Alcoholics Anonymous Origins and Early
History
What the Searchlights Reveal
Part Three
By Dick B.
© 2011 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
Darkness, Be Gone! Let There Be Light
If there is one thing I believe for sure about Alcoholics
Anonymous, as I have experienced A.A., for more than 25 years, that one thing
is this: It is not Alcoholics Anonymous that needs to go away. It is the
darkness about Alcoholics Anonymous History. And the darkness can and will end
in the face of solid, complete, accurate, factual knowledge of what has really
transpired.
What about A.A. itself? Be sure there is no service to the
suffering if the darkness continues. We need not condemn. We need not
criticize. We need not leave. We need not look for perfection. We do need to see,
hear, and learn the full disclosure of whence A.A. came and what it really did.
In Part One of this series, we posed at least ten questions
as to how, why, and what facts of Alcoholics Anonymous History have languished
and sat on the shelf for so many years. I raised those questions as a newcomer.
They were questions raised by the AAs I sponsored. And the questions inevitably
because of the confusion generated. Let the darkness be gone!
In the Part Two article, we pointed to at least twenty-five
gaps in Alcoholics Anonymous History accounts. In the face of such a simple,
godly, original program, they need never have occurred. But the good news in
this Part Three is that we can tell you that (1) the passage of time, (2) an
enormous amount of research, and (3) objective digging have substantially
answered the cry: Let there be light! Shine it!
Let’s Look First at the Chronology of Events Comprising “Early A.A.”
1926: The Rowland
Hazard Story—Obfuscated by Belated Haggling about Dates
The probable date of A.A.’s
conception coupled with the events that followed has now been established as
1926, not 1931. This important story has long been clouded and mis-reported due
to a pointless debate as to whether and when the New York businessman Rowland
Hazard treated with Dr. Carl Gustav Jung in Switzerland. As the years passed,
many have attested that the eminent Swiss psychiatrist advised a tortured
alcoholic Rowland that he (Jung) could not help him (Rowland) because Rowland had
the mind of a chronic alcoholic and therefore was “medically” incurable. On the
other hand, Jung held out the hope
that
Rowland might receive help if he sought and had a “conversion experience.”[1]
The desired recovery was later
achieved when Rowland Hazard had returned to the United States
, accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and
Savior.[2]and
become active in Rev. Sam Shoemaker’s Calvary Episcopal Church and in the
Oxford Group in which Shoemaker was a leader. The bottom line? Rowland was
relieved of his alcoholism.
[3]Few,
if any, seemed to ask how and why. The just pointed to the Oxford Group and let
it ride.
Until recently, there was nary an accurate
report of the critical facts. Rowland placed himself in God’s hand through
Jesus Christ.
1931: The Russell
Firestone Story: Shelved in Later Disdain for the Oxford Group
The Akron Alcoholics Anonymous
History highlight occurred in 1931 for A.A. as the public learned of the
seemingly miraculous cure of Russell Firestone’s drunkenness. Russell’s victory
occurred on a railroad trip to and from Denver. The passengers were Russell,
his father Harvey Firestone, Russell’s friend James Newton, and the Rev. Samuel
M. Shoemaker, Jr. Then, on the return trip from Denver to Akron, Rev. Shoemaker
took Russell into a train compartment. He led him to accept Jesus Christ as
Russell’s Lord and Savior. And the
healing
of Russell’s drinking was instant and widely acknowledged.
[4]
1933: Akron’s
Firestone Testimonials, Oxford Group Leaders, and the Message of Hope
All too many writers have linked
the founding of A.A. with the Oxford Group, claiming that A.A. emerged from
this “First Century Christian Fellowship.”
[5]
But the claim needs to be tempered by the actual events leading to founding of
A.A. in Akron in June, 1935.
As stated in my book,
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
the Russell Firestone healing in 1931 was triggered in part by the zeal of the
young Oxford Group activist James Draper Newton. Newton brought Russell’s
alcoholism, the Oxford Group’s ideas, and Russell’s acceptance of Jesus Christ
to Akron’s doors. And, after the train trip, Newton and the sober Firestone
went about the world on behalf of the Oxford Group--serving as witnesses to its
life-changing program.
[6]
Then, in 1933, the Oxford Group
“came to town” (Akron) via the huge testimonial meetings held in pulpits and
halls to overflow audiences. The speakers were Oxford Group Founder Dr. Frank
Buchman, Russell Firestone, James Newton, and other Oxford Group notables.
[7]
These widely publicized meetings inspired Dr. Bob’s wife, and later Dr. Bob himself
to go to an Oxford Group meeting in Akron, and then to a series of Oxford Group
Wednesday meetings at the home of T. Henry Williams in Akron.
[8]
1934: The
Conglomeration of New York Events that involved Oxford Group people, Rowland
Hazard himself, Dr. William D. Silkworth, Ebby Thacher, Calvary Mission,
and Bill Wilson’s
acceptance of Jesus Christ at the Mission
Enter Dr. William D. Silkworth and His Advice to Bill about the “Great
Physician”
The recent biography of Dr. William
D. Silkworth adds a vitally important, and totally
neglected element to the origins, history, and
development of early A.A.
Silkworth’s biographer Dale Mitchel
goes to great length to stress the advice that Bill received from the little doctor
who loved drunks. This event happened on Bill’s third visit to Towns Hospital.
The account demonstrates two factors: (a) Bill’s drinking problem had
progressed so far and so deeply that Bill was told by Silky that if he didn’t
quit, he would die or go insane. (b) Dr. Silkworth then told Bill that the
Great Physician Jesus Christ could cure him of his alcoholism.
[9]
This latter piece of advice deeply
influenced Wilson on the entire subject of acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior. Bill later referred to Silkworth as a cofounder of A.A.
[10]
Silkworth was considered a friend to A.A. friends like Dr. Norman Vincent
Peale, Rev. Samuel Shoemaker, Charles and Colonel Towns, Frank Amos, and Bill’s
brother-in-law Dr. Leonard Strong.
[11]
Silkworth himself was a devout
Christian. For years he attended Calvary Christian Episcopal Church where Rev.
Shoemaker was Rector.
[12]
Over time, he and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale became very good friends.
[13]
From the time he worked with his first alcoholic patient at Bellevue, through
his last speech before his death in 1951, Silkworth believed a spiritual
experience and medical treatment formed the foundation for long-term recovery.
And he spoke frequently about the need for a reliance upon God and a firm
foundation of spiritual strength in order to handle the obsession to drink.
[14]
As stated, Silkworth knew Dr.
Normal Vincent Peale and Shoemaker as friends. Peale wrote a detailed account
in
The Positive Power of Jesus Christ
about a seemingly hopeless alcoholic named Chuck who had been advised by
Silkworth that he could be cured of alcoholism by the Great Physician Jesus
Christ. Chuck accepted Christ, and he was healed—just as Silkworth had promised
could happen to both Wilson and Chuck.
[15]
Bill was so taken with the Great
Physician idea that he mentioned this fact and his reliance on the Great
Physician several times in Bill’s own, later, autobiography.
[16]
Enter Ebby Thacher: In 1934, in New York, Bill Wilson had been
introduced to the Oxford Group by his long-time drinking buddy Ebby Thacher.
Ebby had been introduced to the Oxford Group by Rowland Hazard and two others. Ebby
told Bill that he had gotten from the three fellows some pretty sensible things
out of it, “based on the life of Christ, biblical times” He said he listened
carefully and was impressed because they told of things he had been taught as a
child, believed, but then tossed aside.
[17]
Ebby’s biographer also tells us that Ebby was no stranger to religious teaching
and church attendance when he was growing up. His family had both Episcopalian
and Presbyterian connections. His mother was listed as a member of the First
Reformed Church until her death in 1927. And, during one of his school years in
Manchester, Vermont, Ebby had lived with Reverend Sidney Perkins family will
there.
[18]
Ebby also said Rowland had had a thorough indoctrination (in the Oxford Group
Christian teachings) and “passed as much of this on to me as he could.”
[19]
The three fellows had related the Oxford Group ideas, their Christian tenets,
and the importance of God and prayer to Ebby and then Ebby related them to
Bill.
[20]
The message to Bill appears to have been transmitted to Bill
shortly after Bill had been given
the sentence of death or insanity and the option of Jesus Christ as a cure on Bill’s
third visit to Towns Hospital. Ebby had accepted Jesus Christ at Calvary
Mission
[21]
and visited Bill to tell Bill of his (Ebby’s) rebirth and deliverance. The
details follow:
After what may have been a prior
call to Bill’s wife Lois, Bill’s old drinking buddy Ebby Thacher had appeared
on the scene—at Bill’s home.
[22]
Explaining his new found sobriety,
Ebby said to Bill, “I’ve got religion”—an expression Bill later used when he
wrote his brother in law about his own new birth at Calvary Mission. Bill asked
Ebby: “What kind of religion have you got, Ebby” Ebby replied, “Oh, I don’t
think it has got any brand name. I just fell in with a group of people, the
Oxford Groups. I don’t go along with all
their teachings by any means. But those folks have given me some wonderful
ideas: [1] I learned that I had to admit I was licked. [2] I learned that I
ought to take stock of myself and confess my defects to another person in
confidence. [3] I learned that I needed to make restitution for the harm I had
done others. [4] I was told I ought to practice the kind of giving that has no
price tag on it, the giving of yourself to somebody. [5] Now I know you are
going to gag on this, but they taught me to pray to whatever God I thought
there was for the power to carry out these simple precepts. . . This time I
felt completely released of the desire, and I have not had
Ebby also told Bill he had almost been
incarcerated for inebriety. Three Oxford Group men (one of whom was
Rowland Hazard) rescued Ebby from the judge.
They taught him Christian principles and about the efficacy of prayer.
They also indoctrinated Ebby with the Oxford
Group’s life-changing principles. Rowland Hazard had told Ebby about Dr. Jung’s
advice—advice, said Bill, “consolidated his [Ebby’s] his condition that he
would not get over drinking by himself or by any resource of psychology or
psychiatry.”
[24]
Ebby also told Bill “finally how he’d tried prayer just as an experiment and
had found to his surprise that it worked.”
[25]
He further explained that the Oxford Group men had lodged him [Ebby] in
Shoemaker’s Calvary Mission.
[26]
There Ebby accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
[27]
In Shoemaker terms, Ebby had—like Rowland Hazard--“found God.” He was “saved.”
Ebby was (as Bill observed) born again.
[28]
He was healed for a time. And he carried this information to Bill shortly after
Bill had been told by Dr. Silkworth that he [Bill] could be relieved by the
power of Jesus Christ.
Bill’s
Acceptance of Jesus Christ at Calvary Mission:
Bill was so influenced by Silkworth’s
advice, and then by Ebby’s acceptance of Jesus Christ at the altar, that Bill
himself went first to Calvary Church to hear Ebby give his testimony there.
Having heard Ebby delivering the message from the pulpit, Bill concluded that
perhaps he could get the same help at Calvary Mission that Ebby had received
through his salvation. Bill decided that perhaps the Great Physician—of whom
Dr. Silkworth had spoken—could help him as well. Bill therefore went to Calvary
Mission. In explicit detail, Bill explained what he saw, heard, and did at
Calvary Mission. He told the entire A.A. Convention at St. Louis: “There were
some hymns and prayers. Then Tex, the leader, exhorted us. Only Jesus could
save, he said. . . . Certain men got up and made testimonials. Numb as I was I
felt interest and excitement rising. Then came the call [the call to come to
the altar, to accept Jesus Christ into one’s life as Savior, and to be saved].
Some men were starting forward to the rail. Unaccountably impelled, I started
too. . . . I knelt among the shaking penitents. Maybe then and there for the
very first time, I was penitent, too. Something touched me. I guess it was more
than that, I was hit. I felt a wild impulse to talk. Jumping to my feet, I
began. Afterward I could never remember what I said. I only knew that I was
really in earnest and that people seemed to pay attention. . . . Ebby, who at
first been embarrassed to death, told me with relief that I had done all right
and had “given my life to God.”
[29]
Though Bill was unable to recall the details of
his surrender at the altar, there is ample
proof that he there accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. For one
thing, Mrs. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr. told me [Dick B.] that she was present
when Bill “made his decision for Jesus Christ.” For another, Bill’s wife Lois
stated in a recorded speech she gave in Dallas, Texas: “And he [her husband
Bill Wilson] went up, and really, in very great sincerity, did hand over his
life to Christ.”
[30]
Shoemaker’s assistant minister Rev. W. Irving Harris confirmed the rebirth that
Bill had experienced: “It was at a meeting at Calvary Mission that Bill himself
was moved to declare that he had decided to launch out as a follower of Jesus
Christ.”
[31]
As you will see in a moment, Bill himself wrote in his autobiography that
he had been born again; and, then, after getting drunk and despondent once
again, Bill decided he should go to Towns Hospital. He said he believed that
the Great Physician could heal him-just as Ebby had been healed.
Bill emphatically confirmed this new status. Twice he wrote, “For sure
I’d been born again.
[32]
Speaking to his wife of the events at the Mission, Bill told Lois he” had found
the answer.”
[33]
Speaking sarcastically about the fact that Bill got drunk after the Mission,
one biographer said: “Salvation did not take hold for a few more besotted
days.”
[34]
I [Dick B.] found a manuscript at Stepping Stones Archives. In it, Bill had
written, in language almost identical to that of Ebby’s, after Ebby had told
Bill he got religion at the Mission, Bill wrote, “I’ve found religion.”
[35]
Bill’s Last Trip to Towns
Hospital, and His Experience Sensing God’s Presence
Bill apparently stayed drunk for
two or three days. These followed his born again experience at Calvary Mission.
But he kept pondering his own mission experience. Bill set out drunk and in
despair for Towns Hospital. On the way, he decided he had better call on the
Great Physician, of whom Dr. Silkworth had spoken and to whom, Bill had
“surrendered” his life.
[36]
Remembering that Silkworth had told him that he could be
cured by that Great Physician, Bill twice proclaimed, “I was on my
way to be cured.”
[37]
Appearing also to have recalled that, at the Mission, he had “found religion”
and “found” Jesus Christ at the altar call, Bill arrived at the hospital. He
said “I waved the bottle and shouted, ‘At
last, Doc, I’ve found something!’
[38]
At the hospital, Bill decided to
call on the Great Physician. He then cried out to God for help; and instantly
he had the experience in which he sensed the presence of the “God of the
Scriptures”
[39]
(“God of the Scriptures” was the specific language Bill used). Bill
never drank again. These events are virtually
unknown to most AAs today. But they were frequently repeated to early AAs at their
request. Bill’s message of
cure by
the “Lord” was finally and
plainly
described on page 191 of the most recent edition of
Alcoholics Anonymous. There, Bill’s exact words to A.A. Number
Three’s wife were: “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.”
Thus, Bill had made his way to
Towns Hospital for the last time. There Bill cried out to God for help. He had
his much-described experience, sensing the
presence of
“the God of the
Scriptures,” and he was cured—never again touching a drop of liquor.
[40]
Bill and his wife Lois, accompanied by Ebby and Ebby’s Oxford Group friend Shep
Cornell, began “constantly” attending Oxford Group meetings in New York—primarily
those led by Rev. Sam Shoemaker.
[41]
Bill’s Futile Efforts to Convert Others Once He Was Discharged from
Towns:
Bill’s immediate cure hastened his release
from Towns Hospital for the last time. The date was December 18, 1934. And at Towns,
Bill had concluded that he had a mission to carry his message to alcoholics all
over the world. He became a fervent message carrier.
[42]
He rushed to the streets, to the hospital, to the mission, to fleabag hotels,
to Oxford Group meetings. He had a Bible under his arm. He told drunks to give
their lives to God.
[43]
And he even joined a processional from Calvary Church led by Shoemaker in full
vestment. The procession carried a sign “Jesus Christ changes lives.” And Bill
mounted a platform at Madison Square and delivered his testimony.
[44]
Bill’s feverish message-carrying racing
and “sharing for witness” produced absolutely no lasting results. As Dr. Bob’s
last major address explained: “He hadn’t created a single convert, not one. As
we express it, no one had jelled.”
[45]
Did Bill spend six hours witnessing
to any of these street people, as he later did with Dr. Bob? Did he tell them
about his new birth at Calvary Mission? Did he, like the Salvation Army and
other forbears, offer to lead the penitent drunks to God through Jesus Christ?
Did he explain to them Silkworth’s advice that the Great Physician could cure
them? Did he tell them about his dramatic experience at Towns Hospital where he
actually experienced the presence of the God of the Scriptures when he called
out to God for help?
I don’t know, but he did ask Dr. Silkworth
about the reason for his complete failure.
A word or two about what Dr. Bob
called the Oxford Group “association” by Dr. Bob and Bill. The important thing
to remember about these Oxford Group associations by Bob (in Akron starting in
1933), and by Bill (in New York starting in late 1934) is that they did not
produce the fruit of sobriety for either Dr. Bob or Bill. Beginning in late December.
1934 and the spring of 1935, Wilson attended Oxford Group meetings and chased
drunks trying to get them sober. But Bill had no success at all.
[46]
As to Dr. Bob, he went to Oxford Group meetings in Akron for two and a half
years. But he did not want to get sober, nor did he get sober in any of
those meetings.
[47]
Silkworth’s Advice, Bill’s Change of Strategy, and the Last Link in the
Chain
Bill told the entire St. Louis A.A. Convention:”Just
before leaving for Akron, Dr. Silkworth gave me a great piece of advice. . .
.”Look Bill, you’re having nothing but failure because you are preaching at
those alcoholics. You are talking to them about the Oxford Group precepts of
being absolutely honest, absolutely pure, absolutely unselfish, and absolutely
loving. This is a very big order. No wonder they point their finger to their
heads and go out and get drunk. Why don’t you turn your strategy the other way
around. . . . [William James says] ‘that deflation in depth is the foundation
of most spiritual experiences?. . . [Dr. Carl Jung in Zurich told a certain
alcoholic, the one who later helped sober up your friend Ebby, that his only
hope of salvation was a spiritual experience. . . . No, Bill, you’ve got the cart before the
horse. You’ve got to deflate these people first. So give them the medical business,
and give it to them hard. . . . [Tell them about the allergy and obsession]
that condemns them to go mad or die if they keep on drinking. Coming from
another alcoholic, one alcoholic talking to another, maybe that will crack
those tough egos down. Only then can you
begin to try out your other medicine, the ethical principles you have picked up
from the Oxford Group.”
Now (said Bill to the Convention)—talking
with Dr. Bob—I remembered all that Dr. Silkworth had said. So I went very
slowly on the fireworks of religious experience. I just talked away about my
own case until he got a good identification with me, until he began to say,
‘Yes, that’s me, I’m like that. . . . In our first conversation I bore down
heavily on the medical hopelessness of Dr. Bob’s case, freely using Dr.
Silkworth’s words describing the alcoholic’s dilemma, the “obsession plus the
allergy” . . . . What really did hit him hard was the medical business, the
verdict of inevitable annihilation. And the fact that I was an alcoholic and
knew what I was talking about from personal experience made the blow a
shattering one. . . . You see our talk was completely a
mutual thing. I had quit preaching. I knew that I needed this
alcoholic as much as he needed me.
This
was it. And this mutual give and take is at the very heart of the A.A.’s
Twelfth Step work today. This is how to carry the message. The final missing
link was located right there in my first talk with Dr. Bob.”
[48]
1935: Bill was put in
touch with Dr. Bob in Akron. The two men
clicked, and the Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship was founded in June, 1935; and
its first group, Akron Number One, was founded in July of 1935
The Akron Christian Fellowship
program founded by Dr. Bob and Bill in June of 1935 was Bible based.
[49]
It was not Oxford Group based.
[50]
Right or wrong, one history writer
said that the wife of A.A. oldtimer Earl Treat (who got sober about August of
1937) said: “Right after Earl joined, the Oxford Group threw them out and said they
didn’t want them any more.” The wife of Treat was also recorded as saying: “There
was no name for the group. It was not Alcoholics Anonymous; it was nothing. But
the Oxford Group. . . helped in many, many ways: in marital affairs, in
finances, anything you could think of. However, they had never coped with
alcoholism. But they did welcome these 13 men (in 1935 and ’37, in Akron,
Ohio), and took them into their group where they stayed for a short time, and
then I think the Oxford Group figured they couldn’t help very much in
alcoholism. So they suggested that they get out and form their own group. Which
they did.”
[51]
Its prime Bible emphasis in the
Akron Christian Fellowship was on these words which came from Dr. Bob: “But we
were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. To some of
us older ones, the parts we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the
Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James.”
[52]
Akron’s Christian program included
qualification of newcomers, hospitalization, required belief in God, required
acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord, required Bible study, required reading of
non-Oxford Group devotionals and Christian literature, required old fashioned
prayer meetings, recommended Christian fellowship and attendance at a religious
service of choice.
[53]
But, as Dr. Bob stated, Akron A.A. had
no Twelve Steps, no Twelve Traditions, no Big Book, no life-changing program,
no drunkalogs, and no meetings like the Oxford Group’s meetings on the East
Coast.
[54]
Instead, the alcoholic squadron in Akron had regular, daily Christian
fellowship meetings and daily attendance at Anne Smith’s Quiet Time where the Bible
was read, prayers were uttered, guidance was sought, and discussion of items
largely from Anne Smith’s journal were regular fare.
[55]
Returning to the important meeting
between Bill and Dr. Bob, the following Akron events preceded it: Bill set out
to Akron on a business deal that failed. Just before Bill arrived, Dr. Bob had been
persuaded by the little Oxford Group led by Henrietta Shoemaker to confess that
he was a “secret drinker.” He had read an immense amount of Oxford Group
literature. He had “refreshed [his] memory of the Good Book” by reading the
Bible from cover to cover three times. He had attended church. But he told
Henrietta he was probably just one of the “wanna wanna” guys. He didn’t want to
quit, and he didn’t. But, after he admitted to the tiny group that he had his
drinking problem, he was asked if he would like to pray for his deliverance. He
replied, “Yes.” He dropped to the floor on his knees with the others present
and prayed—prayers that were soon to be answered.
[56]
Next came the seemingly miraculous
phone call from Wilson to Henrietta Seiberling.
Bill told Henrietta he was a rum
hound from New York, was a member of the Oxford Group, and needed to talk to a
drunk. Being an Oxford Group activist herself, Henrietta readily understood
Bill’s “sharing for witness” idea. She was sure the prayers had been answered. She
thought to herself: “This is manna from heaven.” And she arranged the talk.
[57]
The meeting between Wilson and Dr.
Bob was at her home. It lasted six hours. Dr. Bob remarked in his personal
story written at a later time that Bill had been cured by the very spiritual
means he had been using. But Bob believed Wilson talked his language. And
though he said he had heard it all before, he saw that Bill was demonstrating
his own effective
witnessing—service
aimed at someone who needed help. And it was this “service” aspect that Dr. Bob
felt he had not been using.
[58]
1937: The Year of
Documented Success and of the Wilsons’ Oxford Group Departure.
The Wilsons were (to use the words
of Bill W.’s wife) “kicked out” of the Oxford Group in 1937.
[59]
The Oxford Group influence in Akron stemmed, as T. Henry put it, from a “clandestine
lodge”--focused on helping drunks. It did not focus on Oxford Group founder
Frank Buchman’s major effort of and world changing through life-changing. The
Oxford Group movement itself was busy saving a “drunken world,” as its founder
put it.
[60]
By November, 1937, the Akron 7
point program was well positioned (as illuminated by and in the Frank Amos
reports).
[61]
Bill and Dr. Bob had “counted noses” and found at least a 50% success rate
among about 40 of
the serious fellowship
alkies,
[62]
1937-1938: Work Began
on the New Oxford-Group Oriented Program Bill Developed.
Bill had asked permission to write
a book telling others about the program. Bill received permission by a split
vote in Akron.
[63]
Bill returned to New York and began a flurry of activity on the book. It meant:
(1) Partnering with Henry Parkhurst in promoting the book as a cure for
alcoholism.
[64]
(2) Forming an ill-fated pseudo corporation to publish the book.
[65]
(3) Working with Rev. Sam Shoemaker on Twelve Step and Big Book language.
[66]
(4) Preparing many manuscripts—the principal one now lost;
[67]
and. (5) Preparing the final printer’s manuscript for publication.
He attributed the language of at
least Steps 2 through 11 to the Oxford Group as led in America by Rev.
Shoemaker. The other two—Steps One and Twelve—Bill attributed to Dr. Silkworth
and Professor William James.
[68]
The Seldom Discussed or Learned Picture of
the Founding in Akron and Events Thereafter
One need only read Dr. Bob’s last major address in Detroit
in 1948 to see a Bible-based program that is very different from the
Oxford-Group based ideas in Bill W.’s Big Book.
The
Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship Program: First, Dr. Bob pointed out that
when he and Bill Wilson led A.A. Number Three to sobriety, they had no Steps.
No Traditions. No drunkalogs. And they had no Big Book and no meetings as we
know them today. Then Dr. Bob pointed out that he and Bill had spent many hours
and much effort until the wee time in the morning discussing the basic ideas
from the Bible that “must have” formed the basis of the Twelve Steps, as he put
it. Dr. Bob also stated that the oldtimers believed the answer to their problems
was in the Bible. He said they considered the Book of James, Jesus’ Sermon on
the Mount, and 1 Corinthians in the Bible to be “absolutely essential” to the
early program.
[69]
Here are the additional factual statements
that confirm the importance of the Book of James, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount,
and 1 Corinthians 13: (1) Bill Wilson himself and others pointed out how the
Book of James was their favorite.
[70]
(2) Both Bill and Bob stated that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount contained the
underlying spiritual philosophy of A.A.
[71]
(3) A pamphlet that came out of Akron in the 1940’s contained a “lead” given by
Dr. Bob in Youngstown, Ohio. Dr. Bob’s words were summarized by A.D. Le Minte
of the Youngstown, Ohio
Vindicator.
[Dr. Bob said:] “Members of Alcoholics Anonymous begin the day with a prayer
for strength and a short period of Bible reading. They find the basic messages
they need in the Sermon on the Mount, in Corinthians and the Book of James.”
[72]
(4) In an interview, an Akron oldtimer Duke P. said this about the Akron King
School A.A. meeting: “No one read from the Big Book. Once in a while, the
Chairperson would read something from a Bible if the passage related directly
to his story.” Duke remembers the Chairperson reading from the Book of James
and Dr. Bob reading Corinthians 1:13.
[73]
It takes only a moment to see that
these Bible specific ideas were neither mentioned by nor incorporated by Bill
Wilson in his Big Book and Twelve Steps. The early A.A. program was succinctly
summarized by Frank Amos in the seven points summarized in
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. See page 131. That summary clearly
states that the Akron program did not embody the Oxford Group program.
Moreover, there is no significant evidence that the early AAs embraced the
Oxford Group’s twenty-eight life-changing ideas.
[74]
The Akron program embodied many
special techniques peculiar to the Akron alcoholic squadron and its Christian
Fellowship. Qualification of a newcomer was required, and no alcoholic was
admitted until he made clear he wanted to abstain from drink permanently.
Drunks were hospitalized. The Bible was read to them in the hospital. All were
required to declare their belief in God. All were required to accept Jesus as
Lord in a special ceremony resembling that in James 5:16. All were required to study
the Bible and participate in old fashioned prayer meetings. All were required
to observe Quiet Time. All were given Christian literature and devotionals to
read and use. All fellowshipped together in much the same way as the Apostles
as described in the Book of Acts. And these practices caused many to agree with
Albert Scott who chaired a meeting on behalf of Rockefeller and declared: “Why
this is first century Christianity. What can we do to help?”
[75]
And all were required to go out and help other drunks get well. Many tried to
conform to the “Four Absolutes” of the Oxford Group—standards developed long
before there was an Oxford Group. But almost all the Bible-study, prayer
meetings, reading of Christian literature, Quiet Time observances, and
acceptance of Jesus Christ could be traced to several origins that existed
during Dr. Bob’s youth and were practiced long before there was either an A.A.
or an Oxford Group.
[76]
They can be traced to the Young
People’s Christian Endeavor Society—founded in 1881. They can be traced to the
YMCA, Salvation Army, and Rescue Missions founded in the mid-1800’s. They can
be traced to the famed evangelists of the later 1800’s who were widely at work
and widely known at the time Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob were youngsters. These
included Dwight Moody, Ira Sankey, F. B. Meyer, and Allen Folger. And even the
Four Absolutes were the product of Dr. Robert E. Speer and his book
The Principles of Jesus. Those Four “Standards,”
as they were often called, were taught and expanded by Professor Henry B.
Wright at the beginning of the next century –again before either A.A. or the
Oxford Group existed.
[77]
The Principles of Jesus was published
in 1902 before A.A. and Oxford Group existed.
[78]
Wright’s book,
The Will of God and a Man’s
Lifework was published in 1909--again before either A.A. or the Oxford
Group existed.
[79]
The
Proclaimed Successes of the Akron Program: The early A.A. practices were
defined and then tested by November of 1937. At that time, Dr. Bob and Bill met
at Bob’s home in Akron. They “counted noses” of those real alcoholics who had
gone to any lengths as the program required. There about forty. Twenty had
never had a drink. Another ten had apparently gotten drunk but returned and
were showing improvement. This electrified the founders. And they said so.
[80]
The Rockefeller leaders convened a meeting
in their offices in New York. Present were Dr. Bob and Akronites; Bill Wilson
and New Yorkers; Bill’s brother-in-law; Dr. William Silkworth; and four
Rockefeller representatives. They listened to the stories of the alcoholics.
They had read the Amos reports. And they saw the handwritten memo by Dr. Bob on
his office stationary detailing the names and sobriety achievements of members
up to that date. These showed about a seventy-five percent success rate. And
Dr. Silkworth then pointed out that he knew the program, had treated several,
and that—in his opinion—all were permanently cured.
[81]
In the first decade of A.A.’s existence,
articles and columns appeared in magazines and newspapers across America. Today
those materials are available in a scrap book on sale at A.A.’s New York
headquarters. They tell of dozens of alcoholics who claimed cure by the power
of God.
[82]And
each of the first three AAs had declared that they had been cured.
[83]
In fact, one proposed cover for the Big Book of 1939 was green. It was simple.
It depicted an alcoholic and a cocktail glass. And it said of the book “Their
Pathway to a Cure.”
[84]
In the period before he completed the Big
Book, Bill claimed that the program had been Oxford Group in nature and
involved six “word-of-mouth” ideas.
However, the Oxford Group never had any
“Steps.” Not one. Not six. Not Twelve.
[85]
And Bill said “Though these principles were advocated according to the whim or
liking of each of us, and though in Akron and Cleveland they still stuck to the
O.G. absolutes of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, this was the gist
of our message.”
[86]
There was much disagreement about the nature of these six ideas. More
important, he penned at least three different versions of the six ideas, as he
recalled them. One talked about God. One talked about God as we understood Him.
And one talked about “whatever God you thought there was.” These variations
have seldom, if ever, been made known to the A.A. fellowship in any organized
way.
Next, on the face of it, Bill certainly
fashioned a far different recovery program for his proposed Big Book than the Akron
Christian Fellowship program of 1935 so succinctly summarized on page 131 of
A.A.’s own
DR.BOB and the Good Oldtimers.
Ultimately, Bill claimed the new program derived from Professor William James
(long dead), from Dr. William D. Silkworth, and primarily from the Oxford Group
teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker. He did not mention the Bible. He did not
mention the Akron program and its seven points. He did not mention Bible
studies, conversions to God through Jesus Christ, Quiet Times, belief in God,
acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Christian Fellowship, or
even Richard Peabody—a lay therapist who died drunk but whose language about no
cure for alcoholism was borrowed by Bill and interjected into instructions for
one of the Steps.
[87]
Even though Bill omitted such much from the
Original Akron program, we now know that 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. Praying to God on one’s knees was still a big affront to Henry
[Parkhurst].”
[88]
But Bill had jettisoned many pages containing biblical and Christian materials.
[89]
The Great Compromise with the Atheists in April 1939
The Book That Started It All, coupled with extensive remarks in
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age,
dramatically shows all elements of the Great Compromise. The proof
in the very expensive publication of scans of
the “original” printer’s manuscript.
[90]
These contain hundreds of hand-written changes in the manuscript. In
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, Bill
had written at page 169: “Nothing now remained except to prepare the printer’s
copy of the book. We selected one of the mimeographs, and in Henry’s clear
handwriting all the corrections were transferred to it. There were few large
changes but the small ones were very numerous. The copy was hardly legible and
we wondered if the printer would take it, heavily marked up as it was.”
What Transpired
Before the Compromise: Bill had hardly emphasized the activities that
preceded the changes.
Bill’s Word-Of-Mouth “Six” Steps: First of all, Bill had written
about his so-called word-of-mouth program. He said: “Since Ebby’s visit to me
in the fall of 1934 we had gradually evolved what we called “the word-of-mouth
program.” (But we have seen no mention of this by Dr. Bob or the Akron people.)
Bill went on: “Most of the basic ideas had come from the Oxford Groups, William
James, and Dr. Silkworth. Though subject to considerable variation, it all
boiled down into a pretty consistent procedure which comprised six steps.” It is
very clear from A.A.’s own
“Pass It On”
and from the writings of Oxford Group employee, writer, and activist T. Willard
Hunter that the Oxford Group had no steps at all. Not Twelve. Not six. Not one!
[91]
However, Bill’s wife—who perhaps had the clearest mind in the Wilson family—did
plainly claim that there were six “Oxford Group precepts.” She said they were
in substance: (1) surrender your life to God. (2) take a moral inventory. (3)
confess your sins to God and another human being. (4) Make restitution. (5)
give of yourself to others with no demand for return. (6) pray to God for help
to carry out these principles. She added mention of the four “Absolutes” –
“moral standards by which every thought and action should be tested.”
[92]
Lois Wilson’s Summary: In a moment’s time, a reader can see from
Lois’s comments that her version of the “six” precepts very much resemble the
starting point for Bill’s Twelve Steps. They unequivocally mention God. They
mention a moral inventory. They mention confession of sins to God. They mention
restitution and working with others. And they specifically mention prayer to
God!
Anne Smith’s Summary: It is remarkable how closely Lois Wilson’s
understanding of the six Oxford Group precepts resemble almost identical
language and approach as expressed by Dr. Bob’s wife in her journal she shared
with alcoholics and their families. I have devoted a whole chapter in Anne
Smith’s Journal to the Twelve Steps—one by one—and what Anne had to say that
resembled each of those Big Book Steps.
[93]
In brief, you can see that Dr.
Bob’s wife Anne covered Lois’s enumerated six ideas with (1) “Surrender is a
simple act of will. What do we surrender? Our life. When? At a certain definite
moment. How? O God, manage me because I
can’t manage myself.” (page 20, italics added). (2) “Test your thoughts. It is possible to
receive suggestions from your subconscious mind. Check your thoughts by the
four standards of Christ , , , , Make the moral test, 4 Standards.” (p.32). (3)
“Sharing in relationship to the Gospel: 1. Matthew 3:6 Sins Confessed. . . . I
must share to be honest with God, myself & others.” (pp. 38-39). (4) “Any
restitution I won’t make. . . Resentments to be faced and set right. . .
Restitution to be made.” (p. 48). (5) “Start the person on a new life with
simple, concrete and definite suggestions, regarding Bible study, prayer,
overcoming temptation and service to others.” (p.78). (6) “Claim from God
humility, patience, courage, faith and love. . . . The strength of a man’s
decision is his willingness to be held to it. Stretched as God wants me to be
stretched—consistent living, discipline, no letting down, no retiring age, a
life spent in action. The proportion—thinking and living for other people.” (p.
78).
Back now to Bill’s renditions of his so-called six “word of mouth”
ideas.
The problem is that Bill had many
ways of phrasing them. He said there was no common agreement on their content.
And they do not, in any significant way, resemble the 7 points of the Akron
program or the 16 practices of the Akron pioneers. But here are several
versions, as Bill expressed them, of his alleged six ideas.
(1)
Bill listed one version in Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age writing. He mentioned a moral
inventory “of our defects or sins.” His sixth idea said: “We prayed to whatever
God we thought there was.” He then says, on page 160: “This was the
substance of what, by the fall of 1938, we were telling newcomers.” 1938!
But there are two other versions written by Bill himself.
(2)
In July of 1953, Bill wrote a Grapevine Article
now embodied in
The Language of the
Heart. There he spoke of what he claimed was “the gist of our message to
incoming alcoholics up to 1939, when our present Twelve Steps were put to
paper.”
1939! And these “six” ideas were much different in language and
intent. Bill made no mention of a “moral inventory of sins.” He changed “we
were licked” to “we were powerless over alcohol.” Most important, he changed
the language “We prayed to whatever God we thought there was” to “
We prayed
to God to help us to do these things.”
[94]
This language is quite consistent with Bill’s claim that when he wrote the
manuscript of the Big Book, he
had always used the unqualified word “God.”
(3)
In New York Bill’s former secretary and A.A.’s
first archivist Nell Wing handed me a handwritten memo in Bill’s own hand. Bill
had told Nell that he had written a memo on the six “steps.” The hand-written
memo said, “For Ed.” It was signed, “Ever, Bill W.” It was dated “Apr/1953.”
And it was titled, “Original A.A. Steps.” And I have set it out in full in my New Light on Alcoholism title on pages
551 and 552. Bill used the word “hopeless” instead of “licked” or “powerless.”
He wrote “honest with self” inse\tead of “moral inventory.” He wrote “honest
with another” instead of mentioning one’s self and God or confession of “sins.”
He wrote “Made amends” instead of restitution. He wrote helped others without
demand. And then he used the phrase “Prayed
to God as you understand Him.”
(4)
And then there is a highly suspect list of an alleged
“six steps” attributed to Dr. Bob. The list uses language far more resembling
Bill’s Step language than any language of Dr. Bob’s. It is contained in a
personal story of Earl Treat of Chicago. It appears in the Second Edition of
the Big Book (published in 1955) at page 292—some years after Dr. Bob’s death.
And it uses the following ideas, all typical of Bill Wilson language. Here it
is: (1) “Complete deflation.”
[95]
(2) Dependence and guidance from a Higher Power.” (3) “Moral Inventory.” (4)
“Confession.”
(5) “Restitution.” (6)
“Continued work with other alcoholics.” We have concluded from Dr. Bob’s
handwritten roster lodged in the Rockefeller Archives that Treat got sober in
July or August of 1937.
One lady who moderated her own
posts on the internet and excluded those she didn’t like posted two interviews
in 2002 that purported to be of Treat’s wife. Treat’s wife made no mention of
the language or practice of any steps because there were none. And the Oxford
Group had none. The wife said Dr. Bob took her husband “through the steps in
one afternoon.” She mentions none of the language whatever about the “steps” and no
language resembling that inserted in the Big Book in 1955. She said that
Earl had a small group, was a
nervous wreck not knowing what they could do or talk about. Earl finally said
“Well we better pattern ourselves after the Oxford Group.” The wife said: “And
they had used the Bible. Of course a lot of these people had not read a Bible
forever. But
we got down the old Bible and brushed it off, and when they
came, they picked out a chapter and it was read. Then they discussed it.
That was the first meeting. . . The next thing they decided upon was
a quiet
time. . . . He was also to offer a
prayer, ask for guidance, and at
night when he came home, to review what had happened to him, and also to
offer
a prayer of thankfulness”
[96]
An earlier post quoted the wife.
“There was
no Big Book yet and
no literature except various religious
pamphlets. The meeting lasted an hour and
closed with the Lord’s Prayer.”[97]
The Compromise Changes Apparent in the Printer’s Manuscript: They
show the attempts to delete the word “God.” They show the insertion of “as we
understood Him” in italics after the word “God.” They show that the idea of
“choose your own conception” of “a” god
was a last minute handwritten insertion that had never been attributed to Ebby
in the many manuscripts I found at Stepping Stones or even in the working
manuscript in April.
In his belated history of early
A.A., Bill explained the compromise with the atheists in very specific terms.
He pointed out that four people only—Bill Wilson, his partner Henry Parkhurst,
his Christian “southern friend” John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo, and the office
secretary Ruth Hock—had agreed to the changes to placate the atheists. They
deleted the word “God” from Step Two. The changed the word “God” in Step Three
to “God as we understood Him.” They deleted the word “on our knees.” And they
substituted “God as we understood Him” for “God” in Step Eleven. Bill hailed
these changes as a great contribution for the atheists and agnostics. Bill
asserted that “God” was still there, but in terms that anyone could understand.
The compromise, he said, was the
result of vigorous pleas, threats, and arguments from his partner Henry
Parkhurst.
[98]
And Bill’s wife Lois said there had been an agreement on a “universal” program
since not all drunks were Christians.
[99]
The Importance of Learning, Disseminating, and Applying the Previously
Missed Facts
This three-part discussion of darkness and light was not
undertaken to change Alcoholics Anonymous. Nor undertaken to change the Twelve
Steps. Nor to alter the history of A.A. Nor to insert unsupported facts. Nor to
encourage in A.A. a battle over the views of those who argue with atheists or
agnostics or those in present-day AAs who don’t believe and don’t want to
believe in anything at all. Nor to return A.A. to the Christian Fellowship and
Bible-based program it founded in 1935. Nor to disavow or change a word of the
present language of the Twelve Steps or of the Big Book itself.
Those bridges have long been crossed. A.A. today is what it
is. It no longer requires belief in God. It no longer talks about the Bible. It
no longer holds old fashioned prayer meetings. It no longer observes Quiet
Time. It no longer distributes Christian literature. It no longer asks that
members of one sect, denomination, or religion agree with A.A. itself or with
another sect, denomination, or religion. Or with atheists, agnostics,
humanists, and unbelievers. You may believe what you wish, belong to what you
will, read what you like, and worship and pray where you choose, whatever
outbursts in meetings may cause you to believe otherwise.
A.A. is open to anyone—anyone at all—who desires to quit
drinking. It is not a church. It is not a denomination. It is not a Christian
fellowship. It claims that any two alcoholics who meet together for purposes of
sobriety can call themselves an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Its Twelve Traditions, the changes in its Twelve Steps and
Big Book, and the ever-increasing “Conference-approved literature” flowing out
of its headquarters have, however, made it very restrictive and even punitive
in word and deed when confronted with statements by members about their own experiences
and beliefs as to religion, church, Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, the Bible,
or the Holy Spirit. Such behavior is not appropriate though some of the
letters, phone calls, and visits from “trusted servants” and various offices
may do so anyway. But drunks don’t “enlist” in A.A. Nor were the “drafted” into
A.A. And, from my experience, though they are sometimes intimidated by fear,
they don’t take “orders” from anyone.
It is now common knowledge among A.A. members that the
restrictive techniques have been voiced, utilized, and abused by some (probably
only a small overreaching few) to prevent AAs from mentioning God, Jesus
Christ, and the Bible. To prevent them from reading or bringing to a meeting
any non-Conference-approved literature including the Bible. They have been used
by sponsors, group representatives, A.A. offices, and A.A. “trusted servants” to
suppress actions, expressions, meeting chatter, and heart-felt talk about one’s
own belief and religion. And they have been used by members, sponsors, and A.A.
offices to censor and censure materials with which some “leader” or “trusted
servant” or member believes to be unsuitable. These actions also are
inappropriate. They have not ever been authorized by the fellowship members at
large. And they clearly fly in the face of the actions, practices, and words of
A.A.’s cofounders during the early years.
These three articles will not, could not, and would not
prevent the disruptive and wrongful acts of those who seemingly do evil. Nor do
they encourage controversy, abandonment, criticism, or flight.
These articles do add, in all sincerity that, with all its
warts and unjustifiable actions, A.A. is highly regarded by most of its fellowship
members, as well as by many other folks and organizations connected with
recovery. Moreover, if AAs today are supplied with the missing historical
facts, they can stand on their own convictions. They can read A.A.’s Steps and
Big Book carefully. They can consult and utilize A.A. and its Conference-approved
literature. They can become familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous History. And,
without contrary mandates, litigation and controversy, achieve the same benign
results that Dr. Bob and the pioneers achieved during the fifteen years form
A.A.’s founding to Dr. Bob’s death.
Dr. Bob has never been dethroned. His remarks and writings
have never been thrown out. His partner Bill and he never crossed swords. And
if one reads the talks the two made together and the writings the two produced
alongside each other, that person need not conclude that A.A. is against God or
Jesus Christ or the Bible or the gift of the Holy Spirit, or any sect, or any
denomination, or any church, or any religion.
As Alcoholics Anonymous History and Alcoholics Anonymous
itself demonstrate: A.A.’s primary purpose was, has been, and is today, to help
the alcoholic who still suffers. And the facts in these articles should make
that help for a newcomer much more effective for those who want or offer God’s
help; for those who lean on the tried and true techniques of “old school A.A.” And
also for those who freely choose to serve the fellowship and those it helps.
[1]
“Pass It On,” (NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services,
Inc., 1984), 381-386. And though the debate may still be lingering, date and
fact of the visit have largely been resolved by the article: Amy Colwell Bluhm,
"Verification of C. G. Jung's Analysis of Rowland Hazard and the History
of Alcoholics Anonymous," in History of Psychology, 2006, Vol. 9,
No. 4, 313-24.
[3]
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God,
Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., Pittsburgh ed., Index page 610, See www.dickb.com/newlight.shtml.
[4]
Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous www.dickb.com/Akron.shtml.
[5]
See Serenity: A Companion for Twelve Step
Recovery (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), 15-21; Recovery Devotional Bible: New International
Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), x, xiii-xiv
[6]
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous,
29-51.
[7]
“Pass It On,” (NY: Alcoholics
Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984), 141; The
Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 17-51.
[8]
DR.BOB and the Good Oldtimers (NY:
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1980), 57-60.
[9]
Dale Mitchel, Silkworth The Little Doctor
Who Loved Drunks: The Biography of William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. (Center
City, MN: Hazelden, 2002), 43-47, 49-51, 225.
[15]
Norman Vincent Peale, The Positive Power
of Jesus Christ (Carmel, NY: Guideposts, n.d.), 59-62.
[16]
Bill W., My First 40 Years (Center
City, MN, Hazelden), 139, 145; Silkworth,
44, 47, 49, 50, 51.
[17]
Mel B., Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill
W. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 1998), 51.
[18]
Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W., 51.
[19]
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian
Recovery Guide, 3rd ed, (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research
Publications, Inc., 2010), 39.
[20]
My First 40 Years, 127-128, 131,
133-134.
[21]
T. Willard Hunter, “IT STARTED RIGHT
THERE,” 6.
[23]
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age
(NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.,) 58-59.
[24]
My First 40 Years, 130-131.
[25]
My First 40 Years, 141-142.
[26]
My First 40 Years, 131.
[27]
T. Willard Hunter, “IT STARTED RIGHT
THERE,” Rev ed., (Claremont, CA: Ives Community Office, 2006), 6. Dick B.
found a manuscript at Stepping Stones Archives, titled “Bill Wilson’s Original
Story.” In lines 935 to 942 of that manuscript, Bill wrote: “Nevertheless here
I was sitting opposite a man [Ebby Thacher] who talked about a personal God,
who told me how he had found Him, who described to me how I might do the same
thing, and who convinced me utterly that something had come into his life which
had accomplished a miracle. The man was transformed; there was no denying he had been reborn (italic
added). See Dick B., Turning Point: A
History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael, CA:
Paradise Research Publications, 1997), 99-100; and Dick B. and Ken B. The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd
ed., 39.
[28]
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 49.
[29]
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 60.
[30]
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More
on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research
Publications, Inc., 2006), 61.
[31]
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 62.
[32]
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 62,
110; Turning Point, 94-98; Bill W., My First 40 Years, 147
[33]
Matthew Raphael, Bill W. and Mr. Wilson:
The Legend and Life of A.A.’s Cofounder (____ University of Washington
Press, 2000), 78.
[34]
Raphael, Bill W., 78.
[35]
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 95.
[36]
Bill W., My First 40 Years, 138-139.
[37]
My First 40 years, 140.
[38]
My First 40 Years, 140
[39]
The Language of the Heart, 284.
[40]
Bill W., My First 40 Years: An
Autobiography by the Cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, MN:
Hazelden, 2000), 115-155; Lois Remembers:
Memoirs of the co-founder of Al-anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics
Anonymous (NY: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 91-94;
[41]
Lois Remembers,,91-92.
[42]
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 64,
[43]
Borchert, The Lois Wilson Story, 168-170.
[44]
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism, 372-374,
556, 391, 533-535, 148-151, 365-370, 389.
[45]
The Co-Founders, 9-10;
[46]
William G. Borchert, The Lois Wilson
Story: When Love Is Not Enough
(Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2005), 168-173; Bill W., My First 40 Years, 161; The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major
Talks (NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975), 10:
“Time went by, and he had not created a single convert, not one. As we express
it, no one had jelled. He worked tirelessly, without no thought of saving his
own strength or time, but nothing seemed to register.”
[47]
The Co-Founders, 11-12: “Now the
interesting part of all this is not the sordid details, but the situation we
two fellows were in. We had both been associated with the Oxford Group, Bill in
New York for five months, and I in Akron
for two and a half years. Bill had acquired their idea of service. I had not,
but I had done an immense amount of reading they had recommended. I had
refreshed my memory of the Good Book, and I had had excellent training in that
as a youngster. They told me I should go to their meetings regularly, and I
did, every week. They said I should affiliate myself with some church, and we
did that. They also said I should cultivate the habit of prayer, and I did
that—at least, to a considerable extent for me. But I got tight every night,
and I mean that. It wasn’t once in a while—it was practically every night.”
[48]
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 69-79.
[49]
The Co-Founders, 13-14.
[50]
DR. BOB and Alcoholics Anonymous, 131;
Garth Lean, Frank Buchman a Life (London,
Constable, 1985) 152: “[James] Newton quotes the agreement worked out in those
years with the Oxford Group in Akron. ‘You look after drunken men. We’ll try to
look after a drunken world,’ Williams had said to Wilson and Smith, who became
world-famous as ‘Bill W. and Dr. Bob of
AA’.”
[51]
http://health.groups. yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/message/161, pages.1.and
7. There is a word of caution about the accuracy of these conclusions of Katie Treat. She was a
member of the alcoholic groups. But, at
best, her purported statements do not explain the fact that the Akron “regular”
meeting at T. Henry’s home occurred only once a week. The Christian Fellowship meetings
of AAs in Dr. Bob’s home and elsewhere occurred daily. And the record is not
very clear in A.A. publications or elsewhere as to why Akron AAs split from the
Oxford Group folks. Nor does Katie Treat talk about the fact that often AAs met
in one room at the Williams home while Oxford Group people met in another.
[52]
The Co-Founders, 13.
[53]
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian
Recovery Guide, 3rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research
Publication, Inc., 2010), 57-68.
[54]
The Co-Founders, 13-14.
[55]
Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian
Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 47-59.
[58]
The Co-Founders, 10-12; Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th
ed., 178-181;
[60]
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 121,
131-132, 135-136, 142.
[61]
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 131.
[62]
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd
ed., 69-85.
[65]
“Pass It On,” 194-196.
[66]
Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God,
Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., Pittsburgh ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research
Publications, Inc). 146-172, 340-345, 361-371, 374, 383-384, 389, 531-552,
555-559.
[67]
“Pass It On,” p. 198: “The very first draft or the Twelve Steps, as
Bill wrote then that night, has been lost;” p. 202: “Final editing of the book
was done by Tom Uzzell. . . Uzzell cut the book by at least a third (some say
half—from 800 to 400 pages). . .;” See also Dick B., Turning Point, which lists the many manuscripts found at Stepping
Stones and elsewhere, pp. 10-33, 99-104,
425-428, 455,, 652.
[68]
The Language of the Heart (NY: The AA
Grapevine, Inc., 1988), 296-298.
[69]
The Co-Founders, 13-14.
[70]
Dick B., The James Club, 1-24.
[71]
Dick B., Dr. Bob and His Library: A Major
A.A. Spiritual Source, 3rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research
Publications, Inc., 1998, 9.
[72]
Wally P., But For The Grace Of God . . .
How Intergroups & Central Offices Carried the Message of Alcoholics
Anonymous in the 1 940’s (Wheeling, WV: The Bishop of Books, 1995), 43-45.
[73]
Wally P., But For, 32.
[74]
Dick B., The Oxford Group &
Alcoholics Anonymous: A Design for Living That Worked. Newton ed.,
www.dickb.com/Oxford.shtml.
[75]
Dick B., Twelve Steps for You: Take the
Twelve Steps with the Big Book, A.A. History, and the Good Book at Your Side,
4th ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2005), 1.
[76]
Dick B., Real Twelve Step History.
www.dickb.com/realhistory.shtml.
[77]
Dick B., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous:
His Excellent Training in the Bible as a Youngster in Vermont. www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml; The Conversion of Bill W., www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml.
[78]
Robert E. Speer, The Principles of Jesus
Applied to Some Questions of Today. (NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1902).
[79]
Henry Burt Wright, The Will of God and a
Man’s Lifework (NY: The Young Men’s Christian Association Press, 1909).
[80]
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide,
3rd ed, 74-76.
[82]
Richard K., So You Think Drunks Can’t Be
Cured? Press Releases by Witnesses to the Cure (n.p.: Golden Text Publishing Company, 2003).
[83]
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th
ed., pp. 179-180, 191.
[84]
Mitchell K., How It Worked : The Story of
Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland,
Ohio (Washingtonville, NY: AA Big Book Study Group, 1997), 133.
[85]
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous, 257, note 28.
[86]
The Language of the Heart, 200.
[87]
The Book That Started It All: The
Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, Minn.:
Hazelden, 2010).
[88]
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 166
(italics added).
[89]
In a phone conversation I had with Bill Pittman, Director of Historical
Information at Hazelden, Bill told me that Ruth Hock (the secretary who
had typed all the manuscripts for Bill)
said that many pages containing Christian and biblical materials were thrown
out.
[90]
The Book That Started It All: The
Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, MN:
Hazelden, 2010).
[91]
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous, 257.
[93]
Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939:
A.A.’s Principles of Success, 3rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise
Research Publications, Inc., 1998), 19-79.
[94]
The Language of the Heart, 200.
[95]
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 64:
“deflation at depth,” 68: “deflation at great depth;” Bill W., My First 40 Years, 154: “Ego deflation
at great depth was the key to the riddle.” William L. White, Slaying The Dragon: The History of Addiction
Treatment and Recovery in America (Bloomington, IL: Chestnut Health
Systems/Lighthouse Institute, 1998), 144: “deflation at depth experience of
surrender.” Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick
B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise
Research Publication, Inc., 2010),
[98]
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 166-167.
[99]
Lois Remembers, 113.
Early
A.A.,'s First Century Christian Fellowship 
