Aa history Lovers 2004 moderators Nancy Olson and Glenn F. Chesnut page

typesetter, commenced to place tiny ads in the Oslo newspapers. He explained

he was a recovered alcoholic who wished to help others. At last a prospect

appeared. When the newcomer was told the story and shown the White Plains

pamphlet, he, too, sobered instantly. The founders to be then placed more ads.

"Three years after, Lois and I alighted upon that same airfield. We then

learned that Norway has hundreds of A.A.'s. And good ones. The men of Oslo had

already carried the life -- giving news to other Norwegian cities and these

beacons burned brightly. It had all been just as simple, but just as

mysterious as that.

"In the final moments of our historic Conference it seemed fitting to read

from the last chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. These were the words we took

home with us: 'Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your

faults to Him and your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give

freely of what you find, and join us. We shall be with you, in the Fellowship

of The Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the road of

happy destiny. May God bless you and keep you -- until then.'"

Sources:

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age

Pass It On

Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers

Bill W., by Francis Hartigan

Getting Better, Inside Alcoholics Anonymous, by Nan Robertson

Communications from Tex Brown.

An undated talk by Bill Wilson.

Sarah P â€" GAO staff

__________

A.A. International Convention, St. Louis, 1955.

The second International Convention was held in St. Louis in 1955, and perhaps

the most important one ever held. It was the convention at which Bill

announced that A.A. had now "come of age." The five-year trial period for the

General Service Conference plan was over, and this time Bill received no

opposition to his plan.

There were five thousand members with their families and friends in the

audience. For three days they met to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of

the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. St. Louis was another centrally located

city, and for Bill personally had the advantage that it was the hometown of

Fr. Ed Dowling, his spiritual sponsor.

In addition to Fr. Dowling, many other persons important to AA history were

there: Rev. Sam Shoemaker; Dr. W.W. Bauer of the American Medical Association;

Bernard Smith, then chairman of the General Service Board; penologist Austin

MacCormick (between his two terms as trustee); Henry Mielcarek, corporate

personnel expert, Dr. Jack Norris; and Dr. Harry Tiebout. Many of them

addressed the convention and their talks are included in "Alcoholics Anonymous

Comes of Age."

Dr. Leonard Strong, Bill's brother-in-law, couldn't make it to St. Louis,

which disappointed Bill. Bernard Smith chaired the convention. Nell Wing

wrote:

"When Bill was trying to push through the idea of the conference, Bern Smith

was the only trustee -- or, anybody -- supporting him, and it was he who

finally brought a majority of the other trustees around to accept the

conference on a trial basis. He also helped Bill put together the proposed

General Service Conference structure; Bill called him 'the architect of the

conference.' Stocky in build, quick of wit and mind, perceptive, he also

relished a few drinks. He sometimes referred to himself as a 'so-called

nonalcoholic.' He was devoted to Bill and to A.A. until his untimely death a

month after substituting for Bill at the 35th Anniversary Convention in

Miami."

Ebby Thatcher, whom Bill always called his sponsor, was there as Bill's

special guest, brought up from Texas, where he had moved the year before.

Another special guest in St. Louis was Bill's mother, Dr. Emily Strobell. She

had divorced his father and left Bill with her parents when he was eleven

years old, and, according to Nell, "Bill seemed desperate to seek his mother's

approval all his life. ... He particularly wanted to have her with him at this

special convention to hear him speak and see how the members and friends

reacted to his contributions. Bill said it was 'the icing on the cake' for

him."

Nell added: "At the convention, I didn't see how Dr. Emily could have helped

but be impressed with her son, but she didn't show too much reaction one way

or the other."

Lois, of course, was also there contributing her ideas, enthusiasm and energy,

primarily concentrating on her Al-Anon Family Groups. On the Sunday afternoon

of the closing "coming of age" part of the program, she was the first speaker

in Kiel Auditorium after the vote to turn over leadership to the Fellowship

had been taken.

The second edition of the Big Book was published just in time for the St.

Louis convention, and was designed to show the broader range of the

membership. The original text of the first 11 chapters was essentially

unchanged, but Bill had worked hard to get new stories, often going to a group

with the express purpose of taping the stories of various oldtimers. In

addition to Bill's story and that of Dr. Bob, six others were carried over

from the first edition; 30 new stories were included; and the present division

of the story section into three parts was instituted.

Bill gave three major talks. On the first night Bill talked of what he called

the first of the three legacies: "How We Learned to Recover." His second talk

dealt with the second legacy "How We Learned to Stay Together." His third talk

was on the third legacy: "How We Learned to Serve."

Four o'clock Sunday afternoon was reserved for the final meeting of the 1955

General Service Conference. This was the occasion on which Bill formally

turned over the stewardship of A.A. to the General Service Conference, giving

up his own official leadership and acknowledging that AA was responsible for

its own affairs. He would later say: "Clearly my job henceforth was to let go

and let God. Alcoholics Anonymous was at last safe -- even from me."

Robert Thomsen wrote: "No one in Kiel Auditorium on the last afternoon of the

'55 convention would ever forget the sense of expectancy when Bill again stood

before them and they waited for him to speak. He seemed to have grown, to be

somehow a little larger than life, a man who just naturally created memories.

If Bill W. had engaged a Madison Avenue, PR firm, one old-timer recalled, and

if this firm had worked around the clock on his account, they could never have

done for him what he without even trying did for himself that afternoon. There

had always been a powerful affinity between Bill and the imagination of

alcoholics, and now this could be felt in the farthest corners of Kiel

Auditorium. Even at a distance one got the impression of a tall, thin,

completely relaxed man, yet with a tremendous inner energy; a personality that

carried over big spaces -- that indeed seemed to expand when confronted with

bigness. A warm light played over his face as he squared his shoulders and

then leaned slightly forward across the lectern like some old backwoods

statesman who'd stopped by for a chat. He was imposing, yet friendly, radiant

but homespun."

Bill wrote his history of this convention because he wanted to make sure that

nobody misunderstood what had happened at St. Louis. "Pass It On," p. 359

says: "In many ways, 'Alcoholic Anonymous Comes of Age' is a masterpiece.

Deceptively simple in its guise as a log of the three-day proceedings, it is

actually an entire history of the Fellowship and its place in society, with

whole sections given over to the vision of A.A. as held by those in society at

large -- men of industry, doctors, minister, and trustees -- who lived in

close relationship to the Fellowship. Published in 1957, it is Bill's

penultimate book."

While Bill had stepped down at St. Louis, Dennis Manders, longtime controller

at the General Service Office said "Bill would spend the next 15 years

stepping down." Everybody -- including Bill -- was having difficulty letting

go.

Bill continued to write, multitudinous letters, plus "AA's Twelve Concepts of

Service" and the "AA General Service Manual," which together form a kind of

constitution and a governmental structure of A.A.

The AA Concepts don't have the elegance of AA's Twelve Steps or its Twelve

Traditions, nor are they well known to many AA members. The Twelve Concepts

represent a unique and fascinating set of principles that describe the right

of AA's leaders to speak and act for the fellowship while establishing written

guaranties for individual freedom and minority rights. The Concepts were

conceived to protect the fellowship from becoming a top-down rather than a

bottom-up organization.

In June of 1958 Bill wrote to Sam Shoemaker: "St. Louis was a major step

toward my own withdrawal [but] I understand that the father symbol will always

be hitched to me. Therefore, the problem is not how to get rid of parenthood,

it is how to discharge mature parenthood properly. A dictatorship always

refuses to do this, and so do the hierarchical churches. They sincerely feel

that their several families can never be enough educated (or spiritualized) to

properly rid their own destinies. Therefore, people who have to live within

the structure of dictatorships and hierarchies must lose, to a greater or

lesser degree, the opportunity of really growing up. I think A.A. can avoid

this temptation to concentrate its power, and I truly believe that it is going

to be intelligent enough and spiritualized enough to rely on our group

conscience. I feel a complete withdrawal on my part should be tried. Were any

major structural flaws to develop later that I might help to repair, of course

I would return. Otherwise, I think I should resolutely stay away. There are

few, if any, historical precedents to go by; one can only see what happens.

"This is going to leave me in a state of considerable isolation. Experience

already tells me that if I'm within range of A.A. requests or demands, there

are almost impossible to refuse. Could I achieve enough personal freedom, my

main interest would almost surely become these:

"(1) To bring into the field of the general neurosis which today afflicts

nearly everybody, such experience as A.A. has had. This could be of value to

many groups working in this field.

"(2) Throughout A.A., we find a large amount of psychic phenomena, nearly all

of it spontaneous. Alcoholic after alcoholic tells me of such experiences and

ask if these denote lunacy -- or do they have real meaning? These psychic

experiences have run nearly the full gamut of everything we see in the books.

In addition to my original mystic experience, I've had a lot of such

phenomenalism myself."

The letter goes on to discuss this second item in great detail. The complete

letter can be found on pages 373-376 of "Pass It On."

Bill and Dr. Jack Norris had some correspondence on the subject of Bill's

responsibility as a living founder. Dr. Jack wrote: "You cannot escape being

'Bill W.' -- nor would you, really, even though at times you will rebel. The

best bets are made with all possible information in hand and considered. I am

reminded of a poem written by the mother of a small child, in which she says,

'I am tied down' and goes on to list the ways she is captive, ending with the

phrase 'Thank God I am tied down.' To few men has it ever been given to be the

'father image' in so constructive a way to so many; fewer have kept their

stability and humility, and for this you are greatly honored. But you are

human, and you still carry the scars of alcoholism and need, as I do, to live

A.A. The greatest danger that I sense to the Fellowship is that you might lose

A.A. as it applies to you."

Sources:

Pass It On

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age

Grateful To Have Been There, by Nell Wing

Bill W., by Francis Hartigan

__________

A.A. International Convention, Long Beach, 1960.

The third A.A. International Convention was held in Long Beach, California, in

1960.

There were twice as many people at Long Beach as at St. Louis, but the

convention seemed to be fraught with problems from the beginning. Hank G., who

was then manager of the General Service Office, was handling the preparation

for this convention, but while visiting Las Vegas with his wife on his way to

California he was stricken with appendicitis and ended up in a hospital.

Then Herb M., the chairman of the trustees' General Services Committee, who

was probably the next best person for the job, took over, but he was suddenly

stricken with a heart attack in upstate New York.

So at the very last moment another trustee, Allen B., stepped in to handle the

planning. Nell Wing, Bill's secretary, said that Allen was "a good

administrator, extremely capable and well-liked." He was assisted by an Al S.

Bill, accompanied by Allen, someone named Dennis Manders (whom I haven't

identified), and a staff secretary named Hazel R., went out to California

several days early to help prepare.

Lois and Nell Wing followed on the flight on which Bill had originally been

scheduled. When they landed, they were met by members of the hospitality

committee. After greeting Lois the committee members continued to wait around

until Lois asked if they were ready to leave. They replied, "We're waiting for

Bill's Chinese secretary." Lois laughed and said, "This is Nell Wing right

here," pointing to the obviously Caucasian Nell.

Nell said that "Bill planned to make a major talk on Saturday night. He wanted

it to be the definitive story of the how and why of the Twelve Traditions. But

because of the many distractions resulting from Hank's illness, Bill hadn't

had the time to prepare for this important talk. Nell spent the whole day

Saturday with him going over and over the outline and notes for the speech. "I

typed and retyped them as he changed and added," she wrote. "Finally, we left

for the open-air stadium on the ocean where the huge crowd had gathered."

A record cold spell hit Long Beach, which is extremely rare for July in that

part of the world. Nobody had brought any warm clothes, so in contrast to St.

Louis where Nell says they "almost melted," they almost froze.

Bill was very long winded that night. (It's always easier to give a shorter

talk if you have adequate time to prepare.) He went on and on for more than

two hours. Nell said it was the longest talk he ever made. To make matters

worse, the public address system did not work well and Lois and the trustees,

who were seated on the stage behind the podium, couldn't hear a word for the

entire two hours.

Bill later was often teased about his "Deepfreeze Talk" -- as he himself

described it. Amazingly, according to Nell, almost everyone stayed until the

end, shivering and shaking.

On Sunday, in the same stadium, the people who attended the conference were

treated to a spectacular show featuring a popular orchestra and some of

Hollywood's brightest stars including Buster Keaton, Jane Mansfield, Dennis

Day, and Peggy Lee -- all of whom donated their talent without charge.

Bill B., an entertainer who was the Master of Ceremonies, kidded Bill lovingly

about the length of the talk. Nell said that Bill laughed, too, and took it

all in good humor.

I'm sure everyone fortunate enough to be able to attend this convention came

away greatly edified. Nonetheless, there were problems. At least one oldtimer

felt hurt that he wasn't given recognition. Jim Burwell, an early New York

member (then living in California), whose story "The Vicious Cycle" appears in

the Big Book, apparently had written Bill asking for some role at the

convention. I assume this from a letter Bill wrote Jim on July 1, 1958. It

said in part: "I note that what you say about the upcoming 1960 Conference and

will suggest your name to the committee. They tell me there is still some

question whether Long Beach will be big enough to accommodate the crowd.

Judging, however, by the action of the Conference, I think we shall make the

best of what is there. It is certainly the largest center of population and

this would guarantee the gate at once."

Jim must have written again asking for recognition of "oldtimers" because Bill

wrote him on May 24, 1960: "I wish we had thought of an oldtimers meeting

earlier. I'm taking this up with the office, but I imagine the schedule is

pretty tight, as matters now stand. I don't know how we would go about getting

such a crowd together - where and how we would find them and so forth. But

I'll inquire."

Jim must have complained bitterly again to Bill about the convention because

Bill wrote a very tactful letter to him on August 8, 1960, just a short time

after the convention ended. In it he said in part:

"Very sincerely I feel not a little badly that the convention gave you and

perhaps other very old timers, an unhappy experience because of the lack of

recognition. When you wrote me, not too long before the Convention, about the

possibility of an old timers meeting, I did check this up. The schedule was

then in pretty air-tight shape, so far as the official sessions went. Perhaps

I should have followed this thing through more fully, trying to get some sort

of informal meeting together.

"As you know, Hank got awfully sick just prior to the Convention. This threw

added burdens on me. I must confess to neglect and forgetfulness -- at least

to some extent. As a matter of fact, the Convention ran a little bit behind

several thousands, we don't know just how much yet. There was always a

question of how many people we could bring long distances pre-paid, and on

what ground we could fetch them. In this connection, I did [not] give you and

Rosa much thought because you [live] near by. But I did think a good deal

about Henrietta Seiberling and Bob Oviatt in Akron, both of whom preceded you,

I think, A.A.-wise.

"Admittedly, I did not think of Clarence. Probably this is because he has

always disapproved of conventions and all of the doings of the New York

headquarters -- off and on he has had us under bitter attack for years. I

didn't mean to let that affect me, but subconsciously maybe it did. In any

case, you will surely remember that I tried to give all possible credit in

'A.A. Comes of Age' to you, Bert, Dorothy, Clarence, and a great many others.

"Considering the time at my disposal, I did not see how you people could have

been introduced in either of my talks. In the first one I could only show the

bare beginnings of A.A. In the second one - which was altogether too long - I

had to dwell on the development of the Traditions. I really don't see where

you folks would have fitted in - at least to the satisfaction of the audience

- in that respect. Naturally I had to bring in Ebby because, despite his lack

of sobriety since, he was at the very beginning. Sister Ignatia was certainly

due for a bow after all these years. After all, she and Smith ministered to

5,000 drunks - a number far greater than you and I ever thought of touching

ourselves.

"In this connection I also felt not a little sorry that Henrietta wasn't

invited. There was not only the question of cost. Though she has been

extremely friendly during the last two or three years, it must be remembered

that she has never cared for the convention idea and indeed, was against the

whole New York headquarters operation for many years. For several reasons she

wasn't invited.

"Maybe that was a mistake. I know that, for one, I was damn sorry she wasn't

there. However, I wasn't the entire boss of this whole undertaking, by any

means.

"I don't know whether you and Dorothy got to say anything at those Alkathon

meetings. Some of them were very outstanding indeed, and apparently rated much

higher in many A.A. minds than any of my efforts. If you were not invited,

this [is] surprising indeed, considering how prominent you, especially, have

been out on the Coast, well known to everybody. If this was an omission, it

certainly gives me cause for wonder, as doubtless it does you. However, those

arrangements were all made by the Coast people.

"Nevertheless I suppose if I had been thoughtful enough about it - which I

wasn't - I might have taken particular pains.

"I guess the upshot of it is that life never gives quite the deal we would

like. On one hand, you say that you suffer from lack of recognition, and I say

with certain equal fervor that I greatly suffer from far too much."

One can feel some pain for Bill in his efforts to keep so very many alcoholics

-- most of us with oversized egos -- happy and working together.

Sources:

Grateful To Have Been There, by Nell Wing

Bill W. correspondence.

__________

A.A. International Convention, Toronto, 1965.

The fourth International Convention was held in Toronto, Canada, in July 1965.

Bill and Lois were, of course, prominent on the program, and at that time many

of the old-timers were still active and at the convention.

Nell Wing, Bill's secretary, particularly remembered Clarence Snyder, who

started A.A. in Cleveland. She said that Bill spent "a couple of hours" in

Clarence's hotel suite reminiscing about the early days.

This surprised Nell, who pointed out: "He started a group in Cleveland in May

1939, the first group, as far as we know, to use the A.A. initials. (Bill had

been using the full name since 1938 in letters and a pamphlet.) On this

slender basis, Clarence forever claimed to have founded A.A."

"As long as Bill was alive," Nell notes, "Clarence was antagonistic and

hostile toward him. He was a leader of a small group of dissidents, who were

anti-Conference and anti-G.S.O., and who bad-mouthed Bill for many years. And

here was Bill in Toronto, chatting and chuckling with his bête noire and

enjoying it all. I believe that was the last time they met together." Nell

adds that a "feisty priest who had threatened to disrupt the 'Coming of Age'

ceremony in St. Louis, was at this convention also, but now he was loving and

kind to Bill and Lois and everyone else. He had just returned from an audience

with the Pope in Rome, bearing a citation for Bill. It hangs now on the wall

at Stepping Stones." [Was this Ralph Pfau?]

The film "Bill's Own Story," which Nell had watched being made at Stepping