History of Alcoholics Anonymous

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AA Big Book

The history of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has been documented in books, movies, and AA literature from its founding in 1935 as a solution for alcoholism by Bill Wilson (known as Bill W.) and Dr. Robert Smith (known as Dr. Bob), through early struggles and worldwide growth.^[1]

Alcoholism in the 1930s

Public opinion in post-Prohibition 1930s America saw alcoholism as a moral failing, and the medical profession saw it as a condition that was incurable and lethal.^[2] Those without financial resources found help through state hospitals, the Salvation Army, and other charitable and religious groups. Those who could afford psychiatrists or hospitals were subjected to a treatment with barbiturate and belladonna known as "purge and puke"^[3] or were left in long-term asylum treatment.

The Emmanuel Movement was founded in 1906 by Dr. Elwood Worcester and Dr. Samuel McComb in Boston's Emmanuel Church, and in 1931 they published a book called Mind, Body, and Spirit addressing the nature of alcoholism.^[4] The movement worked closely with the medical field and produced lay therapists like Courtney Baylor and Richard Peabody.^[5] Peabody wrote The Common Sense of Drinking and his ideas became paralleled in the Big Book.^[6]

1931 Jung and The Oxford Group

The Oxford Group was an Episcopalian Christian Fellowship organization founded by American Christian missionary Dr. Franklin Nathaniel Daniel Buchman. Buchman was an American Lutheran minister of Swiss descent who in 1908 had a conversion experience in a chapel in Keswick, England and as a result of that experience he would later found a movement called A First Century Christian Fellowship in 1921, that eventually became known as the Oxford Group by 1931. The Group believed in the practice of meditation, a belief in God of the believers understanding, and following the six tenets. The Six Tenets were 1. Men are Sinners, 2. Men can be changed, 3. Confession is a prerequisite of Change, 4. The changed soul had direct access to God, 5. The age of miracles has returned, 6. Those who have been changed must change others. The Oxford Group influenced the structure of Alcoholics Anonymous and many of the ideas that formed the foundation of AAs suggested twelve-step program.^[7][8] Later in life Bill gave credit to the Oxford group for saving his life.^[9]

In 1931 an American business executive Rowland Hazard sought treatment for alcoholism with psychiatrist Carl Jung in Switzerland. Jung who broke away from Freudian psychoanalysis coined the term Synchronicity which he explains "meaningful coincidences" that happen in life and are common references in AA dealing with "Spiritual Awakenings" and "Spiritual Experience". Jung later that year published "Seelenprobleme der Gegenwart" which some feel was influenced with his treatments in alcohol addiction. When Hazard ended treatment with Jung after about a year, he soon resumed drinking and returned for further treatment. Jung told Hazard that his case was nearly hopeless like other alcoholics and that his only hope might be a spiritual conversion with a religious group.^[10] Jung is later quoted in 1954 transcript about being approached by an Oxford group member and says "You are in the Oxford Group; so long as you are there, you settle your affair with the Oxford Group. I can't do it better than Jesus."

Back in America, Hazard joined the Oxford Group, an Episcopalian Christian Evangelical association and the source of AA concepts such as meetings and sharing for witness, finding a higher power, making restitution, and rigorous honesty. Hazard underwent a spiritual conversion with the help of the group and finally achieved sobriety.^[11][12]

Members of the group introduced Hazard to Ebby Thacher. Hazard brought Thacher to the Calvary Rescue Mission, led by Oxford leader Dr. Sam Shoemaker,^[13] which had over the years helped over two-hundred thousand needy people.^[14] Thacher also attained periodic sobriety and in later years died sober.^[15] In keeping with Oxford practices which taught that a new convert must win other converts in order to preserve his own conversion experience, Thacher contacted his old friend Bill Wilson, who he knew still had a drinking problem.^[14][16]

1934 Bill Wilson sober

Bill Wilson was an alcoholic who had seen a promising career on Wall Street ruined by his drinking. He also failed to graduate from law school because he was too drunk to pick up his diploma, damaged his marriage, and was hospitalized for alcoholism at Towns hospital four times between 1933-1934 under the care of Dr. William Silkworth. On his first stay at Towns Hospital, Dr. Silkworth explained to Wilson his theory, that alcoholism is an illness rather than a moral failure or failure of willpower. Silkworth believed that Alcoholics were suffering from a mental obsession, combined with an allergy that made compulsive drinking inevitable and to break the cycle one had to completely abstain from alcohol use. Wilson was elated to find he suffered from an illness and managed to stay off alcohol for a month before he resumed drinking..^[17]

When Thacher visited Wilson at his New York apartment and told him "he had got religion" Wilson's heart sank.^[18] Until then, Wilson had struggled with the existence of God, but of his meeting with Thacher he wrote, "My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, 'Why don't you choose your own conception of God?' That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last."^[19]When Thacher left Wilson continued to drink. Thacher returned a few days later bringing with him Shep Cornell, another Oxford member who was aggessive in his tactics of promoting the Oxford Program, but despite their efforts Wilson continued to drink.^[20]

The next morning Wilson arrived at Calvary Rescue Mission in a drunken state looking for Thacher. Once there he attended his first Oxford Group meeting where he answered the call to come to the altar and there along with other penitents gave his life to Christ. Wilson excitedly told his wife Lois about his spiritual progress, yet the next day he drank again and a few days later re-admitted himself to Towns hospital for the fourth and last time. ^[21] While at Towns hospital under Silkworths care, Wilson was administered a drug cure concocted by Charles B. Towns, known as the The Belladonna Cure it contained the deliriants Belladonna and Hyoscyamus niger which cause hallucinations. It was while undegoing this treatment Wilson experienced his "Hot Flash" spiritual conversion.^[22] . While lying in bed depressed and despairing Wilson cried out, "I'll do anything! Anything at all! If there be a God, let Him show Himself!"^[23] He then had the sensation of a bright light, a feeling of ecstasy, and a new serenity. Wilson described his experience to Dr. Silkworth who told him not to discount it.

Thacher visited Wilson at Townes hospital and introduced him to the basic tenets of the Oxford Group and the book Varieties of Religious Experience by American psychologist and philosopher William James, which was published in 1902. Upon reading the book Wilson was later to state that the phrase "deflation at depth" lept out at him from the page of James's book, however this phrase does not appear in the book. It was James theory that spiritual transformations come from calamities and their source lies in pain and hopelessness. James's belief concerning alcoholism was the cure for dipsomania was religiomania. ^[24] Upon his release from the hospital on December 18, 1934, Wilson moved from the Calvary Rescue Mission to the Oxford meetings at Calvary House. There Wilson socialized after the meetings with other ex-drinking Oxfords and became interested in learning how to help other alcoholics achieve sobriety. ^[25]It was during this time Wilson went on a crusade to save alcoholics, sources for his prospects were the Calvary Rescue Mission and Towns Hospital. Of all the alcoholics Wilson tried to help not one stayed sober.^[26]

1935 Dr. Bob sober

Silkworth believed Wilson was making a mistake by telling new converts of his "Hot Flash" conversion experience as well as trying to apply the Oxford Group's principles and advised Wilson of the need to deflate the alcoholic. He told Wilson to give them the medical business, and give it to them hard. To tell them of the obsession that condemns them to drink and the physical sensitivity, that condemns them to go mad or die, that if it comes from another alcoholic it will break their egos down. Only then he could use the other medicine, the ethical principles he had picked up from the Oxford Groups.”^[27]

During a business venture in Akron, Ohio, Wilson was tempted to drink and realized that he must talk to another alcoholic to stay sober. He phoned local ministers to ask if they knew any alcoholics and Norman Sheppard directed him to Oxford member Henrietta Seiberling whose group had been trying to help a desperate alcoholic named Dr. Bob Smith.

While he was a student, Smith had started drinking heavily and as a consequence almost failed to graduate from medical school. He opened a medical practice and married, but his drinking put his business and family life in jeopardy. For seventeen years Smith's daily routine was to stay sober until the afternoon, get drunk, sleep, then take sedatives to calm his morning jitters. Seiberling convinced Smith to talk with Wilson, but Smith insisted that the meeting be limited to fifteen minutes. However, Smith was impressed with Wilson's knowledge of alcoholism and ability to share from his own experience, and their discussion lasted for six hours.

Wilson moved into Bob and Anne Smith's family home, there both men made plans to take their message of recovery on the road, however during this period Smith returned to drinking while attending a Medical Convention. During his stay at the Smiths' home, Wilson joined Smith and his wife in the in Oxford Groups practices of morning guidances sessions of meditations and Bible readings. The Book of James from the Bible became an important inspiration for Smith and the alcoholics of the Akron group. ^[28] Wilson spent a month working with Smith, Smith became the first alcoholic Wilson brought to sobriety.^[29]Smith's last drink was on June 10, 1935 (a beer to steady his hand for surgery) which is considered by members to be the founding date of AA.^[30]

A new program

Wilson and Smith sought to develop a simple program to help even the worst of alcoholics, and a more successful approach that empathized with alcoholics yet convinced them of their hopelessness and powerlessness. They believed active alcoholics were in a state of insanity rather than in a state of sin, an idea they developed independently of the Oxford Group.^[31][32]

To produce a spiritual conversion necessary for sobriety and sanity, alcoholics needed to realize that they couldn't conquer alcoholism by themselves, and that surrender to a higher power and work with another alcoholic was required. Sober alcoholics could show drinking alcoholics that it was possible to enjoy life without alcohol, thus inspiring a spiritual conversion that would help ensure sobriety.^[33][34][32]

The tactics employed by Smith and Wilson to bring about the conversion was to first determine if an individual had a drinking problem, to do so they would first approach the man's wife, and later they would approach the individual directly by going to his home or by inviting him to the Smiths' home. The objective was to get the man to surrender and the surrender involved a confession of powerlessness and a prayer that said the man believed in higher power and could be restored to sanity. This process would sometimes take place in the kitchen or at other times at the man's bed with Wilson kneeling on one side of the man's bed and Smith on the other side, this way the man would be led to admit his defeat. Wilson and Smith believed until a man had surrendered he couldn't attend the Oxford meetings. No one was allowed to attend a meeting without being sponsored. Thus a new prospect underwent many visits around the clock with the members of the Akron team, and undertook many prayer sessions as well as listening to Dr. Smith cite the medical facts about alcoholism. A new prospect was also put on a special diet of sauerkraut, tomatoes and karo syrup to reduce his alcoholic cravings. The Smith family home in Akron, became a center for alcoholics. ^[35]

Two realizations came from Wilsons work in Akron. First was realization that in order to remain sober an alcoholic needed another alcoholic to work with. The second was the concept of the 24 hours, that being if the alcoholic could resist the urge to drink by postponing it for one day, one hour or even at minute he could remain sober. ^[36]

An Akron Group And a New York Group

After he and Smith worked with AA members three and four, Bill D. and Ernie G., and an initial Akron group was established, Wilson returned to New York and began hosting meetings in his home in the fall of 1935.

Wilson allowed alcoholics to live in his home for long periods of time without rent and board. This practice of providing a halfway house was started by Dr. Bob Smith and his wife Anne.^[37]Wilson's wife, Lois, was not only working at a Department store and supported Wilson and his unpaying guests, she did all the cooking and cleaning. She also tried to help many of the alcoholics that came to live with them. She was attacked by one man with a kitchen knife after she refused his advances and another man committed suicide by gassing himself to death on their premises. Later they found he had stolen and sold off their best clothes. Wilson stopped the practice in 1936 when he saw it did little to help alcoholics recover.^[38][39] The Wilsons did not become disillusioned with the Oxford group until later, and attended the Oxford group meetings at the Calvary Church on a regular basis and went to a number of the Oxford group house parties up until the year 1937.^[40]

Separating from the Oxford Group

There were two programs operating at this time, one in Akron and the other in New York. There were also two very different attitudes between the Akron Oxford Group and the New York Oxford group towards the alcoholics in their midst. The Akron Oxford members welcomed Alcoholic members into their group, didn't use them to attract new members nor did it urge them to quit smoking. Akrons alcoholics never met separately form the Oxford Group.

The Wilsons practice of hosting separate meetings from the general Oxford Group and solely for alcoholics generated criticism within the New York Oxford Group. Oxford group members believed the Wilsons sole focus on alcoholics caused them to ignore what they could be doing for the Oxford group. While Sam Shoemaker was on vacation, members of the Oxford group declared the Wilson's not "Maximum" and members were advised not to attend the Wilsons meetings. In 1937 the Wilsons broke with the Oxford Group. The Oxford group saw Wilson as quitting ; Lois Wilson said the "were kicked out". Wilson later wrote that he found the Oxford group aggressive in their evangelism, he objected to the groups publicity seeking and intolerance of non believers, and those alcoholics who were practicing Catholics found their views conflicted with the Oxford teachings. On a personal level, while in the Oxford group, he was constantly checked by members for his smoking and womanizing. The alcoholics within the Akron Group did not break away until 1939, an action taken to show solidarity with the New York group and not a need to be free of the Oxford Group. ^[41][42]

At the end of 1937, after the separation from the Oxford group, Wilson returned to Akron where he and Smith calculated their early success rate to be about 5%.^[43]Over forty alcoholics in Akron and New York had remained sober since they began their work. Wilson then made plans to finance and implement his program on a mass scale, which included publishing a book, employing paid missionaries, and opening alcoholic treatment centers. The 18 alcoholic members of the Akron group saw little need for paid employees, missionaries, hospitals or separate literature. Some of what Wilson proposed violated the spiritual principals they were practicing in the Oxford group, however they voted and by one vote in favor for, they agreed to Wilson's writing of a book but they refused any financial support of his venture.^[42][44]

1939 The Big Book

The book's main objective was to help the alcoholic find a power greater than himself which would solve his problem. ^[45]

Rockefeller

Initial fundraising efforts failed after the new program idea was approved by Smith and a majority of members, but in 1938 Wilson's brother-in-law Leonard Strong contacted Willard Richardson who arranged for a meeting with A. Leroy Chapman, an assistant for John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Wilson envisioned receiving millions of dollars but Rockefeller refused stating that money would spoil things. Instead he agreed to contribute five thousand dollars in thirty dollar weekly increments for Wilson and Smith to use for personal expenses.^[46][47]

Later in 1940 Rockefeller also held a dinner for AA which was presided over by his son Nelson, and attended by wealthy New Yorkers as well as members of the newly-founded AA. Wilson hoped the event would raise much money for the group, but upon conclusion of the dinner, Nelson stated that Alcoholics Anonymous should be financially self-supporting, and that the power of AA should lie in one man carrying the message to the next, not with financial reward, but only the goodwill of its supporters.^[48]

Although Wilson would later give Rockefeller credit for the idea of AA being non-professional, he was initially disappointed with this consistent position, and after the first Rockefeller fundraising attempt fell short he abandoned plans for paid missionaries and treatment centers. Instead, Wilson and Smith formed a non-profit group called the Alcoholic Foundation and decided to publish a book which would share their personal experiences and what they did to stay sober.^[49]

Works Publishing

Wilson began work on the book and as financial difficulties were encountered, the first two chapters "Bill's Story" and "There Is a Solution" were printed to help raise money. After receiving an offer from Harper & Brothers to publish the book, early New York member Hank P., whose story The Unbeliever appears in the first edition of the Big Book, convinced Wilson to retain control over the book by publishing it themselves.

Hank devised a plan to form Works Publishing Inc and raise capital by selling its shares to group members and friends. With Wilson's knowledge as a stockbroker, Hank issued stock certificates although the company was never incorporated and had no assets.^[50]

At first there was no success in selling the shares, but eventually Wilson and Hank obtained what they considered to be a promise from Reader's Digest to do a story about the book once it was completed. On the strength of that promise, AA members and friends were persuaded to buy shares and Wilson received enough financing to continue writing the book.^[51] The editor of Reader's Digest claimed not to remember the promise and the article was never published.^[52]

Bill and Hank held two thirds of six hundred company shares and Ruth also received some for pay as secretary. Two hundred shares were sold for $5000 {$79,000 in 2008 dollar value}^[53] at twenty-five dollars each,{$395 in 2008 value) and they received a loan from Charlie Towns for $2500 {$40,000 in 2008 values} This only financed writing costs,^[54] and printing would be an additional thirty-five cents each for the original 5000 books.^[55] Edward Blackwell at Cornwall Press agreed to print the book with an initial five hundred dollar payment, along with a promise from Bill and Hank to pay the rest later.^[56]

Hank P. returned to drinking after four years of sobriety and could not account for Works Publishing assets. Hank blamed Wilson for this as well as his own personal problems. By 1940, Wilson and the Trustees of the Foundation decided that the Big Book should belong to AA, so they issued some preferred shares, and with a loan from the Rockefellers they were able to call in the original shares at par value of $25 each. Hank P. initially refused to sell his 200 shares, then later showed up at Wilson's office broke and shaky. Wilson offered Hank $200 for the office furniture which belonged to Hank, provided he sign over his shares. Hank agreed to the arrangement after some prodding from Wilson. Not long after this, Wilson was granted a royalty agreement on the Book, similar to what Dr. Bob received at an earlier date. The transaction left Hank resentful and later he accused Wilson of profiting from Big Book royalties, which Cleveland group founder Clarence S. also seriously questioned. Using principles he had learned from the Oxford group, Wilson tried to remain cordial and supportive to both men.^[57][58]Works Publishing became Incorporated June 30th, 1940^[59]

Twelve Steps

After the third and fourth chapters of the Big Book were completed, Wilson decided that a summary of methods for treating alcoholism was needed to describe their "word of mouth" program.^[60] The basic program developed from the works of William James, Dr. Silkworth, and the Oxford Group, and included six basic steps:

1. We admitted that we were licked, that we were powerless over alcohol.
2. We made a moral inventory of our defects or sins.
3. We confessed or shared our shortcomings with another person in confidence.
4. We made restitution to all those we had harmed by our drinking.
5. We tried to help other alcoholics, with no thought of reward in money or prestige.
6. We prayed to whatever God we thought there was for power to practice these precepts.

Wilson decided that the six steps needed to be broken down into smaller sections to make them easier to understand and accept.^[60] He wrote the Twelve Steps one night while lying in bed, which he felt was the best place to think. He prayed for guidance prior to writing, and in reviewing what he had written and numbering the new steps, found they added up to twelve. He then thought of the Twelve Apostles and became convinced that the program should have twelve steps.^[61] With contributions from other group members including atheists who restrained religious content like Oxford material that could later result in controversy, by fall 1938 Wilson expanded the six steps into the final version of the Twelve Steps which are detailed in Chapter Five of the Big Book called How It Works.^[62]

Many of the Chapters in the Big Book were written by Wilson including Chapter 8 "To the Wives". It was a chapter he had offered to Dr. Bob's wife, Anne Smith, to write but she declined. His wife Lois had wanted to write the chapter and his refusal to allow her, left her angry and hurt. The chapter appears to hold the wife responsible for her alcoholic husbands emotional stability once he has quit drinking. ^[63]

Wilson kept track of the people whose personal stories were featured in the first edition of the Big Book, of them about 50% had not remained sober.^[64]

Promotion

Initially the Big Book did not sell. Five thousand copies sat in the warehouse and Works Publishing was nearly bankrupt. Morgan R., recently released from an asylum, contacted his friend Gabriel Heatter, host of popular radio program We the People, to promote his newly-found recovery through AA. The interview was considered vital to the success of AA and its book sales, so to ensure Morgan stayed sober for the broadcast, members of AA kept him locked in a hotel room for several days under a twenty-four hour watch. The interview was a success and Hank P. arranged for twenty thousand postcards to be mailed to doctors announcing the Heatter broadcast and encouraging them to buy a copy of Alcoholics Anonymous.^[65] Book sales and AA popularity also increased after positive articles in Liberty magazine in 1939^[66] and the Saturday Evening Post in 1941.^[67]

Revisions

The second edition was released in 1955, third in 1976, and fourth in 2001. The first half of the book which details the program has remained largely intact with minor statistical updates and edits. The second half contains personal stories which are updated with every addition to reflect current AA membership, resulting in earlier stories being removed which in 2003 were published in the book Experience, Strength, and Hope.^[68]

Anonymity

Originally anonymity was practiced as a result of the experimental nature of the fellowship and to protect members from the stigma of being seen as an alcoholic. The name Alcoholics Anonymous referred to the members, not to the message. If members made their membership in AA public and especially at the level of public media, then went out and drank again, it would not only harm the reputation of AA but threaten the very survival of the fellowship. Later, as a result of anonymity breaks in the public media by celebrity members of AA, Wilson determined that the deeper purpose of anonymity was to prevent alcoholic egos from seeking fame and fortune at AA expense.^[69] Wilson also saw anonymity as a principle that would prevent members from indulging in ego desires that might actually lead them to drink again. Hence Tradition Twelve, which made anonymity a core spiritual requirement for AA.^[70]

Into the 21st century

As AA grew in size and popularity from over 100 members in 1939, other notable events in its history include:^[71]

• 1944 June AA Grapevine magazine was published containing first-person stories of AA members. Its slogan "an AA meeting in print" was adopted after receiving supportive letters from AA members in overseas military.
• 1945 AA adopted the AA Grapevine as its national journal.
• 1946 April AA Grapevine first published the Twelve Traditions as Twelve Points to Assure Our Future. They were derived by Wilson from group letters to AA headquarters asking how to handle disputes over issues like finance, publicity, and outside affiliations, and intended to be guidelines for group conduct and avoiding controversy.^[72]
• 1949 AA Grapevine became the international journal of AA due to added readership in Canada and Europe.
• 1949 A group of recovering alcoholics and AA members founded Hazelden Farm, a Minneapolis refuge and treatment center. Since then 93% of alcohol rehabilitation clinics use AA concepts in their treatment,^[73] and a reverse influence has also occurred with AA receiving 31% of its membership from treatment center referrals.^[74]
• 1950 The Twelve Traditions were adopted at AA's First International Convention.
• 1950 On November 16, Dr. Bob Smith died, leaving about 100,000 AA members^[1].
• 1953 The Twelve Traditions were published in the book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,^[75][76]
• 1953 Narcotics Anonymous received permission from AA to use the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions in its own program.^[77]
• 1955 Second Edition of the Big Book released with estimated 150,000 AA members.^[78]
• 1957 Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age was published.^[79]
• 1962 The Twelve Concepts for World Service were adopted by AA as a guideline for international issues.^[80]
• 1962 The movie Days of Wine and Roses depicted an alcoholic in AA.^[81]
• 1971 Bill Wilson died, his last words to AA members were "God bless you and Alcoholics Anonymous forever."^[1]
• 1976 Third Edition of the Big Book released with estimated 1,000,000 AA members.^[78]
• 1980 Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers gave an account of AA development.
• 1984 Pass It On detailed Wilson's life story.
• 1988 The movie Clean and Sober depicted aspects of AA culture like sponsorship.
• 1989 The movie My Name is Bill W. portrayed the AA story.
• 2001 The Fourth Edition of the Big Book was released with an estimated 2,000,000 or more members in 100,800 groups meeting in approximately 150 countries around the world.^[82]

See also

Further reading

• Ernest Kurtz. AA: The Story (A Revised Edition of Not-God). Random House Value Publishing, 1991. ISBN 0517064057, ISBN-13 978-0517064054.

Media documentaries

• Wright, Gwendolyn, "Alcoholics Anonymous Letter", History Detectives, Public Broadcasting Service, Season 4, Episode 7, 2006. In-depth look into the early founding days of AA, through a letter from Bill Wilson to Herbert Wallace.

References

External links

• AA official website