https://www.aa.org/pages/en_US/aa-timeline.
The text in red (comments and corrections of the traditional A.A. creation story) represents research by several scholars since the late 1970s. These comments and corrections are by no means comprehensive.
In the early 1930s, a well-to-do American, Rowland H., consults the noted Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung in Zurich for help with his alcoholism. Dr. Jung determines Rowland’s case to be medically hopeless, and that his only hope lay in a "vital spiritual experience".
The Big Book spin of “Rowland H. consults Dr. Jung and becomes a free man” is misleading.
Bill W. corresponded with Dr. Jung in 1961, and Dr. Jung recalled that Rowland H. had indeed been his patient. But the timeline is wrong. Hazard family documents clearly place Rowland in Dr. Jung's care for some months beginning in 1926 rather than the early 1930s. After Dr. Jung’s therapy, Rowland’s sobriety was intermittent, at least through the 1930s, and his search for a treatment continued with other alternatives of his day. Rowland never had anything to do with the A.A. program, and died at age 64 in 1945.
Back in the U.S., Rowland joins the Oxford Group, a religious movement that emphasized carrying its message to others. Rowland intervenes with a court to save an old friend, “Ebby” T., from incarceration due to his alcoholism. In turn, Ebby T. carries this evangelical message to his old friend and former drinking buddy Bill W. in NY, in late-November 1934.
This sequence of contacts (Rowland H. to Ebby T. to Bill W.) is true, although it is misleading to credit Dr. Jung and/or the Oxford Group as originators of the idea that spiritual experience can lead to recovery from alcoholism.
Ebby T.’s sobriety was sporadic, although he was as much as two years sober when he died at age 69 in 1966. Ebby was sometimes publicly critical of Bill W., but Bill remained loyal, and always referred to him affectionately as his sponsor.
Bill W. had been a golden boy on Wall Street, enjoying success and power as a stockbroker, but his promising career had been ruined by chronic alcoholism. He seeks medical treatment multiple times under the care of Dr. Silkworth at Towns Hospital in Manhattan, but to no avail. Bill’s wife Lois supports them by working at department stores. By 1934, Lois was looking into sanitariums, as she was advised by Dr. Silkworth that commitment for Bill was imminent.
Bill W. was never a stockbroker, more of a stock speculator. There are reports that he was a good trader, but this is hard to judge given the overall market growth in the 1920s. Wilson had success traveling the eastern US by motorcycle with his wife Lois, evaluating companies for potential investors – this was his own idea, and he apparently was quite effective in this work. (The motorcycle was a 1919 Harley, with a sidecar; they took turns driving.) Like many on Wall Street, he lost everything with the market crash of October 1929, and was substantially in debt ($60,000 in 1929 dollars; nearly $1M in 2022 dollars) due to his trading on margin.
Lois had artistic interests, and also worked as an interior decorator. While working at Macy’s she wrote an article on veneered furniture that was published in the popular House and Garden magazine. She was very much a woman of spirit.
Sometimes Bill W. is also mistakenly described as a “war hero”, but he never saw combat in WWI, arriving in Europe toward the end of the war. He was honorably discharged.
Bill W. is alone at home when Ebby T. rings the bell. Bill is surprised to see his former drinking buddy well-dressed and sober. Ebby announces that he had “got religion” and had stopped drinking through the Oxford Group. When Bill expressed doubt that he could accept the Christian view of God wholesale, Ebby suggests that Bill find a higher power of his own understanding.
Overall, it is important to understand that Bill W. was a story-teller, a myth-maker who never let the facts get in the way of a good story. It is clear that Bill never expected his versions of events to fall under any academic microscope. As one historian (Robertson) puts it, “Bill Wilson had a life-long penchant for embroidering the facts while accurately summarizing the gist of an event.”
There is much that is false or in doubt about this version of Ebby’s visit. The image offered is two men sitting around a kitchen table, Bill drinking from a bottle of gin in front of his sober, well-dressed friend.
However, according to one of her letters at the time, it was Lois took the call from Ebby. She invited him to dinner. On the appointed evening, there was a fourth person at the meal (a woman who rented a room at the Wilson home). There was no private conversation between Ebby and Bill that evening, except possibly at the end of the soirée when Bill walked Ebby to the subway station. Subsequently, Ebby did re-visit Bill at least once.
Ebby was there to advocate the fundamentalist Christian (Protestant) Oxford Group, and “God as you understand Him” was an alien concept to that organization. However, whatever words Ebby might have said, this important concept was Bill’s takeaway. Bill never varied from his assertion that this cornerstone of A.A. came to him from Ebby, although the idea was certainly reinforced by his subsequent reading of William James’ “Varieties of Religious Experience”.
Bill continues to drink for a few weeks, and in December 1934 again lands in Towns Hospital. There, Bill undergoes a powerful spiritual experience, never to drink again.
There is strong reason to doubt that Bill W.’s spiritual experience occurs as described here, based on his own writings. To explain, it is necessary to temporarily jump ahead in the narrative a few years.
There is very little detail of Bill's spiritual experience in 'Bill's Story' of the Big Book (written in May/June 1938). The following is the text, unchanged since the first publication: "I felt lifted up, as though the great clean wind of a mountain top blew through and through. God comes to most men gradually, but His impact on me was sudden and profound."
At this point, the event is described as a moment of sudden God-consciousness. There is nothing of a 'white light' experience in a moment of desperation, crying out to God while lying in his bed at Towns Hospital – these are later embellishments to the story, published 18 years later in the book 'A.A. Comes of Age' (1957).
'Bill's Story' in the Big Book represents his third draft - but two earlier drafts exist. The first draft was abandoned quickly with no mention of a spiritual experience. Bill's second attempt at his story (entitled 'The Original Story') was long and detailed. In this draft, Bill writes of Ebby T.’s first visit: "The man [who sat before me] was transformed; there was no denying that he had been reborn. He was radiant of something which soothed my troubled spirit as tho the fresh clean wind of a mountain top [was] blowing thru and thru me.”
Thus Bill’s first account of the 'wind of a mountain top blowing' spiritual experience was during Ebby’s first visit to Bill’s home. But there was a major problem with this version - Bill drank afterwards, seemingly inconsistent with a life-changing God-encounter. In the third (and final) draft of his story, Bill transfers the 'mountain top' experience to Towns Hospital a few weeks later, after his last drink.
Bill and Lois join the Oxford Group and begin to attend meetings at Calvary House in Manhattan, where Bill is inspired by Rev. Dr. Samuel Shoemaker. For the next several months, Bill tries to carry his message of hope to other alcoholics, with no success. Dr. Silkworth counsels Bill to do less preaching and speak more about alcoholism as an illness.
Dr. Silkworth may have been the first to apply the word “allergy” but the disease concept of alcoholism was at least 150 years old. The prevailing view of alcoholism, however, remained that of a moral deficiency. It would be the later success of A.A. itself that would begin to change the societal attitude.
A business opportunity (takeover bid) takes Bill to Akron, Ohio, but the deal quickly goes bad. He finds himself pacing the lobby at the Mayflower Hotel, contemplating whether to join the convivial atmosphere he hears from the bar. Instead, he consults a church directory with the aim of finding someone who might lead him to an alcoholic with whom he could talk. After several tries, he connects and is referred to Henrietta Seiberling, a local Oxford Group member. She has been trying for two years to bring Dr. Bob Smith, a local physician and fellow Oxford Group member, to sobriety.
The story of the Oxford Group in Akron, Ohio is not often told, but very interesting and critical to a full understanding of the evolution of events. Akron is a small industrial city built upon the manufacture of rubber tires. Accordingly, the family names of Firestone and Seiberling (founder of Goodyear) were very prominent, and both enter into the story.
The Oxford Group had been a presence in Akron since 1924. Unlike their associates at New York’s Calvary Church, the Akronites had a zeal for the special task of helping alcoholics. This passion arose from the 1931 conversion by the Oxford Group of Russell “Bud” Firestone, son of tire tycoon Harvey Firestone. Bud Firestone had previously been a notorious drunkard whose exploits had exasperated and humiliated his prominent family. The Firestone tycoon, in his appreciation to the Oxford Group, hosted a ten-day event in January 1933. This brought the religious group to the forefront of Akron society.
Oxford Group founder Frank Buchman himself appeared at the gala. Rev. Tunks (who would take Bill's desperate call from the Mayflower Hotel a few years later) was among the dignitaries who met Buchman at the train station.
Henrietta Seiberling was present at this gala as was her friend Anne Smith (Dr. Bob's wife). Dr. Bob was not present and could not have cared less.
Though the drinking problem was not mentioned in newspaper accounts, Bud Firestone and his grateful wife were intrepid in their address at the rally. “I gave my life to Jesus Christ,” Firestone told some of the nearly two thousand people at the rally. Shortly after, Dr. Bob Smith would be dragged to Oxford Group meetings by his increasingly impatient wife.
Bud Firestone would return to drinking a few years later.
Henrietta Seiberling lives in the gatehouse of a grand estate, and the two men meet there on Mother’s Day, May 12, 1935. Dr. Bob reluctantly agrees to meet with Bill, but to only stay for 15 minutes. The two men talk for six hours.
Henrietta Seiberling was estranged from her husband, and more-or-less banished to living in the gatehouse of the grand mansion (with her young children). Strong of character and somewhat a snob, she took an immediate dislike to Bill W. that only intensified with time - this would have future consequences. However, at that time Henrietta arranged for Bill to move from the Mayflower Hotel to Akron’s finest country club. Bill golfed at this club throughout his stay in Akron. Wife Lois was not happy with her unemployed husband’s life of luxury while she worked at a department store.
Bill joins the Smiths at the weekly Oxford Group meetings held in the home of T. Henry Williams and his wife Clarace, both particularly sympathetic to the plight of alcoholics. Soon, at the suggestion of Dr. Bob’s wife Anne, Bill moves to their home at 855 Ardmore Avenue in Akron.
The newly-sober Dr. Bob decides to attend a medical convention in Atlantic City, and returns home drunk but quickly recovers. A few days later, his last drink is a beer (to steady his nerves) en route to a scheduled minor operation. This date, June 10, 1935, is celebrated as the founding date of Alcoholics Anonymous.
It is now universally recognized that the date of June 10, 1935 is wrong – the true date of Dr. Bob's last drink is probably June 17, 1935, a week later. June 10 is the date that the medical convention began. Many such dates had no particular importance at the time of their occurrence, and many of the principals of early A.A. were bad with dates. Many historians now question if the founding date of A.A. is best considered as the date of Dr. Bob's last drink - the concept of 'co-founders' and the elevation of Dr. Bob to that status occurred later, well after the publication of the Big Book.
Eager to carry the message, Bill and Dr. Bob search for another person to help. Their call to Akron City Hospital yields a prospect — Bill D., a lawyer (the 'Man on the Bed', as depicted in a painting by an A.A. member). Bill D. would become the third member of what was to become Alcoholics Anonymous, remaining sober for the rest of his life.
Although Bill W. did begin to work with Dr. Bob, his letters to Lois indicate that the main thing going on for him at this time was the continued proxy fight, as he still held out hope to succeed with the takeover.
Bill D. is sometimes referred to as the first try of Bill and Bob, but he wasn’t – there were at least two previous failures.
Famously, on June 28, 1935, Dr. Bob called the Akron City Hospital and told the nurse, a Mrs. Hall, that he and a man from New York had a cure for alcoholism. Did she have an alcoholic patient on whom they could try it out? She replied, “Well, Doctor, I suppose you’ve already tried it yourself?”
But Mrs. Hall directed them to Bill D., a lawyer and former city councilman, currently a patient in detoxification. Bill D. had already been hospitalized multiple times in 1935 for alcoholism when Bill W. and Dr. Bob presented themselves. Bill D. was impressed that Bill and Bob were themselves alcoholics. He still considered his own case to be hopeless, but agreed to meet with them the following day, and several days after that. On July 4, 1935, Bill D. surrendered to God on his knees and left the hospital, never to drink again. A week later, he was back in court, arguing a case. He hadn’t had that sudden transforming experience that Bill Wilson talked about, and he was an ambitious local politician - but by all accounts, he was a humble member of A.A. who was always there to help the next suffering alcoholic.
Much to Bill W.'s disappointment, Bill D. refused to write his story for the Big Book. The reason is not clear - but at the time the book was being written, there was great suspicion in Akron that the book was a Bill W. commercial scheme. Many of the Ohio members refused to participate unless reimbursed, or just refused on the grounds that Jesus never needed printed materials.
Dr. Bob’s famous collaboration with Sister Ignatia would not begin until August 1939. But interestingly, at this time, she and a young Dr. Scuderi were already working with alcoholics at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron. Oxford Groupers and Roman Catholics did not mix in Akron.
Bill returns home to NY at the end of the summer in 1935. He begins to look for prospects at Towns Hospital, where he finds Hank P., an ambitious businessman who becomes his first NY success. Another early success is Fitz M., a Southerner and the son of a minister. Both become Bill’s close friends and allies.
Hank P. is a hugely important character that has been largely written out of the traditional A.A. creation story. Through the publication of the Big Book, Hank P. and Bill were inseparable. He was dynamic personality, a high-pressure salesman, and a former high-level executive of Standard Oil. Some of his contributions, and the sad story of his fall from A.A. grace are detailed later in this account.
Bill and Bob both welcome alcoholics to their respective homes, resulting in many misadventures, including break-ins, thefts, knife attacks, and a suicide. There is a regular Sunday evening at 182 Clinton St. in Brooklyn, eventually moved to Tuesday evening.
It is quite incredible what the wives (Lois Wilson and Anne Smith) had to endure for the sake of their husbands’ sobriety.
In the A.A. creation story, 1936 is somewhat of a lost year. Bill W. worked intermittently in the NY financial district, and worked with alcoholics within the context of the Oxford Group.
Charles B. Towns, owner of Towns Hospital, suggests that Bill move his work to the hospital, where he could treat alcoholics, conduct his meetings, and share in the establishment’s profits. Bill tells his group of the offer — but the members object, insisting that spreading the message for money would violate its integrity.
There were about five people in the NY group at this time (end-1936), all still active Oxford Group members. Spreading the message for money was a violation of Oxford Group principles, not a breach connected with a program for recovery from alcoholism.
Charles Towns believed in Bill W. and his movement, whether his hospital could profit or not. Loans from Charles Towns would enable the publication of the Big Book a few years later.
Bill came under increasing criticism within the NY Oxford Group for limiting his evangelic work to alcoholics, and for reluctance to follow Group direction. Eventually, Oxford Group members would be disallowed to attend the meetings for alcoholics at Bill’s home, which prompted Bill to finally make a clean break.
The split from the NY Oxford Group in mid-1937 would be painful and difficult, but it must be understood that Bill and Lois had been faithful members until then. It was with the Oxford Group that Bill stayed sober for this critical first two-year period, and where he completed his transformation from religious doubter to unwavering believer in a providential God.
From Jan-Oct 1937, Bill W. had a Wall St. job with Quaw and Foley, involving much travel. It would be his last regular job.
In Akron, Oxford Group meetings continue at the large home of T. Henry and Clarace Williams. The recovering alcoholics of the group refer to themselves as the 'Alcoholic Squadron'. In late 1937, Bill pays another visit to Dr. Bob in Akron. Comparing notes, they are astonished to count 40 successes (mostly in Ohio). They become excited with three possibilities for expansion: 1) employing salaried workers who would spread the word, 2) developing a chain of hospitals dedicated to the treatment of alcoholics, and 3) a book to carry the message far and wide.
It is important to understand that the Alcoholic Squad in Akron would remain under the Oxford Group until several months after publication of the Big Book in 1939, and that the Oxford Group remained their primary allegiance. This goes a long way to explaining the gulf that would develop between the NY and Akron contingents.
Only Bill was excited about these three initiatives. Dr. Bob was in dire financial straits - his medical practice never recovered - but he had a greater interest in working directly with alcoholics than expanding the movement. On the other hand, Bill justified his ambitious plans with an appeal to conscience – expanding by word-of-mouth would take so long; how could they let so many alcoholics continue to suffer if they had the means to help them?
Bill (and his right-hand man Hank P.) thought that there was nothing unethical in accepting compensation for this work, in the same sense that the head of the Red Cross is salaried. Again, the Oxford Groupers felt differently.
Only the book initiative came to fulfillment. Bill, however, continued to believe in the alcoholic hospital idea well into the 1940s.
Although Bill managed to engineer a narrow vote in favor of pursuing these three initiatives with the Ohio contingent, support rapidly crumbled. The men of Dr. Bob’s Alcoholic Squad in Akron would ultimately adhere to the Oxford Group principle of no remuneration for evangelical work.
Profit motive aside, Bill W.’s burning desire to help the suffering alcoholic cannot be denied.
Bill’s attempts to raise money for these initiatives fail. His brother-in-law, Dr. Leonard Strong, Jr., is able to set up a meeting with men connected to John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s philanthropies. A December 1937 meeting is attended by a panel of four Rockefeller representatives, Bill, Dr. Bob, Dr. Silkworth, a few other members from NY and Akron.
Alcoholics, just a few years sober at most, found themselves at the absolute epicenter of American capitalism - in John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s private boardroom. While Rockefeller was not present at this meeting (Bill W. would never actually meet him), it was clear that the richest man in the world was taking a personal interest in this movement. The recovering alcoholics were well-prepared and made their case for funding effectively - overcoming initial concern from the Rockefeller men that money would blemish the purity of their endeavor.
At the end of the meeting, one of the Rockefeller men, Frank Amos, pulled Bill W. aside to ask if he could try to work with Jack D., an alcoholic friend of his in need. Bill could not refuse this 'test case', and met with this prospect soon after the meeting. Jack D. accepted the cure, and would remain sober for the rest of his life. Bill was relieved, and the loyalty of Frank Amos to their cause was secured.
The decision is taken to send Frank Amos (one of the Rockefeller representatives) to Akron to assess the work being done there. In February 1938 Frank spends several days in the city. Impressed, he proposes a recuperative facility to be run by Dr. Bob. To Rockefeller he recommends a sum of $50,000 be allocated to this purpose. Rockefeller declines, asserting that the movement should be self-supporting.
Much of what we know about the movement in Akron at this time comes from Frank Amos’ report of his visit. John D. Rockefeller Jr., while denying the financial support of a facility, does make a one-time contribution of $5,000 toward Bill and Dr. Bob’s basic needs. Most of this went as a monthly allowance to Dr. Bob, and was kept a secret from the Akron group.
Despite the negative decision of John D. Rockefeller Jr., the Rockefeller representatives – influential men in their own right - still believe in the movement, and help to create an organizational framework. As a result, the Alcoholic Foundation (with a majority of non-alcoholic trustees) is formally established on August 11, 1938.
A foundation was considered necessary because fund-raising would continue, and Bill W. recognized the need to avoid even any appearance of financial impropriety.
Fund-raising would continue to fail – of the three initiatives, only the book remained as a relatively-inexpensive, possibly viable option. The Ohio contingent was firmly opposed to the idea of a book (Jesus had no printed materials), and increasingly distrustful that Bill W. was seeking to profit from his grand ideas.
In May 1938, Bill W. begins to draft what would eventually become known as the Big Book. At the Newark office of Hank P.’s business, Bill dictates his handwritten notes to Hank’s secretary Ruth Hock. The book is a collaborative effort of the existing first hundred members of the movement, with Bill acting as umpire on disputes. In December, Bill writes the Twelve Steps, drawing from the six-step procedure developed by Bill and Dr. Bob (derived mostly from the Oxford Group).
Readers are referred to Bill Schaberg’s 2019 book, 'Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A.' for an exhaustive academic treatment of this subject. Here, the attempt is only to point out the main points where the reality differs from the official A.A. creation story.
The book was a Bill W. undertaking, with Hank P. and Jim B. (the vocal atheist in NY’s early group) lobbying hard for the exclusion of God and an emphasis on the medical and psychological aspects of alcoholism. Hank P. proposed an outline of the chapters that remained largely intact. There was no input from Ohio (except for some stories, many of which were ghost-written). Dr. Bob was not even notified that the writing had begun until almost two months later, by letter at end-June 1938.
'One hundred men' would become a marketing catchphrase, but the book was not a collaborative effort in any normal sense of the term. The first eleven chapters largely embody Bill’s beliefs and the evolution of his own recovery. Chapter 5 with its twelve steps was one of the last chapters written, but the steps were mostly present in Bill’s first drafts of his own story.
Action in the context of numbered steps was Bill’s invention. While elements such as moral inventory were Oxford Group legacies, they had never been previously formalized as any kind of step program – in other words, the twelve steps were not expanded from any formalized previous four- or six-step procedure, as would later be claimed.
The services of a professional editor resulted in reducing the volume of the book by one-third. Four hundred copies of a pre-publication printing (the “Multilith” version, a sort of mimeograph) were distributed among members, friends, health care professionals, and pastors for comments and evaluation. The overall result was a great “softening” of the language, changing the tone of the book from one of prescriptions to one of descriptions – replacing “You must…” with “This is what we did.”
Harper & Brothers offers to publish the Big Book, much to the delight of Bill and the trustees. But Hank P. convinces Bill to publish the book themselves, financed by shares of stock in their own company. Hank writes a prospectus for what will become Works Publishing Company, with 600 shares of stock selling at $25 per share. Shares of stock are handwritten on stationery-store blank stock certificates. Thus, A.A. retains full control of its book.
In addition to retaining control of book content, self-publishing was forecast by Hank P. to result in exponentially greater profits. Bill and Hank moved forward with self-publication of the book without approval or even consultation of the Alcoholic Foundation. Given the extreme uncertainty to be able to follow through, self-publication was a very risky decision.
Hank P. and Bill W. gave themselves each 1/3 of the 600 shares of stock. The fallout of this, when it became known, would result in years of distrust.
Financially, that the Big Book made it to press is a miracle. During this period of extreme financial hardship for Bill and Hank, the book was ultimately financed with gifts, loans, and sales of these very dubious stock certificates.
The preferred book title is 'The Way Out'. But a visit to the Library of Congress in Washington DC shows twelve books already entitled 'The Way Out', and superstitious members do not want to be the thirteenth. At the beginning April, 1939, the first of some 5,000 copies of the book — titled 'Alcoholics Anonymous' — roll off the press, and on 10 April 1939, the first fifty copies are delivered to Bill and Hank.
Originally, the book was to be composed of just unnamed member stories, thus the authors of the book were to be 'Alcoholics Anonymous'. The evolution of how 'Alcoholics Anonymous' became a candidate for the name of the book itself is in dispute. It was Clarence S. of Cleveland who applied the name of the book as the name of the program.
The summer of 1939 was bleak for the movement. An anticipated Reader's Digest article fails to materialize, and other promotional initiatives result in few book sales. The bank foreclosed on the Wilson home at 182 Clinton St., and Bill and Lois would be forced to live with friends for the next two years. Hank P. leaves his wife, loses his sobriety, and becomes a harsh and vocal critic of Bill W. (Hank proposes marriage to Ruth Hock, who refuses and continues in her capacity as the secretary of the movement – Hank will always blame Bill for Ruth’s refusal to marry him). In Akron, the members from Cleveland (led by Clarence S.) announced their split with both Dr. Bob and the Oxford Group, resulting in bitter feelings between the two contingents (fisticuffs according to some sources). Already distrustful, Clarence S. (with a family connection by marriage to Hank P.) believes Hank’s charges of financial impropriety against Bill W., and more rumors are spread.
But the sun will soon begin to rise on the movement, and millions of people today remain sober one day at a time using the method outlined in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
SOURCES: AA literature, principally aa.org; Alcoholics Anonymous (1939) [the Big Book]; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age (1957); Pass It On (1984); Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980); Not-God, A History of Alcoholics Anonymous (Kurtz, 1979); Writing the Big Book: The Creation of AA (Schaberg, 2019); Getting Better: Inside Alcoholics Anonymous (Robertson, 1988)
