
the Good Book at Your Side, 4th ed., 2005.
Now to Alcoholics
Anonymous History: Item by Item, on the Origins of A.A.
Dick B.
Introduction to the Sources and Founding of
Alcoholics Anonymous, 2007
Real Twelve Step Fellowship History: The Old
School A.A. You May Not Know,
2006
Making Known the Biblical History and Roots
of Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed.
2006
The First Nationwide Alcoholics Anonymous
History Conference, 2d ed., 2006.
Turning
Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes, 1997.
Mel B.
New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve
Step Miracle, 1991
My Search for Bill W., 2000.
Alcoholics Anonymous
History: Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr.
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., 2d ed.,
1999.
Bill W., I Stand by the Door, The A.A. Grapevine, 1967.
Charles Taylor Knippel, Samuel M. Shoemaker’s Theological
Influence on
William
G. Wilson’s Twelve Step Spiritual Program of Recovery, 1987
Helen
Smith Shoemaker, I Stand by the Door: The
Life of Sam Shoemaker, 1967.
John
Potter Cuyler, Jr., Calvary Church in
Action, 1934.
W. Irving Harris, The Breeze of the Spirit, 1978.
Samuel M. Shoemaker,
Calvary Church Yesterday and Today,
1936,
Realizing Religion, 1923
Alcoholics Anonymous
History: the Oxford Group
Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, Newton ed., 1998.
Frank N. D. Buchman, Remaking the World, 1961.
Garth Lean,
Frank Buchman: A Life, 1985.
Good God, It Works, 1974.
James D. Newton, Uncommon Friends, 1987.
Henry B. Wright, The Will of God and a Man’s Life Work, 1909 .
Howard A. Walter, Soul Surgery, 1928.
Harold Begbie, Life Changers, 1927.
Howard J. Rose, The Quiet Time, 1937.
Cecil Rose, When Man Listens, 1937.
Harry J. Almond, Foundations for Faith, 1980.
Peter Howard, That Man Frank Buchman, 1946.
Robert E. Speer, The Principles of Jesus, 1902.
Sherwood Sunderland Day, The Principles of the Group, n.d.
T. Willard Hunter,
It Started Right There, 2006.
World Changing Through Life-Changing,
1977.
The Layman with a Notebook, What is the Oxford Group? 1933.
Kenneth Belden,
Meeting
Moral Re-Armament, 1979.
Beyond
the Satellites: Is God Speaking? Are We Listening, 1987.
Alcoholics Anonymous
History and the “Temperance Movement”
[Temperance, Abstinence, and the Widespread Concerns of
Society: Bill Wilson had made such a fuss over the “failures” of the
Washingtonian Movement that it can be said that his A.A. took no position on
“liquor” issues. But the Washingtonian Movement was but a speck on the
temperance front. It lasted only a short time. It was dismissed by many as not
a religious movement, and it is fair to say that its emphasis was on “pledges”
and not on healing by God. Nonetheless, the backdrop of Dr. Bob’s and Bill’s
boyhood days was temperance—abstinence from drink—however much people may have
disagreed on what was really involved—religion, morality, social problems.
There are several pieces of literature that may or may not be known by, or of
interest to those who might just dismiss the whole picture by saying, “We don’t
want to be like the Washingtonians. They failed.” But the failure occurred
before the major influences on A.A. background got under way.]
Harry S. Warner, Rev. Francis W.
McPeek, and E.M. Jellinek, “Lecture 19,
Philosophy of the Temperance
Movement” Alcohol, Science and Society As given at the Yale Summer School of
Alcohol Studies, 1945, 267-285; McPeek: “I don’t believe that the temperance
movement can be understood in any sense unless the framework in which it
developed is understood, and this framework is essentially Christian.,” 279.
Rev. Roland H. Bainton, “Lecture 20, The
Churches and Alcohol,” Alcohol,
Science
and Society, 287-298
Rev. Francis W. McPeek, “Lecture 26 –
The Role of Religious Bodies in the
Treatment of Inebriety in the
United States,” Alcohol, Science and Society, 1945, 406-411.
Jared C. Lobdell, This Strange Illness: Alcoholism and Bill W., 2004, 30-38.
William L White, Slaying the Dragon, 1998, 4-14.
Alcoholics Anonymous
History: the Co-Founder Dr. Bob’s Christian Roots and Upbringing in Vermont
Dick B. and Ken B., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His
Excellent Training in
the
Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont, 2008..
[The Town of St. Johnsbury—Dr. Bob’s birthplace]
Edward Taylor Fairbanks, The Town
of St. Johnsbury, Vt; A Review
Of
One Hundred Twenty-Five Years to the Anniversary Pageant, 1912
Claire Dunne Johnson, “I See By the Paper,” 1987.
[The People, including the Fairbanks family and the Smith
family]
Albert Nelson Marquis, Who’s Who in New England
Charles G. Ullery, Men of Vermont, 1894.
Hiram Carleton, Geneological and Family History of the State of
Vermont,
Vol I.
Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks, Geneology of the Fairbanks Family… 1897
The “Fairbanks Papers” 1815-1889,.
William H.
Jeffrey, Successful Vermonters, 1904.
[Congregationalism and North Congregational
Church of St. Johnsbury]
John M. Comstock, The Congregational Churches of Vermont and
Their
Ministry, 1762-1942. 1942.
John E.
Nutting,
Becoming the United Church of Christ in
Vermont, 1995
History of North Congregational
Church, 2007
Arthur
Fairbanks Stone, North Congregational
Church, St. Johnsbury,
Vermont, 1825-1942, 1942
[Young People’s
Society of Christian Endeavor]
Francis E. Clark.
Memoirs of Many Men in Many Lands, An
Autobiography, 1922
Christian Endeavor in All Lands, 1906
World Wide Endeavor: The Story of the Young People’s
Society of Christian Endeavor and in All Lands,
1895.
Amos R. Wells, Expert Endeavor, A Textbook of Christian Endeavor
Methods and Principles, 1911.
John R. Clements, The Francis E. Clark Year Book: A Collection of Living
Paragraphs From Addresses, Books, and Magazine Articles by the Founder
of the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor, 1904.
John Franklin Cowan, New Life in
the Old Prayer Meeting, 1906.
[St. Johnsbury Academy]
Arthur
Fairbanks et. al. [including Dr. Bob’s mother], An Historical
Sketch of St. Johnsbury Academy 1842-1922
Charles Edward Russell, Bare Hands and Stone Walls, 1933
Richard Beck, A Proud Tradition A Bright Future, 1992
Robert Miraldi, The Pen Is Mightier: The Muckraking Life of Charles
Edward Russell, 2003.
The Academy Student (1897), (1898)
[Young Men’s Christian Association]
Year Book of the Young Men’s Christian
Association of North America,
1896
C. Howard Hopkins, John R. Mott, 1865-1955.
Laurence L. Doggett, History of
the Young Men’s Christian Association
Richard C. Morse, History of the North American Young Men’s
Christian
Associations, 1919.
Sherwood Eddy, A Century with
Youth, 1884-1944, 1944
[Salvation Army]
[In Lecture 26, cited below, Rev. McPeek states: “Much work was
done in the city missions and particularly by the Salvation Army. . . .
Generally speaking. The Salvationists have capitalized on the same techniques
that have made other reform programs work: (1) Insistence on total abstinence.
(2) reliance upon God. (3) the provision
of new friendships among those who understand. (4) the opportunity to work with
those who suffer from the same difficulty. (5) unruffled patience and
consistent faith in the ability of the individual and the power of God to
accomplish the desired ends.” 414-415]
William Booth, In Darkest England and the Way Out,
1890,
Harold Begbie,
The Life of General William Booth: The Founder of the Salvation
Army (Vol I and II), NY: MacMillan, 1920.
Twice Born Men, 1909
Rev. Francis W. McPeek, “Lecture
26 - The Role of Relisious Bodies in
the Treatment of Inebriety in the
United States,” Alcohol, Science and Society, 1945, 403-418.
Howard
Clinebell, Understanding and Counseling
Persons with Alcohol,
Drug, and Behavioral Addictions,
1998, 184-194.
Alcoholics Anonymous
History: the Christian Upbringing of Co-Founder Bill Wilson
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.
[The conversion that cured Bill Wilson’s grandfather Willie
of alcoholism]
Francis
Hartigan, Bill W.: A Biography…,
10-11
Robert
Thomsen, Bill W., 14
Bill W., My First 40 Years, 6
Susan
Cheever, My Name is Bill, 17.
[The Evangelists]
Allen
Folger, Twenty-Five Years as an
Evangelist, 1906
Bob
Holman, F. B. Meyer: “If I Had a Hundred
Lives…,” 2007
Edgar J.
Goodspeed, The Wonderful Career of Moody and
Sankey in
Great
Britain and America, 1876.
Elmer
Towns and Douglas Porter, The Ten
Greatest Revivals Ever, 2000
J. Wilbur Chapman, Life and Work of Dwight L. Moody
Mark O. Guldseth, Streams, 1982.
[East Dorset Congregational Church]
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide,
3rd ed,
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 7-10, 27-28, 72-73
Susan
Cheever, My Name is Bill W., 4, 44
Francis Hartigan, Bill W., 175
Robert Thomsen, Bill W., 15, 30-9. 200
[Bible study-in East Dorset and in a 4 year Bible study
course at Burr and Burton]
Dick B.
and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian
Recovery Guide, 3rd ed.
Susan Cheever, My Name is Bill, 37-38, 47-48.
Robert Thomsen, Bill W., 30-39, 200.
[Christian Revivals and Conversion Meetings Bill attended]
Bill
Pittman, AA The Way It Began, 79
Francis
Hartigan, Bill W., 10-11, 53, 58, 59
Matthew
Raphael, Bill W., 77
Susan Cheever, My Name is Bill, 44-45,
Mel B., New Wine, 127-28
[Gospel Rescue Missions]
D. Samuel Hopkins Hadley, Down in Water Street: A Story of Sixteen
Years Life and
Work in Water Street Mission: A Sequel to
the Life of Jerry McAuley, n.d.
J. Wilbur
Chapman, S.H. Hadley of Water Street, 1906.
“Pass It On,”
William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1990, 188-9, 146
John
Potter Cuyler, Jr., Calvary Church in
Action
Howard
Clinebell, Understanding and Counseling…,
172-193
[Burr and Burton Academy and the Manchester Congregational
Churcht]
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide
Bill W.: My First Forty Years
Frederica Templeton, The Castle in the Pasture: Portrait of Burr
and
Burton
Academy, 2005,, 25, 42. 44, 56, 67
[Young Men’s
Christian Association-Bill as President, girl-friend as YWCA President]
Bill
W., My First Forty Years, 29
Robert Thomsen, Bill W., 57
Frederica Templeton, The Castle in the Pasture, 78-79, 69
[Bill’s return to the faith of Jesus Christ, the “Great
Physician,” Who cured Bill’s alcoholicism].
Dick B.,
Turning Point, 99-100.
The
Conversion of Bill W., 47, 94,
A New Way In: Telling the Truth, 61-66.
Norman Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ.
1980.
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth, The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, 60-63.
Mel B.,
Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.
New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve
Step Miracle
“Lois
Remembers: Searcy, Ebby, Bill & Early Days”: Recorded in Dallas
Texas, June 29, 1973.
T. Willard Hunter, It Started Right There
Bill W., My First Forty Years
W. Irving Harris, The Breeze of the Spirit
“Pass
It On”
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experiences
[Bill Wilson’s first unsuccessful attempts for six months to
carry a message and keep ‘em sober]
William Borchert, When Love is Not Enough
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed.,
191.
Lois Remembers, 94-95
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 64-65
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous,
9-10, 26.
Alcoholics Anonymous
History – The Fellowship Begins
How the First Three
AAs Got Sober by simply turning to God for help.
Bill W.:
[As a youngster in Vermont, Bill had repeatedly heard the
story of how his alcoholic grandfather Willie had been converted to God through
Jesus Christ on a mountaintop next to Bill’s village. Willie was saved, said
so, and never touched a drop during the remaining years of his life. And Bill
was no stranger to revivals, conversion meetings, temperance meetings, and
salvation teachings—the latter in his church and Sunday school]
(1) Dr. Carl Jung had told Rowland Hazard that he had the
mind of a chronic alcoholic and that a conversion experience might heal him (2)
Rowland Hazard made a decision for Jesus Christ, studied with Rev. Shoemaker, and also joined
the Oxford Group. (3) Rowland and two other Oxford Group friends told Bill
Wilson’s long-time drinking friend Ebby Thacher the solution that Jung had
proffered. Rowland taught Ebby about the efficacy of prayer. He informed Ebby
of a number of the Oxford Group’s Christian principles. He also gave Ebby some
other Christian principles and practices that Ebby had heard in his boyhood
days. Then Ebby was lodged in Calvary Rescue Mission in New York. (4)
Meanwhile, Bill Wilson had made his third visit to Towns Hospital. Dr. William
D. Silkworth, Bill’s psychiatrist, had a long talk with Bill and his wife Lois.
Silkworth had given Bill a virtual death sentence contingent upon his
continuing to drink. Dr. Silkworth, a devout Christian and a long-time
parishioner of Sam Shoemaker’s Calvary Church, told Bill Wilson that the “Great
Physician” Jesus Christ could cure Bill. (5) In this same period, Ebby Thacher
had made a decision for Jesus Christ at Calvary Mission, decided to witness to
Bill, visited Bill, and told Bill what had happened at the Mission.
(6) Bill decided to check out Ebby’s story and went to hear
him give testimony at Calvary Church, and he concluded Ebby had been born again.
(7) Bill decided that if the Great Physician had helped Ebby recover, he might
help Bill. (8) Bill W. accepted Jesus
Christ at Calvary Mission and wrote in his autobiography that “For sure I had
been born again.” (9) Bill continued to drink, became severely depressed, and
thought, If there be a Great Physician, I had better call on him. (10) Bill
staggered on to Towns Hospital drunk and very depressed and was hospitalized.
(11) He said to himself, “I’ll do anything, anything at all. If there be a
Great Physician, I’ll call on him.” (12) In his hospital room: He cried out,
“If there be a God let him show himself.”
(13) He said the effect was, instant, electric. Suddenly my
room blazed with an indescribably white light. (14) He continued: “Then, seen
in the mind’s eye, there was a mountain. I stood upon its summit where a great
wind blew. A wind, not of air, but of spirit. In great, clean strength it blew
right through me.” (15) The light and the ecstasy subsided. He became more
quiet. A great peace stole over him. (16) Then he became acutely conscious of a
presence which seemed like a “veritable sea of living spirit.” (17) He thought,
“This must be the great reality.” And in one account, he reflected: “Bill you
are a free man. This is the God of the Scriptures.” (18) He said, “I thanked my
God who had given me a glimpse of His absolute Self.
(19) He said that faith had suddenly appeared—no blind
faith—but faith fortified by the consciousness of the presence of God. (20)
Briefly He stopped doubting God and said “this great and sudden gift of grace
has always been mine.” (21) He never drank again. (22) But he did have his
“hour of doubt.” (23) Dr. Silkworth appeared and sat by Bill’s bed. Bill told
Silkworth what had happened. Bill asked: “Doctor, is this real? Am I still
perfectly sane?” (24) Sikworth assured him that he was sane. He said “You have
had some kind of conversion experience.”
(25) Ebby showed up at the hospital, agreed with Bill that
he and Bill had a release that was a gift, real. He handed Bill a copy of a
book by Professor William James. It was called “The Varieties of Religious
Experience.” Bill read it “all day.”(26) The James book was filled with studies
and stories of the cure of alcoholism at missions such as the one founded by
Jerry McAuley at 316 Water Street in 1872, and later (in 1882) at 104 West
Thirty-second Street, known as Cremorne Mission. In 1886, S.H. Hadley took
charge of the Water Street Mission. Hadley, a seemingly hopeless alcoholic, had
been converted at Jerry McAuley’s Cremorne Mission, and in the years of service
in Water Street not less than seventy-five thousand persons came to the mission
for help. Hadley died in 1906. (27)
Before his discharge from Towns Hospital in December of 1935, Wilson had been
inspired to help drunks everywhere. (28) On his discharge, he raced feverishly
to the streets, the missions, the hospitals, the Bowery, and flea bag hotels.
He went with a Bible under his arm and insisted that drunks give their lives to
God. (29) Bill’s story is briefly told as follows in Big Book page 191:
“Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me curing me of this terrible
disease that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.” (30) But
in his first six months of witnessing, Bill was unable to get a single person
sober or at least to get him to “stay” sober.]
Dr. Bob
[Dr. Bob was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont when the entire
state was still swirling from the effect of “The Great Awakening of 1875 in St.
Johnsbury.” His parents were married when the events were taking place. The parents
taught Bob about salvation and the Word of God. He heard similar sermons and
teachings in the family’s North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury.
Temperance was in the air. The Young Men’s Christian Association had been
active in bringing about the Great Awakening and was still very active during
Bob’s growing-up period. The great evangelists had inspired Vermont with their
talk of salvation, the Bible, and God’s healing power. The Salvation Army was
becoming well known for its outreach and resulting healing of derelicts and
drunks. So too were the rescue mission events involving Jerry McAuley, Water
Street Mission, and S.H. Hadley. The Young People’s Society of Christian
Endeavor, in which Dr. Bob was active, had laid out a program of confession of
Jesus Christ, conversions, Bible study meetings, prayer meetings, Quiet Hour
observances, and reading and speaking on Christian literature. Their program,
though not aimed at drunkards, was certainly focused on bringing young people
back to their churches. In his early sobriety, Dr. Bob had turned back to
church for himself and Sunday school for his children. And the program of the
early Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship closely resembled the conversions which
were so much a part of Bill’s life, and the principles and practices of
Christian Endeavor.]
Dr. Bob’s road back to sobriety could—like Bill Wilson’s—be
said to have begun when he was at the bottom of the heap in 1931. I learned
little about him at that time. But I researched and learned a lot about what
happened in Akron in 1931. It revolved around the Firestone family, and
Harvey’s protégé Jim Newton—a young man from Florida. When Jim arrived in
Akron, he befriended Russell Firestone but found that Russell had a serious
drinking problem. Jim tried to help Russell by Oxford Group techniques. But
finally, the family decided to call in Rev. Sam Shoemaker of New York—an Oxford
Group leader of that time. They (Harvey, Russell, Jim and Sam) boarded a train
for a Bishop’s conference in Denver—with Russell well supplied with liquor. But
on the trip back, Sam Shoemaker took Russell into a train compartment and led
Russell to a new birth in Christ. By the time the train arrived back in Akron,
Russell was healed, and his doctor felt it was a miracle. Russell and Jim then
began traveling together and witnessing to others about the Oxford Group’s
life-changing program. By 1933, the family was elated at Russell’s progress.
They invited Dr. Frank Buchman and a retinue of some 30 Oxford Group activists
to come to Akron, speak in the pulpits and public places, and inform the press.
I have personally seen the Akron newspapers of that early 1933 period; and they
are alive with talk of Russell and his “miracle,” of Jesus Christ, of the
Bible, and of Christianity. And a large part of the town turned out to hear
Russell, Jim, Buchman, and others give testimony.]
The wheels of sobriety began to grind for Dr. Bob. His
friend Henrietta Seiberling and his wife Anne attended the 1933 Akron
Firestone-Oxford Group functions. They were excited. They persuaded Dr. Bob to
join a small Oxford Group. And, though he continued to drink, Dr. Bob read all
the Oxford Group literature he could get his hands on. He studied the Bible
extensively once again. In fact, he read it from cover to cover three times. He
prayed. And he enjoyed the people. But he concluded to Henrietta that he just
didn’t want to quit drinking and was a “wanna wanna” guy. But Henrietta was
undeterred. She convened a tiny group, including Bob. They all engaged in
life-changing stories. Dr. Bob joined in and confessed that he was a “secret drinker.”
Henrietta asked him if he wanted to pray for his deliverance. And Bob joined
the group on his knees on the rug at the T. Henry Williams home, asking God for
help. Help did not come at once. But a seemingly miraculous phone call reached
Henrietta from an unknown stranger from New York. It was Bill Wilson saying
that he was an Oxford Grouper, a rum hound from New York, and needed to talk
with a drunk. Henrietta was sure this was an answer to the prayers and thought
of Bill, “This is manna from heaven.” She arranged a visit at her home between
Bob and Bill. It lasted six hours. Bob said he had heard it all before, but
that Bill talked his language—the story of a drunk. Bob said he picked up on
the idea of “service” which was something his religious endeavors had not
gotten through to him.
And, after one last binge, Bob quit forever while Bill
Wilson was living with the Smiths in their home.
Bill Dotson (A.A. Number Three)
[We have run across very little concerning Bill Dotson,
except as set forth in the biographical information above. However, we know for
sure that: (1) Dotson was an attorney in Akron. (2) Dotson believed in God,
went to church, taught Sunday school, and became a Deacon in the church. (3)
His alcoholism had progressed to the point that he had been strapped to a
hospital bed eight times in the preceding months. (4) And when Dr. Bob inquired
of a nurse whether there was a hospitalized drunk who needed help, she told
them she had a dandy—Bill Dotson. (5) Bill and Bob visited Dotson, told him
their stories, told him he needed to seek God’s help, and that—upon being
healed—he must go out and help others in like situations. (6) Dotson did turn
to God for help and was instantly cured. In fact, he subscribed to Bill
Wilson’s statement on page 191 of the Big Book that “the Lord had cured” him
and that he just wanted to keep talking about it and telling people. He called
the statement the “golden text of A.A.” for him and for others. (7) And, when
Bill and Bob had returned to the hospital, Dotson had been relieved of his
drinking problem, He left the hospital with his wife. He was a free man. The
date was July 4, 1935; and Bill Wilson proclaimed that as the founding date for
A.A.’s first group—Akron Number One. Dotson remained active in A.A. and often
led groups with a Bible in his lap, ready to help someone who needed help.]
The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (Pamphlet P-53)
Dick B., The Golden Text of A.A.
Dick B.
and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide,
3rd ed,, 2010.
“Introductory Foundations for
Christian Recovery” Class
The Original Akron
A.A. Christian Fellowship Program Founded in June, 1935, and the first
group—Akron Number One—founded July 4, 1935 when Bill D. was cured.
DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Dick B.,
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous
Turning Point: The Spiritual History of
Alcoholics Anonymous
Henrietta B. Seiberling: Ohio’s Lady with a
Cause
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, 66-72.
The Principles and
Practices of the Original Akron A.A. Pioneers
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide
Stick with the Winners Guidebook
Dick B, When Early AAs Were Cured and Why
DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Sue Smith Windows and Robert R.
Smith, Children of the Healer, 1992
The Role of the Bible
in Earliest A.A.
The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous
DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers
RHS
The Tidings newspaper account of
the talks by Bob and Bill in Los Angeles in 1948
The Defoe
interview of Dr. Bob in 1939
Dick B.,
The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots
in the Bible
The Good Book-Big Book Guidebook
The James Club and the Original A.A.
Program’s Absolute Essentials
Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939
Why Early A.A. Succeeded (A Bible Study
Primer)
Cured: Proven Help for Alcoholics and
Addicts
The First Nationwide Alcoholics Anonymous
History Conference
“Prayer and
Meditation” in Earliest A.A.
DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Dick B., Good Morning!: Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation, and Early
A.A.
Howard
Rose, The Quiet Time
Cecil Rose, When Man Listens
Jack C. Winslow, When I Awake: Thoughts on the Keeping of the
Morning Watch
B.H. Streeter, The God Who Speaks
F. B. Meyer, Five Musts
Donald
Carruthers, How to Find Reality in Your
Morning Devotions, Penn State
College,
n.d.
Nora Smith
Holm, The Runner’s Bible
The Upper Room
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
E. Stanley Jones, Victorious Living
Mary Wilder
Tileston, Daily Strength for Daily Needs
The “Real Surrender”
to Jesus Christ in Early A.A.
Dick B.
The Golden Text of A.A.
When Early AAs Were Cured and Why
That Amazing Grace
A New Way Out: New Path, Familiar Road
Signs, Our Creator’s Guidance
Mitchell K., How It Worked
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide
The Akron Formula
[Bible based, Christ-centered, bringing the Creator’s Power
and Cures Back into Focus. And we believe the following are the ingredients
common to most all successful Christian efforts to bring deliverance to
alcoholics: 1. The choice of abstinence. 2. The choice of avoiding temptation.
3. The choice of entrusting one’s life to the care, direction, and strength of
the Creator. 4. The choice of establishing a relationship with Him through
Jesus Christ. 5. The choice of obeying His commandments and eliminating sinful
conduct. 6. The choice of growing in knowledge and fellowship with Him, His
son, and His children through Bible study, prayer, religious fellowship,
worship, and witness. 7. The choice of passing along to others with love and
service the message that will enable those others to help and be helped in the
same manner.]
Dick B., A New Way Out, 63-64.
Dick B. and
Ken B. Stick with the Winners How to
Conduct 12-Step Meetings Using
Conference-Approved
Literature
The Daily Meetings,
Family Emphasis, and Close Contacts Among Members—Resemblance to First Century
Christianity
[A.A. History – A.A. and First Century Christianity. The Multiple
First Century Christianity-A.A. Quotes Among The Rockefeller People Who
Investigated. Five of the Rockefeller
people involved with the Frank Amos report commented as follows on the First
Century Christianity nature of the Akron A.A.:
Frank Amos: As stated, Rockefeller’s investigator Frank Amos
had observed that the meetings of Akron people had, in many respects, taken on
the form of the meetings described in the Gospels of the early Christians during
the first century (DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, pp. 135-36)
Albert Scott: In December, 1936. a meeting was held in John
D. Rockefeller’s private board room. Bill W., Dr. Bob, Dr. Silkworth, Dr.
Leonard Strong, and some alcoholics from New York and Akron met with
Rockefeller’s associates Willard Richardson, A. Leroy Chapman, Frank Amos, and
Albert Scott. The meeting was chaired by Albert Scott, chairman of the board of
trustees of New York’s Riverside Church. Each alcoholic was enjoined to tell
his own personal story, after which, the chairman Albert Scott exclaimed, “Why,
this is first-century Christianity. What can we do to help?” (Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p.
148)
Nelson Rockefeller: In February of 1940, John D.
Rockefeller, Jr. had arranged a dinner for Bill and the AAs. John D. had intended
to attend, but was too ill to do so and sent his son Nelson Rockefeller to host
the dinner. As Bill’s wife Lois Wilson records in her memoirs, “When Nelson
finally got up to talk, there was a great deal of expectancy. He told how
impressed his father [John D., Jr..] was with this unique movement, which
resembled early Christianity.” (Lois
Remembers, pp. 128-29)
Willard Richardson and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., himself:
What they’d been hearing, he [Albert Scott] said, was like first century
Christianity, where one person carried the word to the next. . . . Willard
Richardson was in charge of all John D. Jr.’s philanthropies. . . Willard
Richardson added his approval to the report and immediately passed it on to Mr.
[John D.] Rockefeller. . . Rockefeller was impressed. He saw the parallel with
early Christianity and along with this he spotted a combination of medicine and
religion that appealed to all his charitable inclinations (Robert Thomsen, Bill W., pp. 274-75).]
[Compare the Descriptions that can be found in Acts 2:41-47:
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and
the same day there were added [unto them] about three thousand souls.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs
were done by the apostles.
And all that believed were together, and had all things
common;
And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all
[men], as every man had need.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple,
and breaking bread f from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the
Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Not surprisingly, Dr. Bob, co-founder of A.A. frequently
called the early A.A. Akron program a "Christian Fellowship"
See Dick B. and Ken B., The
Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2010.]
The Counting of Noses
in November, 1937 that proved God had shown the founders how to succeed
[DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers also comments on the November 1937 meeting between Bill W. and
Dr. Bob which led to the decision that a book about their cure for alcoholism
would be needed.
In November of that year [i.e., 1937], Bill Wilson went on a
business trip that enabled him to make a stopover in Akron. . . .
Bill's writings record the day he sat in the living room
with Doc, counting recoveries. "A hard core of very grim, last-gasp cases
had by then been sober a couple of years," he said. "All told, we
figured that upwards of 40 alcoholics were staying bone dry
Up to then, prospects had come to the founders from other
cities. Now, the question was whether every alcoholic had to come to Akron or
New York to get sober. Was it possible to reach distant alcoholics? Was it
possible for the Fellowship to grow "rapidly and soundly"”?
This was when Bill began to think . . . of writing a book of
experiences that would carry the message of recovery to other cities and other
countries.]
Let us now look at this vitally-significant, November 1937 meeting in
more detail.
In an October 1945 article in the A.A. Grapevine titled
"The Book Is Born," Bill referred to his meeting with Dr. Bob in
Akron in November 1937 as follows:
By the fall of 1937 we could count what looked like forty
recovered members. One of us had been sober three years, another two and a
half, and a fair number had a year or more behind them. As all of us had been
hopeless cases, this amount of time elapsed began to be significant. The
realization that we had "found something" began to take hold of us.
No longer were we a dubious experiment. Alcoholics could stay sober. Great
numbers, perhaps! While some of us had always clung to this possibility, the
dream now had real substance. If forty alcoholics could recover, why not four
hundred, four thousand — even forty thousand.
RHS: Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous: Our Beloved DR. BOB (NY: A.A.
Grapevine, Inc., 1951), 8. The article from which this quote is taken also
occurs in The Language of the Heart
and is titled "Dr. Bob: A Tribute." This quote appears on page 359 of
that article.
In the quote above, Bill spoke of having counted "what
looked like forty recovered members." He also speculated about possible,
much larger numbers of alcoholics—"even forty thousand"—recovering.
Bill W. spoke more clearly and at greater length about his
November 1937 meeting with Dr. Bob in Akron in his tribute to Dr. Bob in the
special memorial issue of The A.A. Grapevine in January 1951 titled "RHS":
Meanwhile a small group had taken shape in New York. The
Akron meeting at T. Henry's home began to have a few Cleveland visitors. At
this juncture I spent a week visiting Dr. Bob. We commenced to count noses. Out
of hundreds of alcoholics, how many had stuck? How many were sober? And for how
long? In that fall of 1937 Bob and I counted forty cases who had significant
dry time — maybe sixty years for the whole lot of them! Our eyes glistened. Enough
time had elapsed on enough cases to spell out something quite new, perhaps
something great indeed. . . . A beacon had been lighted. God had shown
alcoholics how it might be passed from hand to hand. Never shall I forget that
great and humbling hour of realization, shared with Dr. Bob.
But the
new realization faced us with a great problem, a momentous decision. It had
taken nearly three years to effect forty recoveries. The United States alone
probably had a million alcoholics. How were we to get the story to them?
Here again, Bill declares that he and Dr. Bob "counted
forty cases who had significant dry time" and refers to "forty
recoveries." And note that Bill credited God with having shown them
"how it might be passed from hand to hand." RHS: Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous: Our Beloved DR. BOB (NY:
A.A. Grapevine, Inc., 1951), 8. The article from which this quote is taken also
occurs in The Language of the Heart
and is titled "Dr. Bob: A Tribute." This quote appears on page 359 of
that article.
Bill wrote about his November 1937 meeting with Dr. Bob in Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age:
. . . [T]his trip [in the fall of 1937] gave me a much
needed chance to visit Dr. Bob in Akron. It was on a November day in that year
[of 1937] when Dr. Bob and I sat in his living room, counting the noses of our
recoveries. There had been failures galore, but now we could see some startling
successes too. A hard core of very grim, last-gasp cases had by then been sober
a couple of years, an unheard-of development. There were twenty or more such
people. All told we figured that upwards of forty alcoholics were staying bone
dry.
. . . [A] benign chain reaction, one alcoholic carrying the
good news to the next, had started outward from Dr. Bob and me. Conceivably it
could one day circle the whole world. What a tremendous thing that realization
was! At last we were sure. . . . We actually wept for joy, and Bob and Anne and
I bowed our heads in silent prayer. Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 76. See
also: Debra Jay, No More Letting Go: The
Spirituality of Taking Action Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction (New
York, NY: Bantam Books, 2006), 287-88.
Here again, we see Bill commenting about the "upwards
of forty alcoholics" who "were staying bone dry," while speaking
almost in the same breath about how "it could one day circle the whole
world."
The A.A. General Service Conference-approved book "Pass It On" also discusses
this November 1937 meeting.
“Later in 1937, Bill . . . did visit Bob and Anne in Akron.
It was on this visit that the two men conducted a "formal" review of
their work of the past two years.
What they came to realize as a result of that review was
astounding: Bill may have been stretching things when he declared that at least
20 cases had been sober a couple of years; but by counting everybody who seemed
to have found sobriety in New York and Akron, they concluded that more than 40
alcoholics were staying dry as a result of the program! "Pass It On": The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A.
Message Reached the World (New York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World
Services, Inc., 1984), 177-78.
Bill W. also spoke briefly about this meeting with Dr.
Bob—without mentioning numbers of recoveries—in his May 1955 article in the
A.A. Grapevine titled "How AA's World Services Grew, Part 1," in The Language of the Heart, 142.
See also:
Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous, 224-25.
Bill W.'s wife Lois remarked on the 40 in her memoirs:
The business depression returned in 1937, and toward the end
of the year Quaw and Foley had to let Bill go. He went to Detroit and Cleveland
looking for new job ideas and, of course, stopped off at Akron on the way
He and Bob assessed the current status of the movement. They
were surprised to find that, although many of those they had worked with had
fallen by the way, forty members enjoyed an average of two years' solid
sobriety. This was flabbergasting, awe-inspiring. They really had hit on a
program for helping alcoholics. Now they saw it could develop into something
tremendous—if it was not diluted or garbled by word of mouth. Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder
of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York:
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., 1987), 107.
Here are some key comments about this important tally of successes by
other writers:
In November [of 1937] Bill had to make a trip to the Midwest
in connection with the brokerage job he was trying to nail down. Although
nothing came of his efforts concerning the job—another depression had hit the
country in the fall of '37—the trip gave him an opportunity to visit Dr. Bob in
Akron. Bill had been sober almost three years, Bob two and a half, and this,
they figured, should be ample time for them to see where they were and even
make some sort of informal progress report.
There had
been failures galore. Literally hundreds of drunks had been approached by their
two groups and some had sobered up for a brief period but then slipped away.
They were both conscious of their failures as they settled down in Bob's living
room and began comparing notes. But as the afternoon wore on and they continued
going over lists, counting noses, they found themselves facing a staggering
fact. In all, in Ohio and in New York, they knew forty alcoholics who were
sober and were staying sober, and of this number at least twenty had been
completely dry for more than a year. Moreover, every single one of them had
been diagnosed a hopeless case.
As they
sat, each with a paper in hand, checking and rechecking the score, a strange
thing happened; they both fell silent. This was more than a game they were
playing, more than a little casual bookkeeping to be used for a report. There
were forty names representing forty men whose lives had been changed, who
actually were alive tonight because of what had started in this very room. The
chain reaction they had dreamed about—one alcoholic carrying the word to
another—was a reality. It had moved onward, outward from them. Robert Thomsen, Bill W. (New York: Harper & Row,
1975), 266-67.
Although Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith had communicated
through dozens of letters, sitting down together again after almost two years
turned out to be an astonishing experience. Whey they compared notes in person,
they realized that they had actually found something that doctors and laymen
had been searching for as long as anyone could remember: a way to help
alcoholics get sober that actually worked. Between them they counted forty men
who hadn't had a drink in more than a year Susan Cheever, My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson: His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics
Anonymous (New York: Washington Square Press, 2004), 147.
In November [of 1937], Bill . . . was able to spend some
time in Akron. . . .
. . . He and the Smiths decided to take an inventory. Among
those they had tried to help, the failures were endless, and many of those who
seemed sincerely willing to try their approach were struggling. When they were
done counting, though, they realized that between Akron and New York there were
now forty alcoholics staying sober, and half of them had not had a drink for
more than a year. Francis Hartigan, Bill
W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson (NY: St.
Martins Press, 2000), 101.]
The Documented 75%
Success Rate in the Akron A.A. Program
Richard K.
Early A.A.—Separating Fact from Fiction: How
Revisionists Have
Led Our History Astray, 2003
New Freedom: Reclaiming Alcoholics Anonymous, 2005
The one-page list in the hand of
Dr. Bob—now in the Rockefeller Archives
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide
Bill Wilson’s
Preparation for a New, Oxford Group-Oriented Program
[Instead of working up a book that would capsulize and
enable the transmission of the Original
Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship program, Bill Wilson took two entirely
different turns away from that program even though the personal stories that
ultimately were included in the First Edition of the Big Book actually did
record how those pioneers “found or rediscovered God” by following the simple
principles and practices of the Akron seven-point program summarized on page 131
of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers.
Bill’s departures codified two new completely different
approaches:
(1)
Bill began talking about six “word of mouth” ideas
{which he later called six “Steps” even though Dr. Bob had said clearly that
there were no Steps and that he had had nothing to do with the writing of the
steps. And even though Oxford Group scholar and activist and employee T.
Willard Hunter wrote in A.A. Conference-approved literature that the Oxford
Group also had no six Steps—or any Steps at all.
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous
“Pass It On,” 197; and page
206, Note 2.
The Language of the Heart, 200
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, 160
Lois
Remembers, 92
Dick B., Turning Point, 100
(2)
Ignoring the simple seven point Akron Christian
Fellowship program, Bill sat down,
primarily working with Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker,
Jr., and pulled together some twelve steps—out of the Oxford Group’s
twenty-eight principles—and, after bowing to long-dead Professor William James,
and also to Dr. Silkworth’s ideas on the illness of alcoholism—Bill codified a “practical
program of action” which can be traced, and which he said could be traced to
the Oxford Group ideas he had begun learning in
1934 and worked through with Sam Shoemaker himself as they discussed the
contents of the proposed book and Steps.
Bill Pittman and Dick B., Courage to Change, 13-15, 18-19, 20-22. 207-08
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A.
The Preparation of
the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous
[This story begins with what Bill Wilson had learned from
his extensive contacts with the Oxford Group, its meetings, its house parties,
its teams, and Oxford Group leaders and activists such as Dr. Frank N.D.
Buchman, Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Irving Harris and his wife, Rowland Hazard,
Shep Cornell, Cebra Graves, Garrett Stearly, Cleve Hicks, Victor Kitchen, Garth
Lean, and others. He learned Oxford Group ideas from Shoemaker, Rowland Hazard,
Ebby Thacher, and attendance at their meetings. Bill is mentioned personally in
some of the Shoemaker personal journals we have seen. He was given a major post
in bringing the president of the League of Nations to America. Bill left the
Oxford Group in August of 1937, but he soon returned to become a personal
friend and collaborator with Sam Shoemaker. Bill had gone to Akron to obtain
permission to write a book, and he received it—by a bare majority of those
voting. According to Bill, Shoemaker, and Irving Harris, Bill began working
with Shoemaker on the contents of the book. They were closeted in Shoemaker’s
book-lined study at Calvary House. Bill showed Shoemaker the first manuscript
of the book. And he actually asked Shoemaker to write the Twelve Steps though
Shoemaker declined. This charts the Big Book connections. And part of the preparations
for the book were the so-called six word-of-mouth ideas Bill claimed were being
used before the Big Book. Bill said there was no agreement on the contents of
the six, and their contents certainly differed.
Here are the various ways Bill’s alleged six “steps” were
phrased, for example, as to God:
1. “We prayed to
God.” See Dick B., The Akron Genesis of
Alcoholics
Anonymous, 256-257; The
Language of the Heart, 200; William White, Slaying the Dragon, 132.
2. “We prayed to
whatever God we thought there was.” Dick B.,
The Akron
Genesis, 256; “Pass It On,” 197;
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age.
160; Jared Lobdell, This Strange Illness, 242. .
3. We prayed to God
as you understand him.” Jared Lobdell, This
Strange
Illness, 242; Dick
B., Turning Point, 100.
4. Bill Wilson also
said his “six steps” came from the Oxford Group; and Lois
Wilson contended
that the Oxford Group said: “Surrender your life to God.”
Lois Remembers, 92; Dick B., The
Akron Genesis, 257. But, acting on the research and opinion of Oxford Group
activist T. Willard Hunter, A.A.’s own publication “Pass It On” concluded the Oxford Group had no such six steps or
any steps at all. “Pass It On,” 206,
Footnote 2
5. From some
source or for some reason undocumented and seemingly false, the purported
author of a Big
Book personal story titled, “8. HE SOLD HIMSELF SHORT,” (almost certainly Earl
Treat of Chicago) was quoted with reference to six steps plus several other
ideas attributed to Dr. Bob as saying: “Dependence and guidance from a Higher
Power.”
The story was
added to the 1956 edition of Alcoholics Anonymous several years after Dr. Bob’s
death. And it is my opinion, based on extensive research of and writing about
Dr. Bob, that the language on page 263 is language easily attributable to Bill
Wilson but not typical of the way Dr. Bob spoke of God as “Heavenly Father” and
“God” and not as some higher power.
Examples of the
questionable words are: 1. “Complete deflation.” 2. “Dependence and guidance
from a Higher Power.” Dr. Bob had apparently asked a newcomer if he believed in
“God”—not “a god”—God!
6. In The Language of the Heart. article dated
July, 1953, Bill makes the following comments
about his six
word-of-mouth ideas: “. . . our growing groups at Akron, New York, and
Cleveland evolved the so-called word-of-mouth program of our pioneering time.
As we commenced to form a Society separate from the Oxford Group, we began to
state our principles something like this. . . . Though these principles were
advocated according to the whim or liking of each of us, and though in Akron
and Cleveland they still stuck by the O.G. absolutes of honesty, purity,
unselfishness, and love, this was the gist of our message to incoming
alcoholics up to 1939. . .,” (p. 200.)
To see some of
the inconsistencies in Bill’s statements and dates, consider these points: (a)
Bill and Lois left the Oxford Group in August of 1937. (b) In 1938, Frank Amos
summarized the Akron program in seven points—practically none of which
paralleled Bill’s six. DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, 131. (c) Clarence Snyder did not found the Cleveland groups
until May of 1939, after the Big Book’s April publishing date. (d) In his two
major speeches in 1948. Dr. Bob spoke about prayer and reading the Bible. He
spoke favorably about the Four Absolutes. He said nothing that indicated he had
departed from his adherence to the seven points summarized by Frank Amos in
1938
For example, in referring to
God, Bill had variously spoken of praying to God, praying to God as you
understood Him, and praying to whatever God you think there is. In one recital
of the six points attributed without documentation to Dr Bob (a recital that I
believe Bill himself wrote) the writer of the story uses and speaks typical
Bill Wilson language—higher power, deflation in depth, and other ideas that I
have not seen in usage in any other materials attributed to Bob and his Akron
ideas.
The Actual Writing of
Bill’s New Program
o The first phase of
Big Book preparation itself took the form of two chapters that Bill wrote in
reverse order to those in the first two chapters of the Big Book. “Pass It On,’ 193. He then began sending
the chapters, one by one, to Dr. Bob in Akron for approval. And the approval
was forthcoming. Details are set forth in Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 233-239;
o At some point, the
materials were assembled into what has been called the “multi-lith.” This was
sent out to somewhere between 200 and 400 people for their comments.”Pass It On,” 200.Then they
consolidated all comments on one multi-lith which can be seen in The Book That Started It All: The Original
Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2010).
o Other important
changes occurred along the way, at times and by persons I have been unable to
identify though much effort has been expended in that direction. So I will
simply list several of the changes made before and perhaps during the handling
of the Working Manuscript. These were:
(1) A large amount of material
containing Christian and biblical material had been discarded over the
objections of John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo. It had apparently contained material
“learned from the missions and the churches that had helped AAs.” The discard
was verified in a conversation between Ruth Hock, the typist and secretary and
Bill Pittman, director of historical information at Hazelden.
(2)We know that at least 400 pages of manuscript
material was cut by an editor, but no one who described the incident—even
though hired by A.A. General Services to write “Pass It On”—could confirm anything but the truthfulness of the 400
page discard. But not what the pages contained or who discarded them. “Pass It On,” 204.
(3)Tom Uzzell of New York
University edited the manuscript, and I have been unable to locate any
information about him at NYU or concerning the changes he made. “Pass It On,” 204.
(4)Substantial changes were made in
the Working Manuscript itself. They were hand-written, and the authors have not
yet been identified. However, it was then that Steps Two, Three, and Eleven
were changed to eliminate the word “God.” And the changes were made in a
compromise designed to appease atheists and agnostics “Pass It On,” 199.
(5)Bill
described the contending forces. He said: “Fitz wanted a powerfully religious
book. Henry and
Jimmy wanted none of it. They wanted a psychological book. . .” Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 17.
Bill said, “All this time I had refused to budge on these steps. I would not
change a word of the original draft, in which, you will remember, I had
consistently used the word “God,” and in one place the expression “on our
knees” was used. The changes from “God” to “Power greater than ourselves” and
to “God as we understood Him. Such were the final concessions to those of
little or no faith; this was the great contribution of our atheists and
agnostics.” Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of
Age, 166-167. “Fitz thought that the book ought to be Christian in the doctrinal
sense of the word and that it should say so. He was in favor of using Biblical
terms and expressions to make this clear. . . Paul K. was even more emphatic.” Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 162.
(6) But Lois Wilson described those
change those changes as follows: “The pros and cons were mostly about the tone
of the book. Some wanted it slanted more toward the Christian religion—others,
less. Many alcoholics were agnostics or atheists. Then there were those of the
Jewish faith and, around the world, of other religions. Shouldn’t the book be
written so that it would appeal to them? Finally it was agreed that the book
should present a universal spiritual program, not a specific one, since all
drunks were not Christian.” Lois
Remembers, 113.
The Altered Program
as Bill Himself Saw It
It is more than fair to say that the end result of the 1939
Big Book project was far far different from the program summarized as the Akron
program by Frank Amos. Thus Bill finally made the following admissions in The Language of the Heart, pp. 297-298:
So, then, how did we first learn that alcoholism is such a
fearful sickness as this? Who gave us this priceless information on which the
effectiveness of our program so much depends? Well, it came from my own doctor,
“the ;little doctor who loved drunks,” William D. Silkworth. More than
twenty-five years ago at Towns Hospital, New York, he told Lois and me what the
disease of alcoholism actually is.
Of course, we have since found that these awful conditions
of mind and body invariably bring on the third phase of our malady. This is the
sickness of the spirit; a sickness for which there must be a spiritual remedy.
We AAs recognize this in the first five words of Step Twelve of the recovery
program . . . Here we declare the necessity
for that all important spiritual awakening. Who, then, first told us about the
utter necessity for such an awakening, for an experience that not only expels
the alcohol obsession, but which also makes effective and truly real the
practice of spiritual principles “in all our affairs”? Well, this life-giving
idea came to us AA through William James, the father of modern psychology. It
came through his famous book Varieties of
Religious Experience. . . William James also heavily emphasized the need
for hitting bottom/ Thus did he reinforce AA’s Step One and so did he supply us
with the spiritual essence of Step
Twelve.
Where did the early AAs find the material for the remaining
ten Steps? Where did we learn about moral inventory, amends for harms done,
turning wills and lives over to God? Where did we learn about meditation and
prayer and all the rest of it? The spiritual substance of our remaining ten
Steps came straight from Dr. Bob’s and my own earlier association with the
Oxford Groups, as they were then led in America by that Episcopal rector, Dr.
Samuel M. Shoemaker.
Again, note how Bill’s
description of the sources of the Steps differs from Dr. Bob’s statement that
in the early days, they had no Steps; and Dr. Bob’s statement that the basic
ideas came from their study and effort
in the Bible. And note how the summary of the original Akron program
differs markedly from Bill’s description of both his “six word of mouth ideas”
and his description of the Step sources—primarily from Shoemaker
To learn the difference between this twelve step program
which Bill said emanated from Sam Shoemaker and Dr. Bob’s statement that the
basic ideas came from their study and effort in the Bible. And the summarized
heart of that program is found in the Frank Amos report in DR BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 131:
Following
his visit to Akron in February 1938, Frank Amos, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s
agent, summarized the original Akron A.A. “Program” in seven points. Here are
those points, as quoted in DR. BOB and
the Good Oldtimers:
· An alcoholic
must realize that he is an alcoholic, incurable from a medical viewpoint, and
that he must never drink anything with alcohol in it.
· He must
surrender himself absolutely to God, realizing that in himself there is no
hope.
· Not only
must he want to stop drinking permanently, he must remove from his life other
sins such as hatred, adultery, and others which frequently accompany
alcoholism. Unless he will do this absolutely, Smith and his associates refuse
to work with him.
· He must have
devotions every morning—a “quiet time” of prayer and some reading from the
Bible and other religious literature. Unless this is faithfully followed, there
is grave danger of backsliding
· He must be
willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out. This throws up a
protective barrier and strengthens his own willpower and convictions.
· It is important,
but not vital, that he meet frequently with other reformed alcoholics and form
both a social and a religious comradeship.
· Important,
but not vital, that he attend some religious service at least once weekly.
To Sum Up: The importance
of Old School A.A. History today is that it highlights how the early AAs achieved
such remarkable successes: (1) First, by renouncing liquor, turning to God, and
then helping others. (2) Second, by following simple and long-standing
Christian principles and practices that primarily paralleled the program of the
Young People’s Christian Endeavor Society, Bill and Bob’s experience with
hospitalization, Bill and Bob’s experience with helping others, and Bill and
Bob’s understanding that recovery started with belief in God and coming to Him
through Jesus Christ.
We believe that if: (1) You master the original program
(summarized in the seven points just mentioned); (2) Study and learn the Big
Book as it existed both before and after the 1939 compromise changes; (3) Look
carefully and the complete history of early A.A., the clearly announced “cures”
of alcoholics; (4) Learn the origins in the Bible and Christian predecessors of
A.A; (5) See the astonishingly high success rates of the early days (75% in
Akron and 93% in Cleveland); (6) Note how the huge preponderance of hope in the Bible, the Big Book, and the early
A.A. language points to God, the Creator, Maker, Father of Lights, and Heavenly
Father; and then (7) Take the Twelve Steps, it is possible to get excellent the
best possible results from the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship—just as Clarence
Snyder did when he brought those elements to Cleveland and soon measured a 93%
success rate there. That’s the history story—“the rest of the story”—that needs
to be told, heard, and heeded. In A.A. terms, it is about trusting God,
cleaning house, and providing love and service to others still suffering.
dickb@dickb.com
Gloria
Deo
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