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Thursday, February 20, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
A.A. and the History of Alcoholics Annymous Today, by Dick B.
The more and more that which we post about the History of Alcoholics Anonymous, about Bill W. and Dr. Bob and their roles in A.A., and about God, the more the forums, the chats, the Tubes, videos, tapes, DVD's, movies, the blogs, the newsletters, the commentaries, the censorship, the proliferation and inadequate films and videos proliferate. And the selective reporting abounds!
I'm one who takes a certain amount of time perusing the piles and piles or writings and resources because many a time there will be a germ of truth or a lead or a pathway that comes to light and is worthy of further search. You don't learn it by berating the writer. You learn it by studying and evaluating his or her work.
That doesn't mean anyone is handing out History of Alcoholics Anonymous on a platter or correctly or organized. Some do their best. The same is true of the Christian roots of Alcoholics Anonymous and of the various A.A. programs through the years.
What does hinder is when some moderator refuses to post truth, or when some critic personalizes criticisms, or others just plain distort or limit or bury facts. Therefore, there's work to be done. Look at them all even if they slander and slither. If you don't know about it, they may pass you on the highway and leave you groveling in the dust. You may not be able to duplicate, but you need not replicate.
And don't expect to find it all on Facebook, Twitter, Google, Tumbler, Linked-in, Hub, WordPress, In the Rooms, Blogger, cyber recovery social, daily recovery, newsletters, or other proliferating comments.
Just plow through your own reservoir of A.A. History facts. Plough through A.A. Conference-approved literature. Plumb through those complete websites like Silkworth.net that have a vast array of pictures and facts and sources. Plug through the many books on Alcoholics Anonymous History you can find on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Ebay, Google, etc. Many a writer just never gets that far and moves toward opinion and away from pursuit.
In fact, many a writer or historian or academic just never got around to working with a newcomer; traveling to Vermont where it all started germinating, visiting GSO in New York where you could find the archives and Nell Wing and Frank Mauser; visiting the libraries or buying the books that contained the facts, interviewing in Akron, Maryland, Cleveland, Maine, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, California, Texas, Michigan, and so many other places where the doers were doing.
In fact, though I have been to all of them many times researching, reading, interviewing, and speaking, I often see that East Dorset Vermont, Manchester Vermont, Northfield Vermont, St. Johnsbury Vermont, Barre Vermont, Montpelier Vermont, Burlington Vermont, and the churches at Calvary Church in New York, St. George's Parish in New York, Calvary Church in Pittsburgh, St. Paul's Church in Akron, Princeton Archives and Library, Stepping Stones, Hazelden,Yale, and so many other places have enabled us to get far far far ahead of those who are still taking pictures of Bill Wilson's paramour, his Bible pledges, his LSD friends, and the Ph.D.'s who opine about them hat they've never seen or studied the thousands and thousands of A.A. history treasures that contain manuscripts, pamphlets, correspondence, books, photos, tapes, and the rich records of the Salvation Army, YMCA, Rescue Missions, Evangelists, churches, academies, Christian Endeavor Society, Shoemaker archives in Texas and Pittsburgh and the immense First Century Christianity records in England, Washington DC, Claremont California, Fort Myers Beach, Connecticut, and elsewhere.
For example, the Episcopal Church Archives in Austin, Texas had over fifty boxes of materials we examined for a week (and that was long after at least two other persons or groups had lifted they had thought was the wheat from the chaff)
You don't need to visit them today. Lots of us have already posted the treasures on the internet. In fact, one distinguished professor at Harvard has lodged a set of my books there; and another Oxford Grouper saw to it that many were placed in the Library of Congress with the Purdy Collection. Just plug along, learn the facts, and do the best to document then and be accurate in the references.
Remember too that moles get their sustenance underground and termites in the woodwork. Lawyers don't look for evidence in the courtroom; they look for it where it is owned or kept. That doesn't mean their feasts are appealing. It just means that there is more than one way to get fed what you need or at least what others think you need.
Try going to God first. Look at James Chapter 1 (www.dickb.com/James.Club.shtml); and if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally. But in faith. Without doubt. God has the answers to life; and he's made them available in many places besides the internet and the Bible and the newspapers. God speaks. Men can listen. The Spirit of God is what enables spiritual understanding, not the natural man's conjectures. And "Thy Word is truth."
I like the old school A.A. approach: Admit that you are licked. Concede that neither you nor others around you can provide all the answers for curing alcoholics and addicts. Believe in, seek, and obey our Creator. Grow in understanding. And help others! Help others!
God Bless, Dick B. dickb@dickb.com; 808 874 4876; www.dickb.com. And use the phone!
Copyright 2014 Anonymous. All rights reserved
I'm one who takes a certain amount of time perusing the piles and piles or writings and resources because many a time there will be a germ of truth or a lead or a pathway that comes to light and is worthy of further search. You don't learn it by berating the writer. You learn it by studying and evaluating his or her work.
That doesn't mean anyone is handing out History of Alcoholics Anonymous on a platter or correctly or organized. Some do their best. The same is true of the Christian roots of Alcoholics Anonymous and of the various A.A. programs through the years.
What does hinder is when some moderator refuses to post truth, or when some critic personalizes criticisms, or others just plain distort or limit or bury facts. Therefore, there's work to be done. Look at them all even if they slander and slither. If you don't know about it, they may pass you on the highway and leave you groveling in the dust. You may not be able to duplicate, but you need not replicate.
And don't expect to find it all on Facebook, Twitter, Google, Tumbler, Linked-in, Hub, WordPress, In the Rooms, Blogger, cyber recovery social, daily recovery, newsletters, or other proliferating comments.
Just plow through your own reservoir of A.A. History facts. Plough through A.A. Conference-approved literature. Plumb through those complete websites like Silkworth.net that have a vast array of pictures and facts and sources. Plug through the many books on Alcoholics Anonymous History you can find on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Ebay, Google, etc. Many a writer just never gets that far and moves toward opinion and away from pursuit.
In fact, many a writer or historian or academic just never got around to working with a newcomer; traveling to Vermont where it all started germinating, visiting GSO in New York where you could find the archives and Nell Wing and Frank Mauser; visiting the libraries or buying the books that contained the facts, interviewing in Akron, Maryland, Cleveland, Maine, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, California, Texas, Michigan, and so many other places where the doers were doing.
In fact, though I have been to all of them many times researching, reading, interviewing, and speaking, I often see that East Dorset Vermont, Manchester Vermont, Northfield Vermont, St. Johnsbury Vermont, Barre Vermont, Montpelier Vermont, Burlington Vermont, and the churches at Calvary Church in New York, St. George's Parish in New York, Calvary Church in Pittsburgh, St. Paul's Church in Akron, Princeton Archives and Library, Stepping Stones, Hazelden,Yale, and so many other places have enabled us to get far far far ahead of those who are still taking pictures of Bill Wilson's paramour, his Bible pledges, his LSD friends, and the Ph.D.'s who opine about them hat they've never seen or studied the thousands and thousands of A.A. history treasures that contain manuscripts, pamphlets, correspondence, books, photos, tapes, and the rich records of the Salvation Army, YMCA, Rescue Missions, Evangelists, churches, academies, Christian Endeavor Society, Shoemaker archives in Texas and Pittsburgh and the immense First Century Christianity records in England, Washington DC, Claremont California, Fort Myers Beach, Connecticut, and elsewhere.
For example, the Episcopal Church Archives in Austin, Texas had over fifty boxes of materials we examined for a week (and that was long after at least two other persons or groups had lifted they had thought was the wheat from the chaff)
You don't need to visit them today. Lots of us have already posted the treasures on the internet. In fact, one distinguished professor at Harvard has lodged a set of my books there; and another Oxford Grouper saw to it that many were placed in the Library of Congress with the Purdy Collection. Just plug along, learn the facts, and do the best to document then and be accurate in the references.
Remember too that moles get their sustenance underground and termites in the woodwork. Lawyers don't look for evidence in the courtroom; they look for it where it is owned or kept. That doesn't mean their feasts are appealing. It just means that there is more than one way to get fed what you need or at least what others think you need.
Try going to God first. Look at James Chapter 1 (www.dickb.com/James.Club.shtml); and if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally. But in faith. Without doubt. God has the answers to life; and he's made them available in many places besides the internet and the Bible and the newspapers. God speaks. Men can listen. The Spirit of God is what enables spiritual understanding, not the natural man's conjectures. And "Thy Word is truth."
I like the old school A.A. approach: Admit that you are licked. Concede that neither you nor others around you can provide all the answers for curing alcoholics and addicts. Believe in, seek, and obey our Creator. Grow in understanding. And help others! Help others!
God Bless, Dick B. dickb@dickb.com; 808 874 4876; www.dickb.com. And use the phone!
Copyright 2014 Anonymous. All rights reserved
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
History of Alcoholics Anonymous 2014
History of
Alcoholics Anonymous
The
Bibliography, Resources, Successes, and Workbook Details
A Continuing
Research Effort and Resource Guide In Process
By Dick B.
© 2014 Anonymous. All rights reserved
Each
year brings to the fore a plethora of new findings about the History of
Alcoholics Anonymous. Unfortunately, neither the host of history of Alcoholics
Anonymous writers, books, biographies, films, forums, and seminars have not
kept pace with the volume of facts that show in greater and greater detail exactly
how the “best of A.A.” and the “Rest of A.A.” need to be reported, studied, and
put in such complete and accurate form that they can and will really help the
alcoholic who still suffers. This can be accomplished only when those who have
a hands-on period of experiences in the trenches, with sick and frightened and
problem-filled newcomers, with the fellowship, with its several different and
varied programs, with its speakers and sponsors, with its “Conference-approved”
literature, with the myths, with the subjective tidbits of opinion tidbits, and
with the “wisdom of the rooms,” have looked at the entire recovery arena today.
And have examined the foregoing historical pieces of evidence for what they
show has been done and for what can be extracted from the evidentiary history
of Alcoholics Anonymous in a new light. The examiners will get the best results
when hostility to A.A. itself, hostility to religion, intolerance of varying
discoveries and works, and attempts to revise A.A. and change its history as
was done in 1939 by a committee of four just before the “new version” of the
program was altered as it went to the printer for publication.
It
is not the restored and revised present-day efforts that will win the day for
those who s till suffer. It is the ability to look at such early concepts as
total abstinence, reliance on God, expectation of cure, biblical and historical
roots, and helping others that will avert the clear and present danger that
comes from nonsense gods, self-made religion and recovery, and pseudo
“spirituality” that is neither fully explained nor understood.
This
revised and updated history will not offer revisions or opinions as to the
facts. It will try to limit the voluminous compilation to resources which offer
choices, facts, experience, and results
based on what fellowship members have
achieved when they went to any lengths to conquer their alcoholism.
This
article has been updated to include the latest materials discovered and
reported and available as the result of continued and continuing 24 years of
research by authors Dick B. and his son Ken B. Dick B. is the 88-year-old,
fully-recovered alcoholic and still very active A.A. Ken B. often calls himself
“the wreckage of his dad’s past.” But he has put his shoulder to the wheel of
detailed research of materials, of biblical studies, of teaching of the Bible
to those who have wanted to learn it, of hands-on help for the hundreds of
alcoholics and addicts who have surfaced by visit, by meetings, by hosting, by
phone calls, by email and web communications, and of learning the ravages that
alcoholism and drug addiction bring to the alcoholics and addicts, their
families, their society, their pocket-books, and their freedom.
Ken
is not an alcoholic or an addict. He is a trusted and extremely valuable
resource for recovery among those hungry for and dedicated to seeking God’s
help.
This
resource intends to focus readers on accurate, truthful, comprehensive
Alcoholics Anonymous history—particularly as it extends from the pre-A.A.
Christian roots of mid-1800’s to the period just after Bill Wilson published
the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous
in April 1939. It will lay out the history in various chunks that can be
examined and studied as time permits and that should prove useful to the
recovery community and to those who desperately want and need help.
[This
work has been updated to February 12, 2014, with Dick B. and Ken B.’s latest
titles, articles, videos, conference addresses, and radio show episodes. Later
revisions will contain full bibliographic references and publication data, and
will be updated as well.]
Let’s Begin with
Alcoholics Anonymous General Service Conference-Approved Literature
I
began my own search for the real history of Alcoholics Anonymous by reading all
the available, accurate, relevant literature published by A.A. itself. I still
get grounded there and recommend looking at A.A. General Service
Conference-approved 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, correct the misrepresentations, eliminate subjective gossip, find
out what most in the recovery community have simply not heard, and make his or
her own choices as to what to utilize.
And
the recommended books, in the order
of the publication, are:
Alcoholics
Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from
Alcoholism,
1st ed. (New York City, N.Y.: Works Publishing Company, 1939). [Note that this
book was “NOT Conference-approved,” as there was no “Conference” in existence
at publishing time to “approve” it.]
RHS (New York, N.
Y.: The A.A. Grapevine, 1951). This January 1951 issue of the AA Grapevine is dedicated to the memory
of the Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, DR. BOB (i.e., Robert Holbrook
Smith—“RHS”)
Alcoholics
Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from
Alcoholism,
2d ed. (New York City, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc., 1955)
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of
Age (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 1957).
The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (New
York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975). Item # P-53.
This pamphlet is currently available online from A.A.: http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-53_theCo-FoundersofAA.pdf; accessed
1/30/13.
Alcoholics
Anonymous,
3rd ed. (New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1976).
DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers, (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World
Services, Inc., 1980)
‘PASS
IT ON’: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World (New York,
N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984).
The
Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings (New York: The
AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988).
Alcoholics
Anonymous,
4th ed. (New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.,2001).
Experience,
Strength and Hope: Stories from the First Three Editions of Alcoholics
Anonymous
(New York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2003).
Next, Look at
Relevant, Reliable Books and Other Literature
about the
History of Alcoholics Anonymous That Can Be Helpful to Newcomers and You Today
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 History of Alcoholics literature:
Alcoholics
Anonymous: “The Big Book”: The Original 1939 Edition, with a New
Introduction by Dick B. (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 2011)
AA of Akron
Pamphlets, n.d.: Available at Akron Intergroup Office (revised several times)
·
A Guide to the
Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
·
A Manual for
Alcoholics Anonymous
·
Second Reader
for Alcoholics Anonymous
·
Spiritual
Milestones in Alcoholics Anonymous
Akron A.A.’s: What Others Think of Alcoholics Anonymous
Central
Bulletin,
Box 1638, Station C, Cleveland, Ohio (3 Volumes)
Cleveland: A.A. (articles in Houston Press),
A.A. in Cleveland, A.A. Sponsorship
Cleveland Plain
Dealer articles (before edited, altered, and republished under new name)
[All
available Cleveland Intergroup archives materials were reviewed by Dick B. and
Ken B. in 2012, and discussed by Wally P. in But for the Grace of God (1995), 30-46.]
Autobiographies
of Bill Wilson
Bill W., My First 40 Years (Center City, MN:
Hazelden).
Chapter 1
“Bill’s Story,” Alcoholics Anonymous,
4th ed. (2001), 1-16.
The many
manuscripts by Bill that Dick B. found, was permitted to copy, and which are
contained in a bound volume in Maui, Hawaii. All found by Dick at Stepping
Stones, most of which are discussed at some length in Dick B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s
Spiritual Roots and Successes (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications,
1997).
Biographies of
Bill W.
“Born again” and
“In Christ” (2014) – http://MauiHistorian.Blogspot.com
Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W. (Paradise
Research Publications, Inc., 2006).
Susan Cheever, My Name is Bill (2004).
Tom White, Bill W.: A Different Kind of Hero (2003).
Francis
Hartigan, Bill W., A Biography . . .
(2000).
Matthew Raphael,
Bill W. and Mr. Wilson (2000)
Nan Robertson, Getting Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous
(1988).
Robert Thomsen, Bill W. (1975).
“Bill W.” (New
York: The AA Grapevine, 1971).
Biographies of
Dr. Bob
RHS (1951).
The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major
Talks
(copyright 1972, 1975). Item # P-53.
“Doctor Bob’s
Nightmare,” in Alcoholics Anonymous,
4th ed. (2001), 171-81.
DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers (1980).
By
Dick B. and Ken B.,
The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 4th ed. (2013).
Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous (2008).
Dick
B.,
The
Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, Newton ed. (1998).
Dr. Bob and His Library, 3rd ed. (1998).
“16 Specific
Practices Associated with the Original Akron A.A. ‘ChristianFellowship’
Program,” http://internationalchristianrecoverycoaliti.blogspot.com
“Get Honest with
Yourself, Pray. Alcoholics Anonymous Advise,” The Tidings, Page 17, Friday, March 26, 1948, page 17.
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 http://www.silkworth.net/aahistory/drbob/drbob_interview_fm_0939.html
Biographical on
A.A. Number Three, Bill D.
Dick
B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 4rd ed., 2013.
“Alcoholics
Anonymous Number Three,” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 182-192
‘PASS
IT ON,’ 356-57.
“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
Biographical on
Bill W. and Dr. Bob
Dick
B. and Ken B.
Bill
W., Dr. Bob, and the Cure of Alcooholism: The Rest of the Story (to be released
in 2014)
Bill
W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men (2013)
Biographical on
Rowland Hazard
[Rowland
had been told by Dr. Carl Jung in Switzerland that he had the mind of a chronic
alcoholic but could possibly be cured by a vital religious experience (Bill
often also called it “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, the Bible, life of
Christ, the importance of prayer—things Ebby said he had believed and been
taught as a young man. Ebby, an old drinking friend of Bill Wilson’s who had
become a “real alcoholic” recalled that two of Rowland’s Oxford Group friends
one of whom was (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 erroneously:
“Alcoholics Anonymous does not use the words sin or conversion” See Linda
Mercadante, Victims & Sinners, 1996, 70. Or, as she does on page 91: “God
does not ask any more than simple acknowledgement of divine existence.” But our
readers 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,
ReykjavÃk, 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
Dick
B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the
Green Mountain Men of Vermont: Vermont Connections to A.A. Personalities and
Early A.A.’s Original Program (Kihei, HI: Paradise
Research
Publications, Inc., 2012)
Dick
B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics
Anonymous, 2d ed/
Dick
B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam
Shoemaker, and A.A., Pittsburgh ed.
Tom
White, Bill W.: A Different Kind of Hero,
2003.
Biographical on
F. Shepard Cornell (“Shep”)
Bill W., My First 40 Years
‘PASS IT ON’
Mel
B., Ebby
Leslie
B. Cole, Rogers Burnham: The Original Man
behind Bill W.
Charles
Clapp, The Big Bender, pp. 105-50
Bill
Pittman and Dick B., Courage to Change:
The Christian Roots of the Twelve-Step Movement, pp. 135-50.
Dick
B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the
Green Mountain Men of Vermont.
Dick
B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous, Newton ed., pp. 5, 19, 28, 142-45, 152, 159, 162, 168-70.
Dick
B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics
Anonymous, new rev ed., pp. 128-30.
Dick
B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam
Shoemaker, and A.A.., Pittsburgh ed., pp. 333-35.
Helen
Smith Shoemaker, I Stand by the Door,
p. 177.
John
Potter Cuyler, Calvary Church in Action,
p. 57.
Lois Remembers, p. 91.
Biographical on
Cebra Graves
Bill
W., My First 40 Years
‘PASS IT ON’
Mel
B., Ebby
Leslie
B. Cole, Rogers Burnham: The Original Man
behind Bill W.
Dick
B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The
Green Mountain Men of Vermont
The Importance
and Influence of Vermont on Alcoholics Anonymous
Michael
Sherman, Gene Sessions and P. Jeffrey Potosh, Freedom and Unity: A History of Vermont, 2004
T.
D. Seymour Bassett, The Gods of the
Hills: Piety and Society in Nineteenth Century Vermont, 2000
John
M. Comstock, The Congregational Churches
of Vermont and Their Ministry 1762-1942
Edward
Taylor Fairbanks, The Town of St.
Johnsbury: A Review of One Hundred Twenty-Five Years to the Anniversary
Pageant, 1912,
Charles
Edward Russell, Bare Hands and Stone
Walls: Some Reflections of a Side-Line Reformer, 1933
Frederica
Templeton, The Castle in the Pasture: A
Portrait of Burr and Burton
Richard
Beck, A Proud Tradition A Bright Future:
A Sesquicentennial History of St. Johnsbury Academy, 1976.
Francis
E. Clark, Christian Endeavor in All Lands,
1906
Allen
Folger, Twenty-Five Years as an
Evangelist, 1905
Arthur
Fairbanks Stone, North Congregational
Church, St. Johnsbury,Vermont, 1825-1942
The First Congregational Church
Manchester, Vermont 1784-1984
Gary
Thomas Lord, “History of Norwich University: Images of Its Past,” (Louisville,
KY: Harmony House, 199 5)
Minutes
of the Eightieth Annual Meeting of the General Convention of Congregationalist
Ministers and Churches of Vermont, Held at Bennington, 1875
Year Book of the Young Men’s Christian
Associations of North America for the year1896 .
Charles
G. Ullery, Men of Vermont, 1894.
James
F. Findlay, Jr., Dwight L. Moody:
American Evangelist 1837-1899.
Dick
B. and Ken B.,
Bill W., Dr.
Bob, and the Green Mountain Men
Dr.
Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Bible as a Youngster
in Vermont
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 were confirmed
by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.]
Dale
Mitchel, Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who
Loved Drunks, Hazelden
Dick
B., The Conversion of Bill W.
The Language of the Heart
Dick
B. and Ken B., The Christian Recovery
Guide, 4rd ed., 2013.
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 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 concluded: “Bill, you are a free man. This is the God of the
Scriptures.” He never again doubted the existence of God. He never drank again.
And he believed he had been commissioned by God to help all the drunks in the
world. Bill later wrote his comment: “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,” Big Book, 4th ed., 191]
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, 79-80: “[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.”
Dick
B., The Conversion of Bill W.
Dick
B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 4rd ed. 2013.
Dick
B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The
Green Mountain Men of Vermont
Dick
B. and Ken B., Bill W., Dr. Bob and the
Cure of Alcoholism: The Rest of the Story, 2014
Biographical on
Dr. Bob’s Wife, Anne Ripley Smith
Dick
B., Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939,
3rd ed., 1998
Dick B., 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
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
RHS
The Language of the Heart
Biography on
Bill W.’s Wife, Lois Wilson
Lois Remembers, 1979.
William
Borchert, When Love Is Not Enough: The
Lois Wilson Story
Bill
W. My First 40 Years
Nell
Wing, Grateful to Have Been There
Mel
B., New Wine
Dick
B.., New Light on Alcoholism,
Pittsburgh ed.
Biography on
Henrietta Buckler Seiberling
[The
tiny home where Henrietta Seiberling lived with her three children, befriended
and helped Dr. Bob and Anne Smith, helped launch the early A.A. meetings,
introduced Bill Wilson to Dr. Bob has been acquired and turned into a museum on
the huge Seiberling Estate grounds in Akron. It contains my books on Henrietta
and many other historical A.A. treasures. It was launched by a philanthropist
friend of mine in Akron—now deceased]
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,
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
Biography of T.
Henry and Clarace Williams
Dick
B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous, 2d ed.
DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
T.
Willard Hunter, “It Started Right There!”
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.
James D. Newton, Uncommon Friends
T.
Willard Hunter, World Changing Through
Life Changing, 1977
Alan
Thornhill, The Significance of the Life
of Frank Buchman, 1952
Dick
B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics
Anonymous, Newton ed.
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.
The Oxford Group
& Alcoholics Anonymous
Real 12 Step
History
Bill
Pittman and Dick B., Courage to Change, Hazelden
Irving
Harris, The Breeze of the Spirit,
1978.
“S.M.
S.—Man of God for Our Time,” Faith at
Work, 1964.
AJ
Russell, For Sinners Only
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,
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,
“Calvary
Mission,“ Pamphlet, NY Calvary Episcopal Church, n.d.
John
Potter Cuyler, Jr., Calvary Church in
Action, 1934.
The Language of the Heart
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age
Samuel
M Shoemaker, Jr.:
So
I Stand by the Door and Other Verses, Pittsburgh, CalvaryRectory.1958
My
Life Work and My Will, Pamphlet, 1930
“A
First Century Christian Fellowship,” Churchman,
Calvary
Church Yesterday and Today, 1936.
Realizing
Religion, 1923
“How
to Find God,” The Calvary Evangel, 1957.
Get
Changed; Get Together; Get Going: A History of the Pittsburgh Experiment, n.d.
Biographical on
Rev. W. Irving Harris, of Calvary Church
The Breeze of the Spirit
Courage to Change
New Light on Alcoholism
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
A.A. Sponsorship
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
[Though
author Mary Darrah endeavors to select an earlier date for the A.A.-Ignatia
connection, 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.
[Though
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. Dowling and Rev. Sam Shoemaker were both
speakers at A.A.’s St. Louis Convention]]
Robert
Fitzgerald, S.J., The Soul of Sponsorship,
1995. See 55-66, 89
“Pass It On,” 1980, 240-243,
281-282, 354, 371, 387.
Other Resources
Central
Bulletin, Volumes I – III, Cleveland Central Committee, Dec. 1942-Dec. 1945
William
White, Slaying the Dragon
Nell
Wing, Grateful to Have Been There,
1992.
Stewart
C., A Reference Guide to the Big Book of
Alcoholics Anonymous, 1986.
Bill
Pittman, AA The Way It Began, 1988.
Ernest
Kurtz, Not-God, 1979
How to Study,
Learn, Teach, and Apply the Historical Elements Today
Dick
B. and Ken B.,
Stick
with the Winners! How to Conduct More Effective 12-Step Recover y Meetings
Using Conference-Approved Literature: A Dick B. Guide for Christian Leaders and
Workers in the Recovery Arena, 2012
Pioneer Stories
in Alcoholics Anonymous: God’s Role in Recovery Confirmed!, 2012
The Dick B.
Christian Recovery Guide, 4th ed., 2013
Dick
B.,
Making
Known The Biblical History and Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Sixteen Year
Research, Writing, Publishing, and Fact Dissemination Project, 3rd ed., 2005
The
Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible. 1997
The Good
Book-Big Book Guidebook, 2006
Cured!: Proven
Help for Alcoholics and Addicts, 2d ed, 2006
The James Club
and The Original A.A. Program’s Absolute Essentials, 4th ed., 2005
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
God and Alcoholism:
Our Growing Opportunity in the 21st Century, 2002
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
By
The Power of God: A Guide to Early A.A. Groups & Forming Similar Groups
Today,
2000
Utilizing Early
AA.’s Spiritual Roots for Recovery Today, 2000.
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,
Samuel
M. Shoemaker, 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.
B.
H. Streeter, The God Who Speaks, 1930.
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 Trreatment
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.
Bill
W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men of Vermont, 2012
Visit
the Dr. Bob Core Library, North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, VT http://drbob.info
[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, 19
[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, 192
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,
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
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.
Dick
B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men
Dick
B. and Ken B., Bill W., Dr. Bob, and the Cure of Alcoholism: The Rest of the
Story
Dick
B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 4th ed., 2013.
[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
Bill
W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men
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 Seminary]
Dick
B. and Ken B.,
The
Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed.
Bill
W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men
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
Bill
W. My First 40 Years
[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
Seminary and the Manchester Congregational Church]
Dick
B. and Ken B.,
The
Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide 3rd ed
Bill
W.and Dr. Bob: The Green Moutain Men
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
Mel
B., Ebby
Dr.
Robert J. Wilson III and Phebe Ann Lewis, The First Congregational Church,
Manchester, Vermont 1784-1984 (Manchester, VT: Bicentennial Steering Committee,
1984), 88-91, 128.
A
few A.A. history writers and Christian critics of A.A. are often quick to
assert that Bill Wilson could not possibly have been a Christian because of his
alleged beliefs about Jesus Christ. The problem is that there is no evidence
that they have examined or understood the Confession of Faith and Church
Covenant of both the Manchester and the East Dorset Congregational Churches
which would readily clear up their misunderstanding should they choose to
accept the facts discovered. In fact, one of the first A.A. history writers
made the untenable statement that little is known about Wilson’s religious
background because there is little to know—a blatant admission that there was
lots about Wilson’s Christian upbringing, his Congregational Churches and
chapels, and his Bible studies that such writers just never investigated and
hence don’t know.
[Young Men’s
Christian Association-Bill as President, girl-friend as YWCA President, active
in both]
Bill
W., My First Forty Years, 29
Robert
Thomsen, Bill W., 57
Frederica
Templeton, The Castle in the Pasture, 78-79, 69
Dick
B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men
[Bill’s return
to Jesus Christ, the “Great Physician,” in despair, on the advice that this
Great Physician can and does cure alcoholics
Dick
B.,
Turning
Point: A History of the Spiritual Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous, 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.
Bill
W. My First 40 Years
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
W.
Irving Harris, The Breeze of the Spirit
“Pass
It On”
William
James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
[Bill Wilson’s
first unsuccessful attempts for six months to carry a message]
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
One
of the most difficult mythical approach to overcome includes completely
erroneous statements like this: “Although loosely Protestant in background, Bil
had been raised without any religion.” See Robert Fitzgerald, S.J., The Soul of Sponsorship (Hazelden,
1995), ix.]
If
modern day opiners continue to ignore East Dorset Congregational Church, the
Wilsons and the Griffiths as its members, grandfather Willie’s conversion, the
Wilson family’s Pew 15 in the East Dorset Congregational Church, Burr and
Burton daily chapels and required services at Manchester Congregational Church
and Bill’s presidency of the YMCA there, as well as his experiences at Norwich
University, the great lacuna will only widen; and Bill will continue to be labeled
by anti-AAs or anti-Christian and church writers as an atheist or an agnostic
or a man without God or Christ or the Bible. Especially, might they begin to
claim Bill never heard of the Great Physician, the God to whom he cried out,
his “born again” experience at Calvary Mission, and his attendance at Shoemaker’s
Calvary Church. But the facts will stand out more and more for all to see and
learn “the rest of the story.” Thus:
(1)
Dr.
Carl Jung had told Rowland Hazard that he had the mind of a chronic alcoholic
and that a vital religious experience might heal him
(2)
Reverend
Sam Shoemaker had written in Realizing
Religion in about 1923 that man’s spiritual misery could only be conquered by
“finding God,” “a vital religious experience,” and a need for Jesus Christ.
(3)
Rowland
Hazard made a decision for Jesus Christ, joined the Oxford Group, and worked
actively with Rev. Sam Shoemaker.
(4)
Shoemaker
had frequently spoken of and quoted William James who had written
entire book on vital religious experiences—The Variety of Religious Experiences.
(5)
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 him about the
efficacy of prayer. He informed Ebby of a number of the Oxford Group’s
Christian principles. Then Ebby was lodged in Calvary Rescue Mission in New
York.
(6)
Meanwhile,
Bill Wilson had made his third visit to Towns Hospital. Dr. William D.
Silkworth,
Bill’s psychiatrist, had a long talk. 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.
(7)
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.
(8)
Bill decided to check out Ebby’s story and
went to hear him give testimony at Calvary Episcopal Church.
(9)
Bill decided that since the Great Physician
had helped Ebby recover, he might help Bill.
(10)
Bill W. accepted Jesus Christ at Calvary
Mission, wrote in his autobiography that “For sure I had been born again.”
(11)
Bill
continued to drink, became severely depressed, and thought, If there be a GreatPhysician,
I had better call on him.
(12)
Bill staggered on to Towns Hospital
drunk and very depressed and was hospitalized.
(13)He said to
himself, “I’ll do anything, anything at all. If there be a Great Physician,
I’ll call on him.
(14)
He cried out, “If there be a God let him show himself.”
(15)He said the
effect was, instant, electric. Suddenly my room blazed with an
indescribably white light.
(16
) 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.
(17) he light and the ecstasy subsided. Bill
became more quiet. A great peace stole over
him.
(18) Then he
became acutely conscious of a presence which seemed like a “veritable sea
of living spirit.”
(19)
He thought, “This must be the great reality.” And in one account, he said to
himself:
“ Bill, you are a free man.
This is “the God of the Scriptures.”
(20)
He said, “I thanked my God who had given me a glimpse of His absolute Self.
(21)
He said that faith had suddenly appeared—no blind faith—but faith fortified by
the
consciousness of the presence of God.
(22) Briefly he
stopped doubting God and said “this great and sudden gift of grace has
always been mine.”
(23)
He never drank again.
(24)
But he did have his “hour of doubt.”
(25)
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?”
(26) Sikworth
assured him that he was sane. He said “You have had some kind of
conversion experience.”
(27)
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 he had read it “all day.”
(28) 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 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.
(29)
Before his discharge from Towns Hospital in December of 1935, Wilson had been
inspired to help drunks everywhere.
(30)
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.
(31)
Bill’s story is briefly told as follows in the Big Book: “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.
(32) Dick B. and
Ken B. spent a week with Sam Shoemaker’s younger daughter in
Florida going
over some of Shoemaker’s personal journals; and they are filled with references to the
Shoemaker-Wilson-Newton-Cornell—Tex Francisco—Phillip Brown references to Bill’s
activity in Shoemaker’s church. (New Light
on Alcoholism, 2d ed., 537-43.
(33) When Dick B. visited the Calvary
Church-St. George’s Parish archives in New
York, he found that: (a) In March, 1935, when
Shoemaker’s parishioner Frederick
E. Breithut was
baptized, Bill Wilson was present in the church at the ceremony and served as
Breithut’s godparent. They also show that Ebby Thacher was becoming a
communicant at Calvary in the same ceremony as Breithut with Shep Cornell as
Ebby’s godparent. See New Light on
Alcoholism, 2d ed., 556.
(34)
In was also made clear from Calvary Church books and from a personal interview
by
Dick B. with L. Parks, Shipley, Sr. that Bill
had joined in a processional from
Calvary Church to Madison Square (with
Shoemaker in full vestment and the group
carrying a sign that said “Jesus Christ
Changes Lives” and other signs urging
onlookers
to “Come with Us To Calvary Church”—after which Wilson witnessed
from a soap box at Madison Square. See New Light on Alcoholism, 2d ed., 556.
(35)
But in his first six months of witnessing, Bill was unable to get a single
person
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.”
(1)
His parents were married when the events were taking place. They taught Bob
about salvation and the Word of God.
(2)
He heard similar sermons and teachings in the family’s North Congregational
Church of St. Johnsbury.
(3)
Temperance was in the air.
(4)
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.
(5)
The great evangelists—Moody, Sankey, Moorehouse, Meyer, and Folger--had
inspired Vermont with their talk of salvation, the Bible, and God’s healing
power.
(6)
The Salvation Army was becoming well known for its outreach and resulting
healing of derelicts and drunks.
(7)
So too were the rescue mission events involving Jerry McAuley, Water Street
Mission, and S.H. Hadley.
(8)
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.
(9)
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 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. 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 “wanta wanta”
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 decided to put his surgery and his life in God’s
hands. He 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.
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. 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
The
Good Book and the Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible
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 3rd ed., 2010
Stick
with the Winners!
Pioneer
Stories in Alcoholics Anonymous: God’s Role in Recovery Confirmed
Dick
B.,
When
Early AAs Were Cured and Why
Real
12 Step Fellowship History
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
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
Donald
Carruthers, How to Find Reality in Your Morning Devotions, Penn State College,
n.d.
Nora
Smith Holm, The Runner’s Bible
Oswald
Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Henry
Drummond: The Greatest Thing in the World
E.
Stanley Jones, Victorious Living
Mary
W. Tileston, Daily Strength for Daily Needs
The
Upper Room
The “Real
Surrender” to Jesus Christ in Early A.A.
Dick
B.,
The
Golden Text of A.A.
A
New Way In
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, 4th ed.
[The Akron
Formula for Christian Fellowship Recovery]
[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—putting
off the “old man.”
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—putting on the “new man.”
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.
The Daily
Meetings, Family Emphasis, and Close Contacts Among Members—Resemblance to
First Century Christianity
[A.A.
History – A.A. and First Century Christianity. There were multiple “First
Century Christianity at Work in 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).
The
best comparative material showing what the Apostolic Christians did 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 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-foundr of A.A. frequently called the early A.A. Akron
program a "Christian Fellowship"
DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers
Dick
B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian
Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2013.
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
Heartt, 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.
And we believe that all these comments
should be taken as a whole, compounded, and absorbed. For a few cynical A.A.
writers have said that talking about this November “nose counting” and the
forty sober alcoholics is somehow frivolous worship of a non-existent golden
age of A.A. In fact, however, A.A. with its inadequate funding, unknown
founders, and somewhat tawdry group of alcoholic organizers were hardly capable
of producing a “golden age.” But what they did produce was an astonishing
record in the face of repeated declarations that medical cure of alcoholics was
an impossibility, that there was little hope of anything but death or insanity
for the addicted sufferer, and that repeaters were so commonplace they weren’t
worth the effort to help them—except for such benign people as Dr. Silkworth, the
Salvation Army, the Rescue Missions, the evangelists, and the concerns of the
YMCA. In other words, Bill and Bob embarked almost alone on a seemingly
hopeless and impossible task and, between 1935 and late 1937 they had turned
hopelessness into hope, medical incurability into cure, and death and insanity
into manageable proportions. How?
By
giving their lives to God! That’s how. And in many cases, it took little but a
dedication to quitting forever, a devoted surrender to God, and an unpaid
service to those who still suffered.
That
was not a golden age. It was a case of some thirty or forty miracles. And it
caught attention.
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 Among Those Who Really Tried
Richard
K., Early A.A.—Separating Fact from Fiction: How Revisionists Have Led Our
History Astray, 2003
Richard
K. 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, 4th ed., 2012
Bill Wilson’s
Preparation for a New, Oxford Group-Oriented Program
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” (or word-of-mouth ideas) 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
5.
From some source or for some reason undocumented and questionable at best, 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, in an
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. . .,” 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
o
For example, in referring to God, Bill spoke 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.
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.
·
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. 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.
·
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.
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.
The Heart of the
Successful Program That Relied on God
Learning
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.
As
stated in previous articles, there is still more work to be done—time
permitting—editing this material further, providing more detailed bibliographic
references, and adding new research as completed.
And
we believe that if you master the original program, study the Big Book, look at
our history, and then take the Twelve Steps, it is possible to get the best
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. As a matter of fact, International Christian Recovery Coalition
grows each day, has now participants in 50 states and in other
countries—dedicated to friendship. By that, they mean: 1. Tell people the role
that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible truly played in the recovery
scene. 2. Show them from their own Conference-approved literature today exactly
how and why the door is wide open to those who want to benefit from and serve
in the A.A. and/or 12 Step program that made them so welcome in their early
days. 3. Be friendly with those in the fellowship who do or don’t believe in
God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, or anything; help them with basic facts from
history and official literature; and 4. Stand confidently on their right to
pursue their own beliefs in complete accord with A.A.’s history, Steps, and
Traditions.
Gloria
Deo
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