JUNE 14,1999 $3.95 www.time.com 100 HEROES ANDICONS OFTHE 20th CENTURY

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o o o a IL I USTRATI’]N FOh t IMI] BY HANOCH PIVEN

By SUSAN CHEEVER

ecor.rd Lieut. Bill clestroyecl lris heirltlr and his c:ir- Wilson didn’t think reer, prccipitated an epiphany twice when the first that would clrange his life and butler he lrad ever tl.re lives of millions ol’other alseen offered him it coholics. Incrrrcerated tbr the drink. Ilre Z2-yenr- fburth timc at Manhattan’s

BILL old solclier didn’t Towns l{ospital in 1934, Wilthink about how alcohol had son hird a spiritual awakeringdestroyed his family. He dicln’t a flash of white light, a liberatthink about the Yankee tem- ing awareness of Cod-that led Irerance movement of his to the founcling of Alcoholics childhood or his loving fianc6 Anonymous ancl Wilson’s revo- From the rubble of awasted life, he Lois Burnlrat’r.r or ltis emergir.rg lutionary l2-step progrirm, the talent for leadership. lIe didn’t successful r’emedy fbr alcoovercame alcoholism and fotrnded think about anytlring at all. “l holisn. The 12 steps have rtlso the l2-step program that has helped had found the clixir of lit-e,” he w’ote. Wilson’s last drink, 17 generated successfu I programs for eating disorders, gambling millions of others do the same yeats later, when alcohol had narcotics, debting, sex addic-

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.-361 BILL WAS BORN BEHIND T}IE BAR IN THE WITSON Wilson tried unsuccesslirllv to HOUSE, A HOTET RUN BY nrirke a living as a wire-t’ope HIS GRANDMOTHER salesman. A.A. hacl about a : hunclred membors, bnt nratrv il, . were still drinking. Meanwhile, in 1939, the bank f’oreclosccl on thc Clinton Stree:t house, rrnd the couple began -ycars ol’ homelessness. living as guests in llorrowed tooms ancl irt one point staying in tenrl orary quarters above the I A.A. clubhouse on g4th Street in Manhattan. In 1940 John D. z Rockefbller Jr. held an A.A. dinner ancl was irnpressecl enough to creatc. a trust to prt: vide Wilsou with $30 a u,eelrbut no ntore. The tycoon ltelt

5.= €= I had to be first in everything that nroney woulcl corrul:t the group’s spirit.

* because in my perverse heart I felt -+ myself tfue least of God’s creatures. = 1 Then. in March ltl4l, the Sctturdml Euenirrg Post pub- -: =- = lished ar.r article on A.A.. ar.rd suclclcnly thousantls of lettcrs Bltt WILSON, describing his alcoholisnr and requests poured in. Attendance at meetings cloubled ancl tion and people affccted by ment at the time, his brain triplecl. Wilson hitd reachccl his others’ addictions. Alclous Hux- spun with phrases from Ox- audience. lrt’fwelue’f ratliley cirllecl him “the gl’eatest so- forci Group lneetings, Carl /ions, Wilson set clown the cial architect o[ our century.” Jung and William James’Vari- sugpJestecl bylaws of Alco- William Grif;fith Wilson eties of Religinus Experience, grew up in a quarry town in which he read in the hospital. l, holics Anonymons. ln them, he created trn en- Vermont. When he was 10. his Five sober rnonths later, Wil- during blueprint lbr an hard-clrinking fhther headed son went to Akron, Ohio, on orgtrnization with a tbr (lanacla, and his mrlther business. The deal fell rnaximum of individunl moved to Boston, leaving the through, and he wanted a lr’eeclonr and no accusickly child with her parents. drink. He stood in the lobby As a soldier, ancl then as a busi- of the Mayflower llotel, en- wtlsoN tN 1948, nessman, Wilson drank to alle- trancecl by the sounds of DURING A VISIT TO A.A. viate his depressions and to the l ar across the hall. Sud- GROUPS IN CANADA celebrate his Wall Street suc- clenly he became convinced cess. Marriecl in 1918, he ancl that by helping arlother alco- Lois toured the country on a holic, he coulcl save himself. motorcycle and appeared to be Through a series ofdespera prosperous, promising young ate telephone calls, he founcl couple. By 1933, horvever, they Dr. Robert Smith, a skeptical were living on charity in her drur.rk whose firmily persuacled parents’ house on Clinton him to givc Wilson 15 minutes. Street in Brooklyn, N.Y. Wilson Their meeting lastecl for hours. had become an unemployable A nronth lttter, l)r. tsob had his drunk wlro disdained religion last drink, and that date, June visitors at meetings. To spread and even panhandled for cash. 10. 1935. is the official birth the word, he began writing date of A.A.. which is based on down his principles for sobrinspired by a friend who the idea thirt or.rly an alcoholic ety. Each chapter was read by htrd stopped drinking, can help another alcoholic. the Clinton Street group and Wilson lvent to meetings “Becrruse of our kinshilt in suf- ser.rt to Snrith in Akron for of the Oxforcl Group, an fering,” Bill wrote, “our chan- more ecliting. The book had evangelical society nels of contact have always a dozen provisional titles. founded in Britain by been charged with the lan- among tlrem The Wau Ou.t and Pennsylvania Frank guage of the heart.” The. Erytt11 Glass. Edited to Buchn.ran. And as Wilson un- Tlre Burnham house on 400 pages, it was finally called derwent a barbitr.rrate-and- Clinton Street becarne a haven Alcoholics Anony mous. and belladonna cure called “purge for drunks. “My nrrme is Bill this became the group’s nanre. and puke,” which wtrs state- W., irnd lin an alcoholic,” he But the book, trlthough of-the-art alcoholisn.r treat- told assorted houseguests and well reviewed, wasn’t selling.

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A et ttrE 1955 A.A. coNvENTtoN In the wake of my spiritual tN sT. LOUIS, MO.. WTLSON TURNED THE LEADERSHIP OVER experience there came a vision of TO THE GROUP’S MEMBERS

v BILL WTLSON. tN 1952, MAKTNG a society of alcoholics. COFFEE IN THE KITCHEN OF STEPPING STONES, HIS HOME IN BILL WlLSOil, writing to Carl Jung in L961 BEDFORD, N.Y.

mulation of power or money. tion has redefined alcoholism Public anonynrity crrsurecl hu- as a chronic disease, not a failrrilit-y. No contrillutions were ure of willpower. requirecl; no member could As Alcoholics Anonymous contrilrute rnorc than $1,000. grew, Wilson became its principal symbol. He helped create oday rnore than a goveming structure for the I r.nillion A.A. mem- program, the General Service bers in 150 countries Board, and turned over his hold meetings in power. “I have become a pupil church basements, of the A.A. movement rather hospital conference than the teacher,” he wrote. A rooms and school smoker into his 70s, he died of gvms, following Wilson’s infor- pneumonia and emphysema rnal structure. Members idcn- in Mian.ri, where he went for tify themselves as alcoholics treatment in 1971. To the end, ancl share thcir stories; there he clung to the principles and are rro rules or cntty reqtrire- tlre power of anonymity. He ments, ancl rttany members was always Bill W., refusing to use or.rly first names. take money for counseling and Wilson believed the key to leadership. IIe turned down sobrielv rvas a change of heart. nrany honors. including a delhe suggested 12 steps inclucle gree from Yale. And he dearn rrclmission of powerlessness, clined this magazine’s offer to a moral inventory. a restitution put him on the cover-even for htrrm done, a call to service with his back turned. r and:r surrender to some personal God. In A.A., God cin be Susan Cheeoer. e nauelist and, anythitrg frorn a tadiator to a memoirist, is the author of patriarch. Influenced by A.A., Note Found in a Bottle: My the American Medical fusocia- Lif’e as a Drinker

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