Not-God (63 page)

44
    Interview with John C. Ford, S.J., 12 April 1977; Thomsen, pp. 309-310; on “demand,” Wilson,
LM; cf
. also the discussion of
12;12
, below, pp. 125-126.

45
    
AACA
, p. 190; Wilson to Clarence S., 23 April 1940; trs. of Clarence S., Bob E., Marty Mann, Norm Y., Oscar W. Clarence S., letter to writer of 25 August 1977 and interview of 6 October 1978; Warren C, interview of 7 September 1977.

46
    Thomsen, p. 311, refers in passing to Alexander’s initial cynicism. Wilson treated it deeply at
LM
, but generally deleted this stress in
AACA
— yet
cf
. p. 35.

47
    
AACA
, p. 35, 190-191.

48
    
Ibid.
, Wilson to Clarence S., 22 January 1941.

49
    Alexander (Philadelphia) to Wilson, 14 December 1949; telegram covering article manuscript, 12 January 1950; Wilson to Alexander, 13 December 1949; Wilson to Alexander, 24 January 1950. Alexander served as a trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous from 1951 to 1956.

50
    
AACA
, pp. viii, 190-192.

51
    
AACA
, p. 26; Wilson to Jack Alexander, 13 December 1949; Wilson to Lewis C, 25 May 1967; to Ed. M., 4 April 1942; Earl T., tr.

52
    
AACA
, pp. 192, 196-198.

53
    The social and economic background of these early members of A.A. has been treated above, pp. 73-74: the stories especially in the first edition of
AA
make clear their treatment history and fascination with “how it worked.” A.A.’s early members had experience especially with the “Keely Cure;” some had also read Richard R. Peabody’s
The Common Sense of Drinking; cf
. interview with Ruth H., 30 September 1978, with Lois Wilson, 2 October 1978. The significance of this contact will be evaluated in
Part Two
of the present study.

54
    To grasp this at depth, the reader may wish to read the whole of
Chapter Five
of
AA
, “How It Works,” pp. 58-71; if so, be sure to go on to read at least the opening sentences of
Chapters 6
and
7
: “… what shall we do about it?” followed by four “we have” sentences (p. 72); “Practical experience shows” as the opening words, p. 89.

55
    
12&12
, p. 97;
cf
. Wilson to Harry M., 21 January 1942.

56
    Wilson to Al C., 6 May 1942; to E.D.K., 27 June 1961: two letters revealing this especially clearly over a two decade span. For Wilson’s self-consciousness over thus proceeding,
cf
. Wilson, “Alcoholics Anonymous Tradition: Twelve Points to Assure Our Future,”
AAGV
2:10 (April 1946), 7-9, the first public presentation of the Twelve Traditions, which opens: “Nobody invented Alcoholics Anonymous. It grew. Trial and error has produced a rich experience.”
Cf
. also Ruth H., tr., for Wilson’s first secretary’s consciousness of this style.

57
    The clearest statement of the early motive for anonymity being protection occurs
AA
, p. xiii; that this is not mere window-dressing for the book is clear in a letter from the director of Works Publishing at the time, Robert M. (New York) to J.R.B., 4 May 1939.

58
    For this understanding of Alexander,
AACA
, p. 35; the first perception of anonymity’s spiritual value apparently came from outside A.A.: J.E.M. (Summit, NJ) to The Alcoholic Foundation, 20 August 1939; Wilson’s clearest pre-Traditions exploration of the developing concept of anonymity appears in two articles: “A Tradition Born of Our Anonymity — by Bill,”
AAGV
2:8 (January 1946), 2, 10; “Our Anonymity is Both Inspiration and Safety — by Bill,”
AAGV
2:10 (March 1946), 1, 5.

The best brief history of A.A.’s evolving understanding of anonymity is “Why Alcoholics Anonymous is Anonymous — by Bill,” reprinted in
AACA
, pp. 286-294. Even briefer is an aside of Wilson in a letter to Robert B., 6 February 1963: “Anonymity was first conceived for A.A. as a mere protection; but unconsciously we made a spiritual ten-strike of large dimensions, too — something that more and more appears as time passes.”

59
    J.E.M. (Summit, NJ) to The Alcoholic Foundation, 20 and 31 August 1939, might have made this paradox available to A.A.’s consciousness, but it slipped by Wilson in his reading of M. as a militant “dry” — an inaccurate reading, by the way. Wilson to J.E.M., 11 March 1940, nevertheless testifies well to the point here: “Perhaps we carry the principle of tolerance too far, and if we find that to be true I am sure we shall be willing to readjust our viewpoints.”

60
    
Cf.
, e.g., Wilson to Ed. B., 13 September 1949: “Most people feel more secure on the twenty-four hour basis than they do in the resolution they will never drink again. Most of them have broken too many resolutions.”

Leach and Norris, “Factors,” in Kissin and Begleiter, p. 458, review briefly some of the literature examining this key A.A. idea.

Informal A.A. lore attributes this emphasis to early Akron: This has been reflected with appropriate citations in
Chapter Two
, above. The affinity to “primitive Christianity” lies, of course, in the parallel to the Lord’s Prayer petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

61
    
AA
, pp. 95, xxi.

62
    
AA
, p. xiv; for the discussion of as Tradition Three,
AACA
. pp. 102-103;
cf
. also: “Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous — by Bill,”
AAGV
3:3 (August 1946), 3, 7. According to A.A. lore, although Wilson was never troubled by an overwhelming desire to drink after his spiritual experience, Dr. Smith was consistently tortured by such periodic craving for many years:
cf
. Smith, “Last Major Talk,” and Virginia M., tr.; also Smith’s own telling of his story in
AA
, p. 181.

63
    “Final Report of the 8th General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous, 1958,” p. 20.

64
    
AACA
, pp. 103-104.

65
    
AACA
, p. 104. The tendency of some groups to impose special rules or practices before the publication of the Twelve Traditions is clear from: “Educational Plan,”
AAGV
2:1 (June 1945), 4, describing “The Wilson Club” of St. Louis; also “Rochester Group Prepares Novices for Group Participation,”
AAGV
2:4 (September 1945), 6. That the practice continued, in places, even after 1946, is witnessed by G.H.B. (Little Rock, AR) to Bobbie B. [A.A.’s secretary], 20 May 1947.

66
    The Tiebout correspondence will be treated in detail in Chapters Five and Six: for citations,
cf
. especially note #51 to
Chapter Five
(p. 354, below) and notes #12-16 to
Chapter Six
(p. 359, below). For Ford,
cf
. Ford (Weston, MA) to Wilson, 13 February 1953 and 6 July 1957; also Wilson to Ford 14 May 1957, 8 July 1957, 15 July 1957, and 1 August 1962. Father Ford, interview of 12 April 1977, said that he had been arguing from a “theoretical philosophical understanding” of “the need for visible authority in any human society;” he indicated ultimate acceptance that “for A.A., Bill’s ideas seem to work.”

67
    The reply quoted here is from Wilson to John M., 18 July 1962; the same idea infuses all the Wilson letters cited in the preceding note.

68
    The quotation beginning the paragraph is from the Second Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous,
cf. AACA
, p. 78; the two following quotations are from Wilson to Ford, 15 July 1957; and
12&12
, p. 178.

69
    For Shoemaker leaving the OG,
cf
. Clark,
The Oxford Group
, pp. 54, 80; Shoemaker (New York) to Wilson, 27 June 1949: “God has saved you from the love of the spotlight, Bill, at least if not from the love of it — from getting too much into it, and it is one of the biggest things about you. … If dear Frank could have learned the same lesson long ago MRA might have changed the face of the earth.”

70
    The evidence for this will unfold in the following two chapters. The best citation here is Wilson’s plea, in his own and Dr. Bob Smith’s name, “Why Can’t We Join A.A. Too!”
AAGV
4:5 (October 1947), 3, 7; for Wilson’s later understanding of this history, Wilson to John M.. 18 July 1962; Wilson to Jerry E., 28 April 1965.

V 1941–1955

1
     Wilson’s 1957 published history,
AACA
, which contains the historical presentations made at the 1955 “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age” convention, treats of this period directly on pp. 198-221 and indirectly on pp. 1-48,
passim
, beyond itself being a part of this history. The sixth printing of
AACA
(1975) carries the schematic “Landmarks in A.A. History” forward to 1975, pp. ix-xi. Thomsen treats the period from the
SEP
story of 1941 to the 1955 convention on pp. 313-354.

2
     Reprinted in
AACA
, p. 301; Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith died on 16 November 1950: “Dr. Bob” [eulogy by Wilson],
AAGV
, 7:8 (January 1951), 3, says “nineteenth”: no doubt the most egregious example of Wilson’s lack of memory for dates.

3
     
AACA
, pp. 198-199; for color and detail, Ruth H., tr.

4
     A.A. General Service Office figures, compiled by Jim H. The best evaluative analysis of A.A. membership figures is offered by Leach and Norris, “Factors,” pp. 443-450.

“The first non-American branch [of A.A.] was formed in Sydney [Australia] in October, 1944”: S. J. Minogue, “Alcoholics Anonymous,”
Medical Journal of Australia
35 (1st): 586 (1948).

The
AAGV
in almost every issue through the final year of World War II carried letters from servicemen that taken together confirm the point in the final sentence;
cf
. also
AACA
, p. 200.

5
     
AACA
, p. 203; the
AAGV
also of course dates from this period, partially as a partial response to the same problem:
cf. AACA
, pp. 201-202; also Wilson’s lead editorial, “The Shape of Things to Come,”
AAGV
1:1 (June 1944), 1; the purpose noted here is more clear in [Wilson], “The Grapevine: Past, Present, and Future,”
AAGV
2:2 (July 1945), 1.

Wilson’s letter style has been treated above, pp. 103-104.

6
     
AACA
, p. 203; “Twelve Suggested Points for A.A. Tradition,”
AAGV
, 2:11 (April 1946), 2-3; “Tradition Week Issue,”
AAGV
6:6 (November 1949), 1-15; pamphlet “A.A. Tradition: How It Developed — by Bill W.” (New York: A.A. World Services, 1955), pp. 3-6;
cf
. also Wilson,
LM
; “Fellowship,” p. 467; and as especially revealing of the problems, the correspondence between Wilson and Carl K. — e.g., Carl K. (Chattanooga, TN) to Wilson, 9 October 1945; Wilson to Carl K., 23 October 1945 and 14 November 1945.

For Wilson’s application of these developing principles to another area at this time,
cf
. Wilson to Royal S., 12 March 1946,
re
the organization of the
AAGV
and A.A. as “a new form of society.” This letter makes especially clear that Bill’s fear of “centralized authority” was rooted in his understanding of “the history of religions.”

7
     The “short form” of the Twelve Traditions may be found in
AACA
, p. 78, or
AA
, p. 564. The “long form” is reprinted in
AA
, pp. 565-568, and discussed in
AACA
, pp. 97-137. The long form was originally published in
AAGV
2:11 (April 1946), 2-3; the short form, in AAGV 6:6 (November 1949), 16-17. The Traditions were officially adopted by the fellowship in June 1950:
AACA
, pp. viii, 212-213. On the omission of “honest” or “sincere” in Tradition Three,
cf
. above, p. 106.
AAGV
6:6 was the first publication without the qualification.

An intriguing summary note on the Traditions was offered by Wilson to Jack Alexander, 31 March 1954: “The whole A.A. Tradition is, in a sense, a result of my gradual adjustment to reality.”

8
     The early understanding of “bottom” and the backgrounds of the early members of A.A. have been treated in the first three chapters, above.

9
     
AACA
, p. 199, especially for the timing, which is less clear in the other sources.

10
    The best written example of the “conscious technique” occurs in the treatment of Step One in
12&12
, pp. 21-24; the deepest discussion of it appears in [Wilson], “A.A. Communication Can Cross All Barriers,”
AAGV
16:5 (October 1959), 2-5. The foundation for the understanding of “progression” was already present in
AA
, p. 30 (1st ed., p. 41): “We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.”

11
    “Evidence on the Sleeping Pill Menace,”
AAGV
2:5 (October 1945), 1, 8; “Those ‘Goof Balls’ — Then a Miracle,”
AAGV
2:6 (November 1945), 2, 8.

The tug to expansion may be seen beginning on the same page of the same issue (2:5) where Wilson first noted the problem. In “Pills and Twelfth Step Work … by an M.D. who is also an A.A.,” the theme was laid down that “The problems of the pill taker are the same as those of the alcoholic …;”
cf
. also the discussion in Wilson, “Fellowship,” p. 472. The developing and later concern over this problem will be treated in
Chapter Six
. Its complications were witnessed by such recurrent
AAGV
articles as “Does a Pill Jag Count as a Slip?”
AAGV
4:9 (February 1948), 3. That Wilson himself from even the earliest moment of this concern was single-minded
re
alcoholism is witnessed by Wilson to Carl K., 9 October 1945: “It is also a powerful tradition [note lower case] that A.A. groups have but one aim only ‘to help the sick alcoholic.’”