Not-God (57 page)

II 1935–1937

1
     
AACA
, p. 71;
cf. AA
, p. 184, Bill D’s story as it appeared in the second edition, for the date; a later date is also implied in
AA
, p. 156; Thomsen, p. 243, follows
AACA
uncritically: “The next morning.…”

The nurse’s conversation:
AACA
, p. 71;
LM; AA
, p. 156.

Perhaps because Wilson in
LM
(and apparently orally elsewhere) mistakenly implied so, it is often assumed that Bill D. was the first alcoholic approached by Wilson and Smith. A too regularly overlooked aside,
AACA
, p. 72, belies this misconception; this aside, it might also be noted, indicates a date much closer to 28 June than to 11 June. Further, Anne C. of Akron, interview of 7 September 1977, offered the name — Ed R. — of the alcoholic reputed in Akron tradition to have “missed the chance to be ‘A.A. #3.’” A neighbor of the Smith’s (Sue G., tr.), he was not hospitalized; thus Bill D. accurately remains “the first man on the bed.” Edgar R. (Youngstown, OH) to Wilson, 8 February 1957 bears this out and offers his own memory of the circumstances and sequence. According to Mr. R., he was approached
before
Dr. Smith’s Atlantic City “slip,” lived at the Smiths with Bill and Bob for a time, and accompanied A.A.’s co-founders on their first hospital visit to Bill D. In his own summary: “My own distinction is that I was the first one in Akron NOT to make the grade” (emphasis R’s.).

2
     For Bill D.’s background, his story,
AA
, pp. 182-192;
cf
. also
AACA
, p. 72,
AA
, pp. 156-158. “Eight times in six months”:
AA
, pp. 156 and 184; Wilson,
AACA
, p. 72 and
LM
, says “six times in four months” — of course compatible.

3
     The private room:
LM; AA
, pp. 157, 184 — the latter also for Bill D.’s thoughts; at Dr. Smith’s expense: according to Henrietta D. (Bill D.’s wife), tr.

4
     
AA
, pp. 184-185 (italics Bill D.’s).

5
     
AA
, p. 185.

6
     
AA
, pp. 185-186; the “But I’m different”
verbatim: LM
.

7
     
AACA, p
. 72;
cf. AA
, p. 186.

8
     
AA
, pp. 187-190. Wilson,
AACA
, p. 72, here as earlier says, “The next day,” implying after the initial visit: the circumstances of both narrations incline me to accept Bill D.’s memory,
AA
, p. 189: “in the next two or three days.…”

9
     No citation is available for Wilson’s state of mind here, although it is hinted at in
LM
. My interpretation also rests on: (1) the history yet to unfold; (2) Ernie G., tr. — Ernie was the only other Akron alcoholic to achieve sobriety in this period (but
cf
. note #16 below): a lukewarm Grouper, he spoke to Wilson about this concern; (3) Henrietta Seiberling, interview of 6 April 1977, supporting (4) HS, “Origins,” [p. 6], on Wilson (and here also Smith) “in the early days [saying] ‘Henrietta, I don’t think we should talk too much about religion or God.’”

10
    Wilson, tr.; Lois Wilson, interview of 7 April 1977; Thomsen, p. 249, obfuscates with “there had been no further developments in Bill’s proxy fight.”

11
    “Dr. Bob” [explicit eulogy tribute — “by Bill” — distinct from the following],
AAGV
7:8 (January 1951), 4; “Dr. Bob,”
AAGV
7:8 (January 1951), 22; Obituary of Anne Smith,
AAGV
7:1 (June 1950), 3-4; Wilson tr.: “We much favored the Apostle James. The definition of love in Corinthians also played a great part in our discussions.”
Cf
. Smith, “Last Major Talk,” pp. 8-9, also Sue G., tr., and Virginia M. tr.

12
    There is disagreement among Bob E., tr., Dr. Bob’s son’s taped memories, and Wilson, tr., on whether alcoholics lived with the Smiths. I choose to follow the latter two sources for this period (Bob E. was not yet around); this understanding is confirmed by Edgar R. (Youngstown, OH) to Wilson, 8 February 1957, and by the interview interpretations of Niles P. The incidents narrated are from Wilson, tr.; the role of the Williamses is also treated in
AACA
, pp. 75-76, Bob E., tr., William V., tr., Eve G., tr., and HS, interview of 6 April 1977; on the Smiths’ financial condition,
cf
. J. C. W., tr., Sue G., tr., and also Smith (Akron) to Hank P., 15 September 1939, and to Wilson, 23 April 1940.

13
    For discussion of the number sobered,
cf
. note #16 below. This ultimate “number sobered” does not, of course, mean that some others were not, at least briefly, brought to the OG meeting.

14
    Wilson, “Fellowship,” p. 466; “pussyfooting about the spiritual” from Wilson to Clarence S., 8 January 1940; evidence that this was stressed in this period is offered by Ruth H. [Wilson’s secretary] to A.J.M., 17 August 1940;
cf
. also Wilson to Larry J., 27 June 1940: this letter contains Wilson’s suggestions to an Akronite who, having moved to Houston, was in the process of establishing A.A. in Texas. Since Larry J. was himself a protege of Clarence S. (Clarence to writer, 9 September 1977) and this was the first occasion Wilson had, after the publication of
AA
, to explain A.A. in depth in writing, reference to this letter here and later is especially significant.

15
    Lois Wilson, interview of 7 April 1977;
cf
. Thomsen, p. 249. This writer was struck in his interviews of 6 and 7 April 1977, that both Lois and Henrietta Seiberling stressed that Anne Smith’s role in the beginning of A.A. has been much underrated. HS, who considers Anne with herself one of the “four co-founders” of A.A., emphasized especially Anne’s “motherliness,” “homeyness” [
sic
from “Origins"] and “the atmosphere and environment she provided which substituted for what the boys used to get at the saloon.” Lois enlarged especially on “warmth” and “motherliness,” also “the security and confidence she gave everyone who talked to her.”

The correspondence between Bill and Lois from the summer of 1935 remains closed. The feelings here recorded are based, beyond the interview cited, on NW’s report of that correspondence,
cf
. also note #62 to
Chapter One
, p. 258, above. Lois’s article was published in
House Beautiful
, 16 October 1935.

16
    Wilson, tr.; interview with Lois Wilson, 7 April 1977. The number of alcoholics sobered is variously reported:
AACA
, p. 73, seems to imply four; Thomsen, p. 249, says “five, possibly six,” but it is unclear whether he includes Wilson and Smith. Part of the difficulty here as in New York is that some who were first approached in this period did continue drinking but eventually returned and “got the program.” The situation is especially complicated because Ernie G. had at least one such slip, and since he was at this time courting and eventually married Dr. Bob’s daughter, Sue, his relationship to A.A. was somewhat special. If there be a valid distinction between one — or even more — “slip[s]” by an alcoholic who remained “close to the program” and a lapse of years actually drinking, then only Bill D. and Ernie G. “got the program” in the summer of 1935. Niles P., interview of 27 August 1977 and private communication of 3 January 1978, says “two or three”: his definites are also Bill D. and Ernie G. Our impression is that Phil S. — also at times mentioned as dating from this period — was approached only in early September; thus I choose to stand with “two other sober alcoholics” in my projection of Wilson’s thoughts in this paragraph.
Cf
. also Sue G., tr., and Wilson to Charles P., 1 July 1938.

17
    For “Keep it simple” as Smith’s favorite phrase and in the minds of most his greatest contribution to A.A.,
cf. AACA
, p. 9; as his last message to A.A., “Dr. Bob,”
AAGV
, 43; as his last words to Wilson,
AACA
, p. 214. “Simple” pervades
AA: cf
, e.g., pp. 14, 27, 28, 46, 50, 52, 57, 62.…

18
    Wilson would, throughout the rest of his life, be at times involved in various business and financial enterprises, too complicated even to mention in the present study. (NW, interview of 5 April 1977);
cf
. Wilson to Ned F., 11 July 1940, which reveals the problem: his wariness of being or seeming a “professional [alcoholic].” The problem of “professionalism” would haunt Bill over the next two decades: it will be alluded to in the notes at appropriate points. It is clear, however, that from this point — the end of 1935, he had begun to determine to devote the main portion of his time and life to work with alcoholics. The ambiguities inherent in this problem come through most clearly, for this early period, in Ruth H., tr.;
cf
. also especially Smith (Akron) to Hank P., 15 September 1939, and Ruth H. (New York) to Clarence S., 16 July 1940.

On Lois’s employment history,
cf
.
Chapter One
, note #58; Lois began to separate herself from Loeser’s in December, 1935; she finally quit 22 March 1936, still — however — doing some independent work as an interior decorator — interview of 7 April 1977.

The alcoholic as unlovely and self-pitying over this is a theme which pervades
AA
:
cf.
, e.g., p. 16;
cf
. also Wilson to Larry J., 27 June 1940, and to Al C., 6 May 1942, in which Bill analyzes the reasons for the failure of the endeavor described here and in the following paragraphs.

The “change of environment” idea also permeated Dr. Bob Smith’s approach:
cf
. two informal histories of the alcoholic ward at St. Thomas Hospital by Sister Ignatia (concerning which and whom
cf
. pp. 79-80, below) — files of Rosary Hall, St. Vincent Charity Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio; also, “The Operation of the A.A. Ward,” a fourteen topic treatment establishing procedure on the basis of past experience.

19
    
AACA
, pp. 73-74;
cf
. also p. 11.

20
    
AACA
, p. 74; Thomsen, p. 252; Wilson to Larry J., 27 June 1940, and to Al C., 6 May 1942. That Wilson learned more than the dangers of excessive dependency is hinted at in an early letter: “The first 8 or 10 cases never got anywhere, and there have been lots since.… We had a lot of conceit knocked out of us.” Wilson to R.F., 15 July 1938. For Silkworth,
AACA
, p. 74; “The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks,”
AAGV
7:12 (May 1951), 5, 7.

21
    
AACA
, p. 74; Thomsen, pp. 250-252.

22
    
Ibid.;
for the OG,
cf
. below, note #33. Wilson offered the best summary in “Memo,” p. 21: “The Oxford Group wanted to save the world, and I only wanted to save the drunks.”

23
    HS, “Origins” [p. 5];
AACA
, pp. 74-75; Thomsen, p. 256,
cj
. also note #33 below.

24
    
AACA
, pp. 74-75; Thomsen, p. 256.

25
    
Ibid.;
the direct quotation is my projected construction from these and the other Wilson sources, especially tr. and
LM
.

26
    
AACA
, pp. 74-75; Thomsen, pp. 256; interviews with Lois Wilson, 16 November 1976 and 7 April 1977. The direct quotations are
via
Thomsen, p. 256.

27
    
AACA
, pp. 74-75; Thomsen, pp. 255-256, clearly reflects the
tone
of Wilson, tr.

28
    Wilson’s analysis was published in
AACA
. pp. 74-75 — its essence is quoted just below in the text; his most detailed analysis occurred in a letter to McGhee B., 30 October 1940: this letter was made available to Jack Alexander under the condition “not to be quoted” (archive copy), a reflection of the continuing tenderness of this issue in early 1941.
Cf
. also Wilson to Elmer ?, 8 October 1943. Supplementing these “official” sources, I rely also on Ebby T., tr.; Clarence S. to writer, 9 September 1977; and interviews with Anne C. and Warren C., 7 and 8 September 1977.

Thomsen treats the matter scantily, pp. 261-262; the best previous authoritative analysis, beyond Wilson’s, is Irving Peter Gellman,
The Sober Alcoholic
(New Haven: College and University Press, 1964),
passim
, but
cf
. especially pp. 160 ff. Gellman stumbles here as in his whole analysis from a too Procrustean effort to fit A.A. into Nottingham’s sociological paradigm of “a religion.”

For the description of the 1955 convention here and in the following paragraphs, I am grateful to John C. Ford, S.J., interview of 12 April 1977.

29
    
AACA
, pp. 74-75 (italics Wilson’s).

30
    
Cf
. Helen Smith Shoemaker,
I Stand By the Door: The Life of Samuel Shoemaker
(New York: Harper & Row, 1967), and especially Samuel M. Shoemaker, “The Spiritual Angle,”
AAGV
26:1 (June 1969), 29-33, reprinted from the
AAGV
of October, 1955, pagination unavailable. A hint of this concern, and of Shoemaker’s own disillusionment with the OG and especially with Frank Buchman, may be found in Shoemaker (New York) to Wilson, 27 June 1949, to be quoted below,
Chapter Four
, note #69.

31
    Interview with John C. Ford, S.J., 12 April 1977. Father Ford disclaims having been a close friend of “Puggy” Dowling, but he did share this occasion with him. Ford himself is a significant figure in the history of A.A.: America’s leading Roman Catholic moral theologian in the 1950s and a frequent writer on the moral problems of alcoholism and alcoholics, Ford met Wilson at Yale in 1943 and mailed A.A.’s co-founder a copy of his paper, “Depth Psychology, Morality, and Alcoholism,” in 1951. Wilson apparently was impressed with Ford as a writer, for he sought the Jesuit’s editorial assistance for both
12&12
and
AACA
. Ford offered extensive editorial and some theological comments on both texts; his main concern — “too explicit MRA attitudes” — echoed Wilson’s own — “Catholic opinion;” interview cited and the extensive file of Wilson-Ford correspondence in the A.A. archives. My reading of Dowling’s mind in this paragraph is based on my sense of him derived from these sources and the Wilson-Dowling correspondence.