Not-God (62 page)

8
     
Ibid.
, especially the
Globe
Sports Desk for memory and verification of details.

9
     Bob E., tr., p. 20; according to Clarence S. (letter to writer of 9 September 1977), “thru the auspices of [two Oxford Group members of A.A.] the Cleveland Baseball Club was approached
re
Hemsley.;” for the final sentence, notes #7 and 8 above.

10
    For the Oxford Group concern,
cf
. notes #5 and 6 above; also trs. of Dorothy M., Lloyd T., Bob E., Dave T.

11
    For the “erroneous mention of the Oxford Group,”
cf
. note #6, above; for Father N.’s role, interview with Warren C., 8 September 1977, Clarence S. to writer, 9 September 1977, and interview with Sister Victorine, 23 December 1977;

for pictures in the Alexander article,
cf. AACA
, p. 191;

for anonymity,
cf
. below, pp. 104-105; for the Mary Mann incident, below.
Chapter Five
, pp. 117ff.

12
    For the significance of the geography of Cleveland, a city divided by a winding river valley and the eastern extremities of which are the precipitous slopes of “the Heights,”
cf
. U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey topographical maps. The best interpretation of the impact of this geography, although dated, is Agnes Dureau,
Cleveland: Etude de Geographic Urbaine
(Paris: Jouve, 1925); George Condon,
Cleveland, The Best Kept Secret
(New York: Doubleday, 1967), may also prove helpful, although less directly —
cf
. his Index listing.

For particular causes as “veiled,”
cf.
, e.g., the contradictions between and even the changes within the transcripts cited, especially that of Dorothy M., p. 12, where she remarks on her yet largely unconscious, lingering “dishonesty.”

On Clarence S. as himself welcoming the splits at the time, Clarence S. (Cleveland) to Ruth H., ? November 1939, makes this perhaps surprising point clear. It was further attested to by Warren C., interview of 8 September 1977. That Clarence felt differently as early as 1941 is clear from Clarence S. (Cleveland) to Wilson, 4 March 1941. The relationship at this time between Clarence, Cleveland A.A., and Wilson in New York may best be grasped from a letter of Clarence to the
Cleveland Press
, published on 21 February 1941, Ruth H., (New York) to Clarence, 25 February 1941, Clarence S. (Cleveland) to Wilson, 4 March 1941, and Wilson’s reply of 11 March 1941.

13
    This paragraph perhaps makes informal practice sound too planned and precise, yet it is what happened —
cf
. group records in Cleveland A.A. District Office; also the structure witnessed by Warren C. and Dick P. even as they denied such explicit formalization (interviews cited).

The practice of rotation apparently antedated the splits:
cf
. Dorothy S. (Cleveland) to Ruth H., 7 October 1939. This letter contains a solid hint that even at this point, Clarence’s personality and specifically his argumentativeness over his introduction of Elrick Davis into the group had led to this practice;
cf
. also Abby G., tr., where Abby claimed that this practice was formalized under his leadership after the November 1939 splits.

On Wilson realizing that Cleveland had set an important precedent for no central A.A. authority in any city (and implicitly acknowledging that such could not have happened in New York or Akron given the presence of himself and Dr. Bob Smith, and might not have happened in Cleveland but for the personality of Clarence), Wilson to Ed. M., 6 April 1942. The precise context in which this two-level localism (groups independent in any city; any city independent of New York) was based seems the matter raised by the March 1941 letters cited at the end of the preceding note;
cf
. also Ruth H., tr.

14
    Interviews of 7 and 8 September 1977 with Warren C. and Dick P.; On sponsorship as from Cleveland, a strangely underplayed facet in A.A.’s self-consciousness of its own history,
cf
. Dorothy M., tr., p. 8, where Wilson affirms the fact; Thomsen continues the underplaying,
cf
. p. 321, where it is a parenthesized aside.

15
    Pamphlet “Questions and Answers on Sponsorship,” rev. ed. (New York: A.A. World Services, 1976), p. 5;
cf
. also the earlier edition of this pamphlet: “Sponsorship” (New York: A.A. Publishing, Inc., 1953), which better reflects the early Cleveland practice (explicitly denied in the revised edition) in which the sponsor vouched for the serious intent of his “pigeon” —
cf
. interviews cited with Warren C. and Dick P.; “The Operation of the A.A. Ward,” where this practice and responsibility are heavily reflected — document in files of Rosary Hall, St. Vincent’s Charity Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio. Also informative is a tr. of Clarence S. describing sponsorship, 5 October 1978, in the writer’s possession.

16
    Bob E., tr., Clarence S., tr., Dorothy M., tr.;
cf
. Wilson to Clarence S., 6 June 1940: Ruth H. (New York) to Clarence S., 8 July 1940.

The perennial problem with “clubhouses” was their “mis-use;” in 1954, the General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous finessed it, declaring: “the problem is local rather than general;” Final Report of the Fourth General Service Conference, p. 25.

17
    Morris Markey, “Alcoholics and God,”
Liberty
16: 6-7 (30 September 1939);
cf. AACA
, p. 178. The
Liberty
piece did attract about 800 inquiries. These were disproportionately (1) from the South and (2) overtly religious:
AACA
, p. 178; Ruth H., tr.; Wilson to Jack Alexander, 13 December 1949.

18
    Markey, 6-7.

19
    
AACA
, p. 174;
cf
. Thomsen, p. 288.

20
    
AACA
, pp. 174-176;
cf.
, Thomsen, pp. 288-289.

21
    
Ibid.;
the direct quotations are from
AACA
, p. 174.

22
    
Ibid.;
the direct quotations are from
AACA
, pp. 175-176.

23
    The
Herald-Tribune:
Wilson to Irita VanDoren, 17 July 1939;

Percy Hutchison, “Alcoholic Experience,”
NYT
, 25 June 1939; unsigned rev. in
The Washington Post
, 13 November 1939; the
NYT
review may have been preceded by Dr. Silkworth’s,
The Journal Lancet
59: 312-314 (1939);

The Fosdick review, which is reprinted in
AACA
, pp. 322-323, appeared first in
The Christian Leader
, 7 November 1939, 20; it was also carried in:
The American Friend
, 12 December 1939, 437; and the
Friends Intelligencer
, 18th day of the Eleventh Month 1939, 751;

Other reviews appeared in:
Christian Science Monitor
, 17 August 1939;
Zion’s Herald
, 15 November 1939 (this review seems to incorporate part of Fosdick’s — without attribution);
The Baptist Record
, 23 December 1939; and
The Baptist Leader
, January, 1940;

24
    
AACA
, p. 182;
cf
. p. 15; Thomsen, pp. 294-295.

Two letters from Wilson to Dr. Bob Smith open the question as to whence had come the impetus to this — or such a — dinner: 9 November 1939: “Chipman and Richardson and some others of still more importance are planning a dinner to be held in two weeks or so with invitations to some of our prominent local capitalists;” 4 December 1939 gives the date of the proposed dinner, still not mentioning Rockefeller’s name, as 17 January 1940.

Many possible hypotheses could reconcile these data: most probably, the problem again lies in Wilson’s deficient memory for dates, “the February, 1940, meeting” of
AACA
, p. 182, the likeliest inaccuracy. Carlton S. (New York) to Wilson, 6 March 1957, casts minor new light on the impetus to the dinner and supports this hypothesis.

25
    
AACA
, p. 182.

26
    
AACA
, pp. 182-183;
cf
. Thomsen, pp. 294-297.

27
    
Ibid
.

28
    
AACA
, p. 184.

29
    
AACA
, p. 185.

30
    
Ibid
.

31
    
AACA
, pp. 185-186;
cf
. Thomsen, pp. 297-298, who says:
“Daily News;”
the
News
headline of 9 February 1940 read, “Rockefeller Dines Ex-Sots, Now Rum Foes;” the
Mirror
for this date was not directly available, so I here rely on the memory of NW.

“marked by the Ivy Lee touch”: many papers carried verbatim the Lee press release: “John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who has tried to hide many of his philanthropies and social reform activities under the bushel of anonymity, was revealed today as interested in a ‘secret’ organization aimed at regenerating alcoholics. The organization is ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ which started when three men who overcame their craving for whiskey and wanted to help others in the same plight began the movement that today numbers one hundred.” (Quoted from copy in A.A. archives). The “three men” seems a tribute to Hank P.’s continuing promotional ability as well as to New York provincialism — meant are Wilson, Hank, and Fitz M. (NW replying to my question with information derived from Ruth H., tr.;
cf
. also Jim B., “Evolution.”)

32
    "Alcoholic grandiosity” does not appear in the literature but is an A.A. catch-phrase which derives from this time: Ruth H., tr.; interview with Lois Wilson, 16 November 1976. For “dry drunk,”
cf
. Thomsen, pp. 301-302; for this understanding of this period, Thomsen, pp. 299-302. Wilson does not treat it directly in
AACA
, but the basis for this interpretation is clear in his later correspondence looking back on the period:
cf
, e.g., to Dick F., 30 November 1954; to Oliver J., 15 December 1950.

Yet:
two of Wilson’s letters from the period itself— to Ted E., 20 May 1940, and to Ned F., 11 July 1940 — would seem to belie this interpretation, as does Lois’s admittedly sketchy memory of it; interview of 7 April 1977. For present purposes, I have chosen to accept Wilson’s later memory and Thomsen who relied solely on this and here transmits it well. Even if this memory be didactic distortion, my point remains valid — indeed, is perhaps strengthened by the very didacticism in the distortion.
Cf
. also, below,
Chapter Five
, note #18.

33
    
AACA
, pp. 172-173, 179.

34
    
AACA
, p. 190, for the allusion; I here follow Thomsen, p. 300, but
cf
. note #32 above. “1955”: although
AACA
was published only in 1957, the section here cited substantially replicates Wilson’s oral presentation at the 1955 “Coming of Age” convention.

35
    Thomsen, pp. 300-301. This is not verified by A.A.’s scrapbooks of the period; indeed, more such clippings appear in the 1946 scrapbook. Unless the 1940 scrapbooks were pasted up later, which is indeterminable, this supports my point in note #32 above, and
Chapter Five
, note #18.

36
    Thomsen, pp. 301-302 (italics Thomsen’s).

37
    Thomsen, p. 301.

38
    
Ibid.;
Clarence S. interview of 6 October 1978; the “resentment” quotation is from
AA
, p. 66. “How It Works” is the title of the key
Chapter Five
of
AA
.

39
    Thomsen, pp. 304-306. The description of the clubhouse and rooms is from Lois Wilson, interview of 7 April 1977. The “financial trickery” reference here is not to be confused with Wilson’s 1942 problems with Clarence and Cleveland, also instigated by Hank P. (concerning which,
cf
. Thomsen, pp. 321-322). The 1940 misunderstanding concerned the Alcoholic Foundation’s taking over of Bill’s and Hank’s shares in the Big Book: the stock scheme alluded to above, p. 68,
cf
. p. 91.

40
    The future writing would be in
12&12
, to be treated in
Chapter Five
. The story of Father Dowling, which begins here, does not appear in
AACA
, but was told by Wilson in loving detail at/in
LM
. The details of content and description here and in the following paragraphs are drawn from
LM
, Thomsen (who here captures well the tone of Wilson, tr.), many scattered references to the scene in Wilson’s letters, the interviews previously cited with Lois Wilson and Nell Wing, who described Bill’s oral tellings of the incident, and the interviews cited in the following note.

41
    The description of Dowling, the man and his style, is taken from the just cited sources and also from John C. Ford, S.J., interview of 12 April 1977, who offered his memory of Dowling’s memory of this meeting, and interview of 23 February 1979 with Joseph F. MacFarlane, S.J., who succeeded Dowling as editor of
The Queen’s Work
. Father Ford, incidentally, is one of many who find difficulty intuiting the parallel which Dowling discerned. As editor
of The Queen’s Work
, Dowling eventually published a pamphlet tracing the parallel: Ford had seen it, but I have been unable to locate a copy.

42
    Thomsen, p. 309. Wilson’s consciousness of “taking his Fifth” with Dowling perdured: he presented this as “a second conversion experience” in a letter to Pat M., 24 May 1969. Through the years, Wilson often sought Dowling’s advice on troublesome matters; e.g., a proposed movie on A.A., Wilson to Dowling, 16 March 1944; proposed changes in the Foundation, Wilson to Dowling 5 November 1945.

43
    Thomsen, pp. 308-310, 367; Wilson to Dowling, 24 September 1947 (quoted in note #46 to
Chapter Two
, above).