III.

History

A.A.’s roots date to a 1935 meeting in Akron, Ohio, of two men who had serious drinking problems—New York City stockbroker Bill Wilson and Akron surgeon Robert Holbrook Smith. Both men had been members of the Oxford Group, a fellowship that emphasized spiritual values and discouraged alcohol consumption. Through the Oxford Group and with the help of a friend, Wilson had achieved sobriety, which had eluded Smith. Wilson explained to Smith that alcoholism was a disease, and with this new perspective, Smith was able to stop drinking. The two men began working with alcoholics at Akron’s City Hospital, referring to themselves as Bill W. and Dr. Bob, thus establishing the A.A. tradition of anonymity. Their approach—that alcoholics must recognize drinking as a sickness that they need help to overcome—helped dozens of Akron alcoholics to quit drinking.

Inspired by these successes, alcoholics in New York City and Cleveland, Ohio, began similar ventures. In 1939 Bill W. wrote a textbook called Alcoholics Anonymous, outlining A.A.’s philosophy and methods. Later that year a series of favorable articles and editorials in the Cleveland Plain Dealer gained the attention of problem drinkers throughout the Midwest.

Around the same time, industrialist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., began to take an interest in the budding movement. In 1940 he hosted a dinner in New York City to help promote A.A.’s mission. However, the event did not raise money for the group because Rockefeller believed that the organization should be self-supporting. A.A. later established a policy that prohibited the group from accepting donations from nonmembers. The dinner did help increase public awareness about the new organization, and by the end of 1940 more than 2,000 people had turned to A.A. for help. An article in the Saturday Evening Post the following year helped boost membership to 6,000 by the end of 1941. Around this time, chapters of A.A. began to appear in Canada.

By 1950 more than 100,000 people had attended A.A. meetings throughout the United States and in other countries. Smith died that year. Wilson died in 1971, several months after speaking at A.A.’s 35^th-anniversary convention.