Show Full Transcript
[0:00 – 0:37] There's a thing called Parkinson's law that says that work either expands or contracts according to the time available for its completion. If I've got a day, it takes a day. If I got an hour, it takes an hour. You know, if we got 10 minutes, that's what it is. So, so anyway, I think we have to practice Parkinson's law here. Yeah, it is good to see you. You look good in that, uh, uncomfortable suit. I've got to– but anytime you put work in the title, I dress for work. Yeah, I don't dress for looking good.
[0:37 – 1:37] I dress for work, and that's what this is, roll up your sleeves and go to work time. Um, the, uh, what I– the way I, I like to… Well, there's a lot of ways to app-approach history, but the way I like to do is take a look at, uh, the, the development of the program and not the historical facts of who shot who when and all that. Uh, that's kind of nice to know, but you don't need to study it too much. It's just a fact. Uh, somebody sent me a, an email, uh, sometime last little– recently, and it was, uh, I know the person put an awful lot of time into careful documentation of research about when Bob actually took his last drink. I don't have a clue when he took his last drink. I know it was around June the tenth of nineteen thirty-five, and that is good enough for me.
[1:37 – 2:23] And I know that's when Alcoholics Anonymous started. But for me to get caught up in fine-tuning whether it was noon or three o'clock, come on, give me a break. How important is that? You know, what happened is those two guys got together, and something important happened, and, uh, and that's enough for me to know. So I'm interested in the story of our history more than the facts of our history with the, the detailed stuff of it. Um, I w-I wanna take a look at– I do this once in a while, and take a look at our history in terms of sort of well-defined segments of it. They're not spelled out, but well-defined segments of our history. You know, the… And, and, and the– what was important about that?
[2:23 – 3:16] What were the characteristics of, of, of what the program was like during various periods? I, I wasn't here for the, uh, for the earliest days, but I swear to God, I was uncomfortably close to the, to those early days. I came in in fifty-seven, and, uh, the, the program was established and had started to, to mushroom a lot. When I came in, we had a hundred and twenty-five thousand members, and I made a hundred twenty-five thousand and one. I guess, I don't know who was counting, but I was. I'm glad I was the one. And, uh, and then so it's grown from there. So I did get a chance to see some of the, the, the, the evidence of the early origins. I'm able to meet some of the people who were involved in, uh, in starting, uh, uh, Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill had never met Bob, but he did become good friends with his son.
[3:16 – 4:05] And, uh, one of, one of the mountaintop– well, this is a great time to talk about mountaintop experiences. One of the great mountaintop experiences for me, in, uh, eighty-five, I was asked to, to come to Akron to speak at the fiftieth anniversary of AA at Founders Day. You know, fifty years of AA. Uh, my first, I guess, understandable kind of insecure reaction was, why on earth would they call somebody like me? I mean, my God, I'm a, I'm a junkyard dog. I mean, why– you could get a poet laureate or a Nobel Prize winner or, you know, uh, anybody you want. You know, get some yo-yo from North Carolina. Said, God, they must have been turned down a lot to get, to get to me. And then, then I got realistic, and I said, "Well, why wouldn't they?
[4:05 – 4:46] Why wouldn't they call me?" Because we're not about rich and powerful and gifted and talented and how knowledgeable. We're about folks who've been broken and healed. That's what we're about. And it doesn't matter whether it's Park Avenue or Park Bench. So when I was realistic, I was able to get there. And one of the things that happened that was a genuine, genuine marvelous experience for me, unplanned, like most are, was I went to, uh, do it through, through some meetings, and then somebody asked me if I wanted to go over to, to, to Bob's house. And I'd been there. I, I was there one time before it was converted and, and, and operated as Bob's house. Bless you.
[4:46 – 5:27] You did it again. That's my cue to go to work. And so I'd, I'd been there. I was, I was familiar with the real estate. First time I went there, there was an, a, an empty six-pack sitting on the porch at Bob's house. You know, just average people were living there. And I look, and I had some editorial comment about that, you know, and they said, uh, "Why on earth would we have this stuff sitting on the, the front of our co-founder's house?" And, uh, so I expressed enough concern that they asked me to serve as an out-of, out-of-state trustee. And so I did. And, uh, so you gotta be careful what you criticize, or you may get an opportunity to help fix it, you know.
[5:27 – 6:10] So, but they… Then, then we got the house, and it now has become almost a, a sacred place in our, in our history and a landmark. Anybody who goes to Founder's Day, the first thing they wanna do is get to Bob's house and see where it happened. And, and I was over there, uh, that, just came over from the conference going through, and somebody said, uh, "Would you like a sandwich?" I, I said, uh, "Yeah, that'd be nice." Now, if you gotta picture this, you know. You, um, you… We're talking about my heroes. You're talking about people that I absolutely revere. And so he said, "Yeah." I said, "Yeah." And then we went into the kitchen, and we sat down at Dr. Bob's table, and I'm sitting with his son and his daughter.
[6:10 – 7:01] Well, that was overwhelming. You know, good God, how could I come to this place where I'm sitting at this special place with these special people? I'm sitting with the people, the only living people who had direct connection to the founders. And, uh, that meant something. Now, I didn't, I didn't exclaim about it and, and make them uncomfortable. We just enjoyed lunch together. But I, I was almost about to soak my, my sandwich with, with tears, but I held back. And, uh, but that was a tremendous experience. You know, and part of the history of just having that connection and feeling the connectedness to the, to the history was, was really im- really important to me. And, uh, uh, Smitty, the son, and I became real good friends.
[7:01 – 7:45] We used to see each other around the country a lot. And he, uh, he was getting on up in age a little bit. I was not, but he was getting quite old. He, uh… And when he was about as late 70s or early, just 80, he, uh, his wife died and he remarried. And I'd met his wife and, and she… He w- Uh, the day of the conversation, he was 82 years old. And so he said, "I want to talk to you." So we went over and found a coffee. He told me about his marriage and his, his nuptial bliss and all that. And I said, "Well, where are you gonna live?" He said, "Memphis." And, uh, I said, "Well, that's quite a question." I said, "My son is a physician, and he practices in Mem- in Memphis."
[7:45 – 8:38] And, uh, he said, "No kidding." I said, "Yeah." I said, "We could probably get you a good deal on s- on, on some of his services." And, and he said, "Wonderful. What does he practice?" I said, "OBGYN." He, he said, "What are you smoking?" But, but anyway, I've had some contact with history, and it's been really pleasant. Um, I had, uh, uh, I mentioned a little earlier about… I'm, I'm not sure if I just wanna refer to it. I'm talking about Steve. Uh, we were up in Rhode Island last year, and, uh, the, uh… We, we did what we're doing and wh- what we were there to do. And then on Sunday, the, the, the host of the deal said, uh, said, "Last year, we went out," the first year they'd met. He said, "We went over to Roland Hazard's grave." And, uh, I didn't know he was buried in Rhode Island.
[8:38 – 9:31] I didn't even know he'd ever been there. And he said, "We went over there and just had a little get-together." He said, "Would you guys like to do this?" "Man, yeah, we'd love to do that." And so we went over on a beautiful Sunday morning in Rhode Island and went to Roland's grave. Now, I'll fill you in just a little bit in case you, you're not familiar with Roland. It'll, it'll come together when I tell you about it. He was a significant figure in the, in the deve- evolution and development of AA. He, uh… So we went there, and a, and a, and a, a lady that was in that group read the portion of the book that deals with Roland Hazard. And, and, uh, then they asked me to just sort of connect the dots and take a look at particularly the non-alcoholic friends of AA who were significantly involved in helping to, uh, to support, encourage, uh, and, and, and guide and assist in the de- early development of AA.
[9:31 – 10:07] And when we went there, that was next to the last of the significant historic places that I had made, uh, the next to the last. I'd made contact with every other his- significant thing in our history except that and one more. And that was a, uh, uh, a really im- important experience because had it not been for that guy, our stories would be different. And so he was, he was not an alcohol… He was an alcoholic, but he was not an AA member. He never became an AA member. He was a good friend of AA. Uh, some rumor said he started back- drinking.
[10:07 – 10:36] He did not. He, uh, stayed sober, but he stayed sober through the Oxford Group. He never changed. And, uh, the Hazard family, I mean, you talk about heavy high rollers. Now, these were high rollers. Everything in Narragansett, Rhode Island is the Hazard whatever. Ball field, library, theater, jail. Not, I don't think the jail. But anyway, everything there was Hazard something. So that was a great time just to touch that and connect to that history, eh?
[10:36 – 11:31] And we're, we're, we're, we're thinking about putting together… Clarence Snyder's buried about 10 miles above north of my house, and, uh, he was, at the time he died, he was the oldest living member of AA. And we're thinking about doing a comparable thing there if we ever get our act together and, uh, and just, just to sort of connect to our history. So see, im- importance, uh, history's a very important kind of a thing to many of us, and I'm certainly one. So I just wanna visit those eras of, of, uh, of AA that… And particularly the story, not the events and dates and all that stuff. I, I, I, I'm really not all that interested in that. I, I'm interested in what happened. And, and, and, and what happened, it just, if you start with that, what start to set the ball rolling for Alcoholics Anonymous was a guy named Ebby Thatcher. And Ebby was a guy, he was a bad drunk.
[11:31 – 12:04] I, I met Ebby Thatcher. And if I tell you one thing, I could diagnose that sucker at a half mile. I, I, he, he looked like a drunk. I, I… That ugly man. God knows he was one ugly human. And, uh, and I listened to him. Uh, anyway, he, he was a poster boy for what a, the worst-case scenario looks like, and he was it. And Ebby was a guy who lived in Vermont like all of our, our historic, early historic figures. Uh, Ebby lived there, and he was in trouble.
[12:04 – 12:33] Went to court for the umpteenth time. And some people, Roland Hazard one of them, somebody named not Zebra but Sebra somebody- Yeah … and, uh, some Hank, some- Shepp. Huh? Shepp. Shepp. Yeah, there you go. Shepp. The, uh, the, those three folk were there at, uh, at the court and said, "Give us that guy and let us try to do something with him." Well, judge had nothing to lose, said, "Take him," you know. "Just take him out of town somewhere." So he took him.
[12:33 – 13:07] Got Ebby out. Yeah. Uh, he didn't get sober immediately, but he got into the Oxford Groups. And Oxford Groups were a pretty serious religious organization. It came out of England, and a lot of our, our early members of AA had affiliation with Oxford Group. And so, uh, uh, Ebby was in that. He's, he moved out of Vermont, went down to New York. And while he was down there, Bill Wilson was function- was functioning in New York. He was a stockbroker and… And, uh, Ebby one day called Bill, told him he's in town, and, uh, he wanted to come see him.
[13:07 – 14:00] So, so Bill invited him to come. And he, he was glad Ebby was coming, uh, uh, because he thought it was gonna mean, uh, a, a, a drink. And he was highly disappointed when Ebby came, knocked on the door, and Ebby was sober. And Bill wasn't used to seeing him in that condition. And so when Bill, when Ebby came in and Bill tried to offer him a drink, Ebby said, "No, no," he said, said, "I've quit." And he said, "Well, what's happened to you, man?" He said, "I got religion." Well, Bill's heart just dropped. You know, the, the, the, the, his escape from his wife was, was gone, and he was trapped, you know? And then that sort of culminated with those guys getting to- to- together a little bit. Bill made a pass at the Oxford gr- uh, Groups. He never did connect well, but he made a pass at it and, uh, got s- got sober intermittently.
[14:00 – 14:52] And then, so it was part of his history. But, and then Bill, what, what really triggered the, the, the Alcoholics Anonymous, you know, Ebby sort of c- opened that door a little bit, got him looking at it. But on, on what turned out to be Bill's last trip, not his first, but his last trip to, to a place called Towns Hospital, where there was a physician by the name of, uh, of, of Silkworth that just loved drunks, you know. And, and, and they had a hospital that catered to alcoholics and other strange cases, but, but alcoholics for sure. And so, so Bill was in there, and it was many times. And, and, uh, on his last visit to that hospital, turned out as a patient, on his last visit, he had gone through what he called his white light experience, where his life is gone. It's done. He's about to give up.
[14:52 – 15:30] He doesn't think there's any hope for him. And, uh, and then by some strange stroke, he prayed, and the prayer was answered. And he said he felt like he was on the top of a high mountain, and a breeze was blowing through him. And, and this, he had that tri- fi- white light experience and never drank again. Uh, that was a transforming ex- Experience. And, and when he left the hospital, he tried to pick up his career and all that kind of stuff, and was not very successful. And, and one of the things that he knew that wa-was an instinct that was born in him of his experience, is that he needed to talk to other alcoholics. Nobody's taught him that. Nobody knew that.
[15:30 – 16:25] Uh, but he had this urge to talk to other alcoholics. He went back to the hospital, told Silkworth that he would like to talk some, some, to some patients. Now, if you imagine the, the unlikely nature of that transaction. Here's one of his chronic losers coming back to the doc and saying, "I'd like to go talk to the patients." Well, man, it took an act of courage or foolishness, and I think it was courage, to, to turn this guy loose in, in, in the hospital. Let him go talk to people. And so he did. None of them ever got sober, but he talked to them anyway. And, uh, after about six months of this kind of beating his head against the wall, he, he said to his wife one time, who later became, you know, one of the founders of Al-Anon, but, uh, she was a prac-good practicer 'cause Bill went to her and he, and he said, said, "Lois, this thing's not working." He said, "I've been, I've been working with drunks
[16:25 – 17:29] and, and, and bringing them home and chasing them down," and all this stuff, and, you know, one of them tried to… Uh, anyway, just a mayhem thing, like, like Animal House. And, uh, and he said, "None of them have stayed sober." And Bill– uh, Lois said something truly remarkable, and it was historic. She said, "Bill, you have." That was a simple statement from a, a gal that was gonna be founding Al-Anon, that, "Bill, you have." And, and it really set the notion, just like Steve was talking about, that as long as you go out and try to carry the message, there is no unsuccessful call. And so Bill had six months of failure if you examined it from results, but if you looked at it as Lois did, you've stayed sober. Really important kind of a principle that was, was born there. And then later, Bill, Bill kind of survived in that, in that New York environment. And then, uh, he got back into trying to sell stocks. Went out to Akron on a business trip, and, uh, business was bad and, and, uh, he didn't do too well.
[17:29 – 18:09] And, uh, he, uh, he wound up… One of the truly remarkable things that happened in our history to me, uh, he wound up in a place called the Mayflower Hotel. It's now an important landmark in AA history, current and past. And, um, I've, I've, I've gone to that hotel. And what, what, what Bill– not stayed there, but I visited there. Yeah, what Bill did was in that, in that, in that hotel. And what I saw when I went there, I, I first time went there, you couldn't go in. Now you can get in. But you couldn't go in ostensibly. And, uh, I was, was traveling with another alcoholic and I was– and he said, "Let's go in." I said, "You can't go in.
[18:09 – 18:49] It's not a hotel anymore. It's a kind of a, a home for folks that need extended care or something, or housing or something like that." And so he said, he said, like, this is dangerous when you hear an alcoholic say it. He said, "Watch this." And, and, uh, so all he did is step over there, when somebody came out, he grabbed the door and said, "Come on." We went in. Now, that, that's not the right way to do it, but it worked, and we get went in. And, uh, and we went up. It's actually, they say the lobby is what we call a mezzanine. You know, it's a kind of upper level there. So went up there, and it's the setting that I'd read about and I'd visualized ever since I'd been in AA.
[18:49 – 19:17] And I'm looking at it. And, and so I'm standing in the mezzanine. You can, you can see over that side there's a place that's an office, but it was a bar. I guarantee anybody in this room could identify it. I mean, once a bar, always a bar. I don't care what you do to it. That's how– you could tear it down, rebuild it, it'd still be a bar. And so I looked over there, I recognized that. And then on the other side, there was a telephone. And this is what Bill was looking at as he was going through his crisis in Akron.
[19:17 – 19:55] And what he's doing, he's got just a few bucks in his pocket. He's got enough money to get back to New York. And he's, he's, he's out of angles, eh? He's out of angles. My God, I have been there. I don't know how many times I have been totally wiped out and no clue of where to go or what to do. Always try to figure out a hustle, try to figure out something. I've been at that point many, many times, just like Bill was, where I'm, where I am fighting a drink, and then will finally give in. I always turn the wrong way, and I'd go in and find the ease and comfort of a few drinks. But Bill didn't do that.
[19:55 – 20:38] He, he was– what he, he was pacing the, that, that mezzanine from the bar to the other side of the mezzanine where there was a telephone. And so he's walking back and forth. Now, I did, uh, uh, virtual reality hadn't come out y-just yet, but I practiced virtual reality. I, I, I didn't take any- The imagination. I, I put myself where Bill was that day, and it was easy. It was just like reliving old memories. And I put myself in that position of knowing that crisis, of knowing I'm gonna drink, and I don't wanna drink, and I've been there. I understand that dilemma, and I understand what he felt. The ease and comfort that comes with a few drinks.
[20:38 – 21:14] And the way he described it, he could hear the tinkling glasses and the laughter and of the gay crowd in that, uh, uh, old-fashioned gay crowd in that, in that bar. And so he's listening to that, and then it's tempting, eh? Uh, how tempting that is. I always went in, but Bill didn't, and he kept going back to… There was a phone there and, uh, a payphone, and it cost a nickel. He put the nickel in, and he called… Uh, there, there was some ministers listed, and he called the, the… He called ten of 'em. The last one was a guy named Tunk.
[21:14 – 21:46] Tunk. Tunk they call him. T-U-N-K. And, and this was a minister. And Bill… Now, you gotta realize Alcoholics Anonymous didn't exist. You know, and any alcoholic who identified himself as an alcoholic, you'd wanna hold your wallet and, and leave. You know, you don't wanna stay and talk to him. Bill calls up, and you can imagine the, the value of a guy like t- like Tunk. Bill said, "I'm a, I'm a rummy from New York, and I am, am, am in a dilemma, and I need to talk to an alcoholic.
[21:46 – 22:30] You happen to know one?" And Tunk said, "I sure do." And, uh, and he put him in touch with a, a lady by the name of Henrietta Seiberling, who was not an alcoholic. She was a member of the Firestone family and were, uh, had more than a few bucks. Uh, I've been to where they lived in a huge mansion. It looks like a castle. I mean, it looked like two castles. It's a huge mansion back in there. And, uh, but that's who she was. And, and, uh, and, and so Tu-Tunk talked to her and said, "There's a guy here who needs to t- to talk to an alcoholic. You know anybody?" She said, "Yes, I do." And, uh, so this, this, this Henrietta and Bob's, uh, wife, uh, they said
[22:30 – 23:13] they were gonna frame up on Bob. So Henrietta called Anne Smith and said, "There's a guy here from New York who, who thinks he might be able to, to, to help alcoholics." Tried to set up a dinner date, and they, uh, failed the first date, but the next day set it up. And so some historically important stuff happened that next day. One, Bill and Bob met around five o'clock in the afternoon, and, and, and, and Doc was trying to, to pretend that he was a busy physician. He didn't have any patients- … but he was trying to pretend that he was busy. And so when he went in, he said, "I only have about fifteen minutes. You know, I'm a busy man." He wa- sure was. Had nothing to do with medicine though.
[23:13 – 23:57] But he was busy. And, uh, so he said he'd give him fifteen minutes. They went in to what… If you go to Akron, if you haven't been, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you go to Akron, and you go to the Seiberling Estate, first thing you'll see is a gatehouse, a very nice gatehouse, and that was private for a long time. I went up there one time, and Henrietta's sister, 90-some years old, was sitting, sitting by the window, rocking. And she w- sort of put life to it, you know, for what its purpose was then. And, uh, we now, we now, we, the alcoholics, now have that estate, and which is freely open and available. Uh, but it's there. And, and so that's where they met, was in that gatehouse.
[23:57 – 24:58] And, uh, Bill and, and, and Bob went off to another room for their fifteen-minute visit, and about five hours and fifteen minutes later, they came up for air. And what happened that day, it was monumentally important to every one of us in this room. Monumentally important because the die was cast f-for that, that we meet around here today. You know, the way we open the meeting, all of this, that was cast that day. Because they sat down and, and, and, and Bill started to talk with, with Bob. Nobody will ever know exactly what was in the conversation, but they've each quoted it a number of times, different ways. But what they sat down, and, and, and, and Bill told him about himself, and, and they got caught up in this continuing conversation for those five hours plus. And, uh, when they got through, or they didn't get through, they just quit, you know, for the time being, and then they, uh, they went their ways.
[24:58 – 25:56] And later on, uh, Bob, uh, I think it was last night I mentioned this, but in the, in the back of the book here in Bob's story, he, he makes a… He wrote a little, a little piece in there that, that really says what happened in that meeting. And, and, and, and what Bob did was he post- The question to himself and said, "What was it about this man," referring to Bill, "What was it about this man that was different from all the other people who've talked to me?" And he did, he was a trained physician. I mean, this is a scientific man. He talked with many learned people, read more books than you could imagine, and yet here comes a broken-down stockbroker with no business and a few bucks in his pocket, and, and he sits down and talks. And then so Bob said, "What was it about this man w- given all the things that I've heard and from, from people I've heard it from? What was different?" And then he said, answered the question.
[25:56 – 26:39] He said it, it… he talked of his own experience. He described his own experience. First person he'd ever seen that, uh, that had talked in terms of his own experience about his problem and what had brought him to sobriety as, as much as it had. And he earned the trust and confidence of Bob Smith that day. And, um, and it beca- It was to be the f- the seedbed for Alcoholics Anonymous. It didn't absolu- actually happen that day, but the seedbed was, was, was made. And, uh, you know, there, there were a, a couple of things that happened in that, that, that, uh, are tremendously important to me. That thing of realizing that this is what we share.
[26:39 – 27:23] We sh- we, uh, we, we, we, that we, we don't make speeches here. What we do is tell our stories. We, we tell our stories. Here's what I did. And it goes back to that of, you, you know, what Bob and Bill did together. And, uh, so when, when they got through with that, Bill stayed on in Akron. He went over and stayed at Bob's house, and, and, um, he stayed there and, uh, worked with drunks. And I mean, they worked with a bunch of them. Uh, they got a third guy that Bob, being a physician on staff at the hospital, made it a little easier to get in. They recruited a non-alcoholic nun by the sis- name of Sister, uh, Ignatia, and she was really the brains behind the operation.
[27:23 – 28:01] She's the one that made Bob look good, but she's the one that would, would, would, uh, hijack the beds and all that kind of stuff. It wasn't Bob. You know, Bob was walking around looking important, signing paper. Sister Ignatia was getting drunks pl- housed in there. And, uh, so they were off and running, having a great time. And, uh, they got their third guy. He, he was an attorney, but they forgave him for that, and, they called on him anyway. And, uh, and this guy, when he, when they walked in his room, Bob and Bill, that, uh, that Bill, you know, Doc being a physician, you know, he was able to get him a private room. This guy said he'd been trying to figure out how in the world he got a private room.
[28:01 – 28:42] He was always in the ward when he went in that hospital, and he's in a private room. So they go in to see him, and they told him about their deal, and he said, "Don't waste your time with me. I'm, I'm no good. I'm hopeless. I can't even get home from here without getting drunk on the way home. Just don't bother with me." And, uh, but they didn't hear that, and they said they'd be back. And so they were back the next day, and he'd done some thinking about it, and he became, uh, uh, A number three. His name was Bill Dodson, uh, an attorney. And he, uh, he never did become a major heavyweight in, in drafting the history, but he was certainly part of it and, uh, is, was their third, third member. And then slowly, the guys came in like that.
[28:42 – 29:13] And Bob, Bob said, you know, Bill, y- y- I didn't know Bob, but, but I, I, I, from reading it and, and what I've heard about him and all that, he was a, a pretty… He wasn't an aggressive, uh, kind of a go-get-'em guy. He was a, he had that old, that old New England kind of hesitancy about just jumping on everything he saw. Bill didn't. I mean, Bill would crash. He didn't care whose beach it was. He'd take it. But Bob was not that way. And, and Bob said, there's a, Mike, Mike probably has it.
[29:13 – 29:53] Bob made a talk in Detroit in, uh, '48, I believe. '48. And in that talk, it's the first time I'd ever heard it. Uh, he, he said, "I didn't really have too much to do with… I didn't write the steps. You know, I didn't have too much to do with it." Uh, but he was wrong. He did have a lot to do with it because what really happened while they were there, both of them described, they would sit out on the porch in rocking chairs and talk about the principles that became, that became the 12 steps. So Bob was very much involved. Bill held the pen, pen most of the time, and, uh, and s- and some others pitched, chipped in.
[29:53 – 30:34] But, but Bob was a tremendously influential guy. And, and, um, and so they started meeting with folk in the c- in the Oxford Group. Uh, the, in, in, in Akron, like a lot of the country, had the Oxford Group there, and there was a couple, uh, in that program. T. Henry and Clarice Williams had a… I've been by their house, and it's just a, just an average-looking brick ranch house, but they would have 50 to 60 people meeting in that house all- All kinds of people, hybrids. You know, they were Oxford Group people, uh, that, into fledgling AA people. And then after a while, they saw that the purposes were too diverse and that the alcoholics needed to meet.
[30:34 – 31:13] And so they moved over to King School, which still meets. Uh, li- got a little different location, but the same group still meets. And, uh, it's on, on Wednesday in Akron, Ohio. If you're ever there, just ask for the King School group and, and, uh, you'll go to where they held their first meeting there. So that was the formation of that. And, and, and to me, it's just, it's a marvelous story. When I go there, man, this just gets all over me. And so that, that era was all about d- you know, putting this thing together. We, um, gotta go quick, hour fast and hurry. The, uh, the, the, but that sort of, sort of got the ball rolling.
[31:13 – 31:54] That– you talk about grandiosity with- among alcoholics. They, best I can tell, and I haven't really researched it cut tight or anything like that, but best I can tell, they started to work on the book in '38. The program was formed in '35. The first sober member, w-well, first sober person was Bill. He got– he has– his last drink was in '34. So the authors of the Big Book were newcomers. They these weren't seasoned veteran. We didn't have any. And, and so Bill's the oldest guy, and he's got four or five years sober.
[31:54 – 32:41] And, uh, if that, I mean, it might have been about three years, but it was a limited amount of time. Uh, had a limited experience and, and unlimited nerve. And, and so they set out with this grandiose notion. It'd be like less than… Now, you picture this, less than this group, less than this group, that if– so as we just said, "We need to start a worldwide movement about something." That's what they were doing. You know, we need to revolutionize the world in this way, and we need to write a book. Of course, you gotta write a book. And that's how the Big Book came. The oldest author of the book had three years, a little over three years sobriety, and they go set out to change the world, and they started working on that book.
[32:41 – 33:28] I, I met a couple of the guys who wrote, who wrote the book. Uh, Bill certainly was one of them, and, and the other was a guy named, uh, Barb, what is that guy's name? Jim? Guy that was secretary and all that melee. Anyway, I can't think of his name at the moment, but he, uh, he was the guy who came up with what I think are the most important group of words, four or five words, in the entire language of AA. He's the guy that brought up– They were having royal battles over how to handle the spiritual dimension. I'm talking serious battles. And, uh, if, if you get in a copy of the original manuscript, you'll see what I'm talking about. The first draft would have run me out of AA in a heartbeat.
[33:28 – 34:23] First draft. So they were fighting over this stuff, and finally, this guy, Jim, he was the secretary of it, the guy keeping all the notes. He said, "Why don't we use God as we understand him?" And to me, those are the most important words in Alcoholics Anonymous. Without that, I would have never become a member. Had this been some kind of a rigid, religiously-oriented program, I would have never come through the door. And if I'd have come through by accident, I would have left immediately because that was a non-existent part of my life. Thank God that we, we, we use the term God as we understand him, and in the second step, we say we came to believe, you know, not to some o- some radical sort of a move. That very, very important stuff that happened among that group of rookies. And in '39, they, um, they, they started to wrap it up, and their idea was to take that book.
[34:23 – 34:58] They printed it on cheap, heavy paper, so it would look like a bargain, you know. And that's why they called it Big Book. It just had cardboard for pages, I think. Now, now I've got a copy of it, and it's not cardboard. It's close to it, though. And thick paper. And, uh, the idea was to send that out, particularly to physicians and, um, and, and, and, and let them trigger the development of AA around the country. Uh, they, they wanted to– They sold stock to it, you know. And so I think, I, I don't know what it was, twenty-five, twenty-five dollars a share. I think something like that.
[34:58 – 35:48] But anyway, they sold stock to sort of float it, and it wasn't enough. They just limped along with it, and they started mailing out the book. And by the way, just in case you might be interested, Alcoholics Anonymous in North Carolina started as a direct result of exactly that. Exactly that. The first AA meeting, uh, the first AA talk ever made in Alcoholics Anonymous was not connected to that. It was just before that. And, and, and it was one of those just kind of, uh, uh, hard to imagine things. AA is just, just, just starting to emerge. And in the book, it talks about how some of us are traveling people, and as we go around, we can stop and spread the word and make connections with people. A guy was flying into Douglas Municipal Airport in– what was then Douglas Municipal Airport in Charlotte.
[35:48 – 36:43] And if you've ever flown in there, most routes you're gonna fly right over a prison. So this guy's a new member of AA, and he's flying over that prison. He looks out there and he says, "I bet you there's some alcoholics in there." And so he had the f- he had the bug. And so he got off the plane, got directions, went over to that prison, talked to the warden, and said, "You got any alcoholics in here?" He said, "My God, I got a house full of them." He said, "I'd like to talk to them." He said, "Shoot, have at it." And so they assembled a group of inmates. That was the first AA talk ever made in, in, in our state. And so he talked to the folk. Nothing revolutionary happened, but except it started that breaking the ice. They started introducing this in a, in a very slow way. But that doc, he was located down in Shelby, just at the foot of the mountains here.
[36:43 – 37:30] His doc was in, in Sh-Shelby, and, uh, he was not an alcoholic. He was a drug addict. And, and so he got the book, and he, he read the book, and, and he saw that there was something important here. He also saw that it was not directed to him. But he had some friends, some of whom I came to know, that went to that first meeting. And, and he, uh, 'cause I lived in Gastonia for a while and, and, and worked, worked, worked a bunch of AA in Gastonia for sure. And, and, and they, so he had some friends. He invited them to come to the office after hours and had a little meeting room. And he went in and they, he pulled those guys together, told them what he had, showed them the book, and he said, "This will be good for you guys. It's not for me.
[37:30 – 38:21] Uh, that's not the problem I have." And, and but he had that kind of insight. And, and he to- said– and some of those guys, five of them, started Alcoholics Anonymous in Shelby, North Carolina. Uh, it was a while back on the fifty-fifth anniversary of that group. They, they asked me to come speak at the anniversary. So I went up, and I was excited about that. You know, I mean, the history comes alive when you see it real close like that, and I'd been to that group many, many times after it was well-formed. Went there, and the two nurses, that doc's long since dead, but the two nurses who were on duty were there at the meeting. Well, I mean, that just absolutely made it an electric environment for me. I mean, my God, here are the two people who were witness to the, to the emergence of Alcoholics Anonymous in my state. So I just couldn't wait to talk with them.
[38:21 – 38:57] So after the meeting, I captured them, got them in a corner. I said, "Tell me about that. Tell me what happened." And, and the first one I pointed to, she said, "Well, I didn't think there was anything to it. It just looked like a bunch of guys shooting a bull to me." And, uh, I said, "Well, I can understand that." And then I asked the other one. She said, "I, I didn't see it that way. It– I didn't know what it was, but it seemed like there was something important about that." And here they're both still here. You know, they're both good friends. And it was just difference in perspective. They, they see the same thing, but they see something different. And, and so that group has never quit meeting since.
[38:57 – 39:51] And that was the origin of AA in our state. Uh, and, and so it very much fell into line with exactly what they, they wanted that book to do. That didn't happen often. You know, and it's, uh, it's, it's always, it's just, uh, it's incredible to me about how AA has started in different places. I'm always interested in that kind of stuff when, when I go into an area. I, I, I always wanna know about where it got started and who's involved and all that. And I was in Springfield, Missouri, one time, and, uh, I asked– They had the archives at some place I was visiting, archives for Missouri. And I looked at the, uh, the beginning of AA Springfield, and one of the locals was there. The, the, the group in Springfield started, uh, because it started in Kansas City, which was a pretty good hike from Springfield. And, and the guys in, in Springfield heard about it, and they started to drive to Kansas City.
[39:51 – 40:36] Long trip. And so they would go down, and slowly, slowly their number increased. And they got up to five that were traveling to Kansas City. And one night they were sitting in their car, that they were getting ready to drive. It would all meet, take one car. They were sitting in the car, and one of those brilliant alcoholics said, "Why are we driving to Kansas City?" He said, "We got as many members as they got." You know. "Let them drive to us," you know. So, so the first meeting place, the first home group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Springfield was a car. And they met in that car for a good while till they got the nerve to get a place. But it's interesting how that, by that it is.
[40:36 – 41:32] You know, and, and there are just 1,000 stories like that are, that are just, just sort of heartwarming to me. See, I– what, what's, what's important to me about that era of our, of our history is that somebody ju-just like the folk at Shelby, everywhere that Alcoholics Anonymous began, it was because somebody, somebody stuck a flag in the ground and said, "We'll do it here." Took that lonely vigil of standing there till help arrived, and, and that's an eerie experience. I had that experience at Gastonia. Yeah, when I first came down there, AA was totally decimated. There, there was absolutely nothing. I'd just gotten out of jail, and I didn't feel like a rescuer coming to the rescue, but that's what I was, and I wound up having the, uh, the, the, uh, marvelous experience of, of developing Alcoholics Anonymous in a city. Eerie feeling.
[41:32 – 41:57] I've been to many, many meetings alone. And they're good meetings. I swear to God, some, some of the, some of the best meetings I ever been to in my life. Yeah. But just me, man. I'm sitting in there, the coffee's bubbling. I'm watching the door to no avail and read the material. And, uh, you know, business meetings are snap. Man, they said that. But, but what a good feeling, ain't it?
[41:57 – 42:31] Just to, sort of hold the, hold the flag, and then sooner or later s- folks will show up. And that's exactly what happened. All around this country, every locale has a story like that. It's– I always wanna know about it. You know, how did you get her going here? What happened? What's the, what's the story about it? That's always fascinated me 'cause it's what, it's what made this thing happen. And then later on, we started to get some wholesale numbers in, in here. There's some articles that, uh, uh, Mike showed me a copy of something I'd, I'd heard about ever since I've been in AA, but I'd never seen it.
[42:31 – 43:15] It was a copy of Look magazine, which has been extinct for 100 years. But it, it had a story in there about Alcoholics Anonymous. And, uh, so some stuff started to appear. We started to have a, um, sort of a support system growing up around it. Started to get some people buying into what we were doing and get some notoriety about it. A guy named Jack Alexander wrote one of the most important articles in the history of AA. He was a guy from Saturday Evening Post. They asked him to do an investigative thing. Rumor has it that what he meant to do was uncover a scandal, that when he came, he really wanted to take a look because he thought there was something underhanded about the deal. Now, I don't know if that's true or not, but it's a good story, and that, and that– and I'm told that that is a factual story.
[43:15 – 43:59] That's what he was doing. He came in, he prepared, and he later said that he'd never inhaled so much tobacco smoke in his life. Man, we smoked big time back then. And, uh, he'd never drunk so much over-sweetened coffee in his life. Uh, but when he got through, he had Alcoholics Anonymous in his pores. So when he wrote, he wrote with tremendous feeling in what he wrote, and that was probably the most significant landmark in our history up to that point. Because when that, when that hit the market, shortly thereafter, we were just flooded with 8,000 desperate people asking for help. Again, go back to this group. You know, visualize this thing.
[43:59 – 44:38] Take about half this room. You got 8,000 pleas for help, and we're it. We're it. How do you respond? Now, we would come up with creative ways to do that, and that's exactly what they did. That's why that guy was flying that plane over that prison. Said, "I bet there's some in there." He went to see them. And, and so– but that's how the s– uh, history started to emerge, with people responding to the challenge and, and reaching out. And, uh, great respect for that, that period of our history, you know, where folks rose to the occasion and, and caused it to happen. And that was, um, a, a tremendously im-im-important thing.
[44:38 – 45:27] We started to grow and, and, um, I just wanna, I just wanna mention, I won't have time to elaborate on it much, but a couple of rather significant things, and then I want to sort of bring it home before I, I get too far down in this. But I want to bring it home in terms of current events and what does this all mean to us. We, we started to grow, and, and, uh, slowly but surely, uh, just like I said, when I came in, there were 125,000 members, and it just kept on growing. Now, I don't know how anybody ever figures how many of us there are. I, I don't think we ever do anything but guess. Uh, uh, how do you count alcoholics? Good God, that's like trying to, to, to, to count stray cats. I mean, we got- I was in a group a while back, and they were doing the re– we do a nose count every once in a while. How many people consider this their home group?
[45:27 – 45:57] I bet you if we did it right now, hands would go up. Said, "Is this your home group?" "Yeah, I've only been here two hours, but-" Yeah, that's my– I said to the group one night, and they did the nose count. I'm the only guy in the room didn't raise his hand. The guy sitting beside me punched me. He said, "Why didn't you raise your hand?" I said, "I don't belong to this group, and you don't either." He's from my home group. And I– But, but that's what happened. How are you gonna count that? I mean, some people think if they sit down and have a coffee, they belong. You know, and I g– I said, "I'm a visitor." That's what it was.
[45:57 – 46:34] But that's why the numbers are just your guess is good as mine. But anyway, we, we started to grow and, uh, and take on some form. In '50, I, I wanna just kind of speed up a little bit to what makes this history cogent and, and important for us. In, in, in '50, they had the first major convention where folks came in. First international, really, we had some people from Canada in from the, from this country. And it was actually a, our first international. It was in Cleveland. And, uh, I don't know, maybe… I, I, I've hear different numbers, but I think somewhere around a thousand people showed up. And there's where the traditions were introduced.
[46:34 – 47:20] They weren't implemented, but they were introduced for the first time because we were starting to, to grow. And if nothing else, Bill Wilson was a true visionary. And what he put together as a game plan for Alcoholics Anonymous, many years later, still stands almost unchanged. Uh, he was truly a, a man of great vision. It had the convention there, and it, it, it came off well. And then, uh, traditionally, every five years later, we had the second international in, uh, St. Louis at a place called Kiel Auditorium. I, I've been there, and that's, uh, that's, uh… Well, let me just throw this one little thing in right now. As, as at Kiel one, one day walking around, there's a club about a half a block aw-away.
[47:20 – 48:12] And, uh, I went up to show you how we have, have evolved from the point where we were writing history at the Kiel Auditorium. I walked up on the porch, and there's a big sign, big sign, not welcome or name of the club. "We do not sign papers." And I just go cold when I read that. You know, what kind of a welcome is that? I don't care who you are. What kind of a greeting is that to Alcoholics Anonymous, for God's sake? And, uh, but anyway, it's just where we've moved as, as a fellowship. And the, um, and what happened in Kiel Auditorium w– has monumental importance to me and, and to you, too, if I may be so bold, to every member of Alcoholics Anonymous. What happened in Kiel Auditorium was, um, one, the traditions were implemented as well as the general service conference as the primary
[48:12 – 48:44] thing. And Bill Wilson stepped back from his– Now Bob was gone, and, and Bill Wilson stepped back from his role as the leader of Alcoholics Anonymous, and he was the leader. Anybody in the world would tell you that. He was the final authority. He wasn't voted to that. He just evolved as that. He was the starter of it, you know. And, and so in '55, he knew that we were gonna have to have some structured organization. And so, uh, he introduced– He didn't put it together altogether.
[48:44 – 49:50] There's, there's some other people who helped, one of them non-alcoholic, who helped design the structure of Alcoholics Anonymous, the general service conference and all of that. But Bill was a heavy, heavy player in it, for sure, and the final guy would sign the line. So this was implemented. And what happened that day, we don't have it here, but, but what happened that day and what I hope brings home to you and that, that, that you, that, that you will accept what was done that day, Bill effectively turned the fellowship over to the membership. Before, we were just people scattered around the country, but he turned the fellowship over to the membership and, and laid out that it would be handled by the general service conference that was representative and, and what decisions would be made as a product of the group conscience, meaning that the leadership would come one hundred and eighty from where it was, not from the top down, but from the grassroots up. Now, nobody could argue with that. That, that would be a marvelous plan.
[49:50 – 50:41] It is the plan. It's still in place today. Unfortunately, nobody knows it much. And, uh, I, I honestly believe if Bill happened to be looking down on how we function as groups and meetings and all this kind of stuff, I think he would say, "You gotta be kidding. You gotta be kidding." Be-because, you know, what we've done is, is, is… I, I just think we've abdicated responsibility on that for all practical purposes. And so what was done, he was trusting that the group conscience would respond. And when an issue came up of concern in Alcoholics Anonymous or something new that needed to be added, he thought it would be examined by the group conscience and then expressed. Our general service reps and our DCMs and our area officers and our delegates to New York.
[50:41 – 51:30] Now, that's what he thought would happen. And it does happen, but it happens frankly, at a very pitiful level. Acro– best I can tell across this country, including North Carolina, we will tend, when we gather to collect that group conscience and prepare our delegates to go to New York, we'll generate about twenty to twenty-three percent representation of the group conscience. And I would submit to you that's not a group conscience. That's a minority opinion because it's a small percentage of groups that… You know, sometimes we get people who are strong in service, and we demonize them as politicians. That, that stinks. That flat stinks. What they are is trusted servants who are willing to stand up and serve and not just sit back and criticize.
[51:30 – 52:15] Thank God for folks who step forward. So that was a critical place in our history, and the idea of the inverted triangle, that the, the leadership would come from the bottom, from the grassroots, and the central office would not be it. And that is a marvelous theory, but, but it's, it's more myth than, than fact at, at, at this point. Uh, I– that's not just my opinion. I've, I've, I've tested that across the country. I was doing a workshop with the chairman of the General Service Board at one time up in New York. And he, uh… I've, I've, I've had some things to say in whatever I was doing the workshop on. And then at a break, I was talking to him, and I said, I said, "Let me tell you…" No, before I s- I talked about that.
[52:15 – 53:04] I had a workshop on something else. I was meeting with the chairman of the board, and, uh, I said, "Let me tell you what my view is of, of, of how we function in our, in our, uh, in our conduct of business in the program. And, and I, I'll tell you in front, I hope to God you disagree with me." Then I told him what I just told you. And here's a guy with a worldview. Here's a guy who is imminently, uh, in touch with the facts and figures of Alcoholics Anonymous. And he looked at me as kind of a sad man. He said, "I wish I could disagree, but I can't." He said, "I see exactly the same thing." That's troubling. That is deeply troubling. When we've got the overwhelming majority of the fellowship, many just ignorant that there's such a process going on and absent
[53:04 – 53:41] at the table. Uh, that's, that's is– that's a bad news situation. And, um, you know, the only thing– uh, my, my, my belief is that, that what'll fix that is good, strong home groups as opposed to just little casual gatherings. Casual gatherings produce very little leadership. Casual gatherings do very little to express a conscience or have one. You know, it's just casual gathering. And so strong, purposeful groups are where th-this kind of leadership is generated, and it's vitally important. Somebody has to make decisions. Somebody does. But I want it to be representative of everybody.
[53:41 – 54:23] In big town, North Carolina. I never did find a big town last night over there, but except I got lost around a lot of little ones. But anyway, that, that's a huge concern. And, and it's something we can do something about. Uh, I do, I do– I've got a lot of causes of stuff that I'm concerned about. Everywhere I go, one of the things that I always try to work in is the value of, of solid three legacy home groups. I don't think there's any replacement for that as a valuable c-commodity in Alcoholics Anonymous, so I, I push that everywhere I go. And, uh, 'cause I believe it's vital. It's just vital. As Steve, Steve used a term, he talked about how we, how people get socialized into the program.
[54:23 – 55:06] And when you get socialized into the program, there's very little commitment to any legacy. You know, you just sort of wind up showing here, and it's kinda like going to a bridge club, you know? And so it, it is a, a vitally important thing. The last thing, I'd, I'd, I'd make two points at once. One at, one, and I, I hope you'll take it as some homework. One is the, uh… When, when– I don't, I won't have time to talk about this, but just use your imagination. Alcoholics Anonymous experienced some, some absolutely landmark changes when treatment emerged as a, an entity in, in, in this world. And, and it had major impact on Alcoholics Anonymous. Not in terms of what, what they did.
[55:06 – 56:08] What they did was fine. I'm a guy who never experienced treatment of any kind other than patching up wounds from fights or wrecks. I never experienced any treatment for alcoholism or heard of any. And, uh, and I'm deeply thankful b-because I've had some tragic experiences with alcoholics because they had nowhere to take them. And so I'm deeply grateful that there, there's a dignified professional treatment for alcoholics, deeply grateful. At the same time, realistic that, uh, when treatment emerged, that was fine and dandy. What troubles me is how we responded to it, how we reacted to it. Because rather than dealing with a new reality in, in our treatment of alcoholism, we backed off, and we didn't reach out to how do we engage and how do we establish cooperative relationships with, with professional c-communities. We backed off and started getting critical and, and, and, and, and discounted junk of, of treatment rather than seeing it as a new, new hope
[56:08 – 56:45] for alcoholics. And we just did a lousy job of, of stepping forward and, and really working out cooperative relationship. We have a whole arm of service called Cooperation with Professional Community. I'm sorry to say that probably seventy-five to eighty percent of the fellowship couldn't tell you what those letters stand for- Yeah … because we almost quit doing it. We almost quit doing it. When I run into a place where CPC is alive and well and happy or even PI, you know, man, I'm thrilled because it's few and far between. Few and far between. And so that's, that's, that's one piece that I, that I hope you'll give some thought to. That, uh, that…
[56:45 – 57:34] The other thing, and, and it ties to the, uh, c- to CPC in a way. When you start thinking about what you can do, I don't care if you're brand new in the program or whatever, but it's, this is homework you can do. When you get back to Big Town or wherever you live, when you get back to your community, your neighborhood or whatever, take a look, take a look. Well, I'll tell you what I did. I took a look, and it troubled me. I, I was over at the hospital one day where the detox was, and I was gonna go by it and see the patients, and I– there were no patients. So I went over to the desk and I was chatting with a person, and, and a woman was there who was the director of behavioral services. I g- I guess that takes a wi-wide swath. Everybody acts a little strange is in that category, I guess.
[57:34 – 58:19] That's what it seemed to be. And I, I, I told her, I was really pleased to meet her. I said, "Do you know why there are no patients? Uh, have we cured alcoholism in this county?" And she said, "Oh, no, no, we haven't cured it." And I said, "Well, why aren't there any patients in here?" She said, uh, "It's, it's, it's called money. It's called insurance. And unfortunately, in this hospital, if you don't have money or insurance, you cannot be admitted." I said, "Well, that's too bad, and, and it's understandable. I mean, you cannot run a charity here. You got, you gotta support it." And, uh, and she, uh… I, I said, "Well, what happens to people who can't get in?" And she said, "Well, they come into the emergency room, and if they have insurance,
[58:19 – 59:05] they'll be processed on in, and if they don't, they can't come in." I said, "Well, okay. Well, what happens to them?" And she looked at me and she said, "You know, I don't know what happens to them." Now before I get caught up in any kind of arrogant self-righteousness, let me tell you that I am the oldest member in my part of the state. And, and, and whether I want to be or not, I'm a leader in AA in, in my part of the state. Didn't run for it. It just goes with the territory. And I'm here to tell you I didn't know either. Now here are two people who ought to know who don't know. So if you wanna try to tackle something along this line, take a look at your community. Take a look at where alcoholics hit the wall.
[59:05 – 59:47] And they hit the wall in tons of places. Certainly in emergency rooms and in detoxes and in all this, in jails. Certainly there. But how about social services who see community, I mean, families in total disarray? Mental health clinics. Ministers, what a rich source. When alcoholics are in trouble and they don't have any money, you can bet the minister's gonna hear a knock on his door. And, and so any of these places, the, the, the, the, the business community, there isn't an organization within each pool of, of, of, of employees that doesn't have a problem with folks with problems with alcohol. And as these, these services become less and less available, more important for us to step up to the plate.
[59:47 – 1:00:34] So these are great opportunities to do simple CPC work. You're to knock on somebody's door and say, you know, "Do you have problem with alcoholic employees or clients or what have you? And if so, we would be pr- uh, pleased to help, uh, to provide service. Just simply contact us." That's CPC, how to set up cooperative relationships. Vital, vital stuff. And as we get less and less in the way of phys– of, of, of pr-professional agencies, this is gonna become more and more important. So anyway, I just leave that to think about. You and I right now, r- us, whether we wanna be or not, you and I are writing the next implement– in-increment of AA history. I hope we write a worthwhile history.
[1:00:34 – 1:00:36] Thanks.