Not-God (64 page)

12
    “Chewing your booze” does not appear in the literature but was an expression commonly heard at A.A. meetings during this writer’s research. Oldtimers Ed. J. and Chuck C., interviews of 26 March 1976, testified that it was in use as long as they could remember (mid-1940’s). They, as counselors at Hazelden in Center City, MN, witness to how the idea was transmitted — by individual A.A.s who worked as treatment center counselors. Hazelden is perhaps the premier A.A.-oriented treatment center and pioneered the concept of “chemical dependency” — interview with Dr. Dan Anderson, director of Hazelden, 11 June 1977.

13
    “Conference Highlights,” “4th General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous” (1954), p. 3: “[A.A.] declines with thanks a proposal that A.A. become publisher and derive royalties from sales of ‘Twenty-Four Hours a Day’ book on grounds that it might set a precedent.”
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
is a black-bound, prayerbook sized manual in perhaps greater use among members of A.A. than
AA
itself.

This theme and history will be tied together at the end of
Chapter Six
, below.

14
    "Modesty One Plank for Good Public Relations — by Bill W.,”
AAGV
2:3 (August 1945), 1,4; C.H.K., “History Offers Good Lessons for A.A.,”
AAGV
2:2 (July 1945), 3. Between 1945 and 1976, the
AAGV
carried twelve different articles (and several reprints of these) on the Washingtonians. Further, the Washingtonians have been kept before A.A.’s attention over these years by Professor Milton Maxwell, currently an A.A. trustee, whose deepest scholarly treatment appeared as “The Washingtonian Movement,”
QJSA
11: 410-451 (1950).

15
    “Modesty One Plank,” 1, 4.

16
    
Ibid.;
in some later A.A. literature, the concept here well-conveyed by the term
single-purposed
became obfuscated by substitution of the term
unity
as its too exact equivalent. After Wilson’s death, A.A. itself seemed at times to fall into this trap. The historical narration to follow in this and the next chapter should make clear both how the change in term occurred and the validity of the understanding proposed here. The shift in terms is best clarified by reading with an awareness of this history Wilson’s discussion of A.A.’s First Tradition in
AACA
, pp. 97-98. That this understanding is Wilson’s own is perhaps clearest from “Review,” where Bill treats of “unity” as a “legacy … in my own life” in the context of discussing A.A.’s singleness of purpose.

17
    Wilson’s Baltimore talk is unpublished, and as closely paralleling the Yale presentation noted below, I have not specifically cited it. It was delivered on 11 February 1943, the invitation from Dr. George P., (Baltimore) to Wilson, 11 December 1942, and Wilson’s acceptance in a letter to Dr. P., 9 January 1943;

The New York presentation was published as W. G. Wilson [the only occasion on which Wilson’s full name was published crediting any of his writings], “Basic Concepts of Alcoholics Anonymous,”
N.Y. State Journal of Medicine
44: 1805-1810 (1944);

Wilson first spoke at the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies on 12 August 1943, the School’s first year: Jellinek (New Haven) to Wilson, 22 March 1943; Dr. Paul D. (New Haven) to Wilson, 13 July 1943; Wilson to Dr. Paul D., 4 August 1943 — this letter contains an outline of his proposed talk; the Yale presentation published as “Fellowship” is from a 1944 transcript, but seems very much the same presentation outlined by Wilson to Dr. Paul D. for 1943.

Wilson’s and A.A.’s involvement at Rockland State Hospital from 1939 is passed over in this paragraph as exceptional and so not a witness to acceptance “by the medical profession;” likewise, a similar A.A. involvement at Philadelphia General Hospital from 1940.

18
    "pride”: I strongly suspect that Wilson’s memory of his 1940 period of "inflation-deflation” was strongly colored by his parallel experiences here in 1944-1946:
cf
. discussion above,
Chapter Four
, note #32. I am led to this surmise by the credited article cited in the preceding note as well as by what will be discussed and cited just below of the N.C.E.A. episode.

Towns Hospital advertising brochure in A.A. archives: Wilson to Dr. John B., 30 March 1944; notation of Dr. B.’s response [by telephone?] attached.

19
    The “Yale Plan” endeavors were adumbrated in a news story of 14 May 1943 (New York
Herald-Tribune
) —
cf
. clipping sent to Wilson by L.W. [New York], 14 May 1943). They were formally announced in a news-release dated 6 January 1944;
cf. New York Times
, 7 January 1944. The N.C.E.A. was in the process of becoming from mid-1943 to its formal inception on 1 October 1944. Essentially, its impetus derived from the Women’s Club Movement. In most of its early literature, a third concept was added to the two cited here: “[Alcoholism] is a public health problem and therefore a public responsibility.” The final quotation is from an open letter from the N.C.E.A., signed by David F. Houston, Jr., as Chairman of its Finance Committee, 4 September 1946 (italics Houston’s). Wilson had been invited to comment on the letter before its mailing — Marty Mann (New York) to Wilson, 27 August 1946, but Bill was at the time vacationing in western Canada. It is not clear whether or not he saw the letter before its distribution.

The history of the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (now the National Council on Alcoholism) is a separate research topic. The organization’s papers — and many of Marty Mann’s personal papers from the period — are on deposit at the George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY., and I have researched in them as well as interviewed Ms. Mann
re
the history that follows. In the citations that follow here, I generally use only materials available in the A.A. archives as furnishing evidence of A.A.’s awareness. The fuller documentation available at Syracuse supports at depth the interpretation offered, and scholars interested specifically in this facet of A.A. history will surely wish to examine it also.

20
    For the funding concern in the N.C.A. papers,
cf
. especially newspaper clippings from June through August 1946; for the tightrope:
Beverage Retail Weekly
, 8 January 1945, and
Mid-West Hotel Reporter
, 15 January 1945. The early funding concern is reflected in Harry S. (Detroit) to Wilson, 7 February 1945, and Wilson’s response of 9 February 1945. A hint of its perdurance in memory may be found in the jacket blurb to Dr. Jellinek’s classic study,
The Disease Concept of Alcoholism:
‘“An honest publisher,’ Professor Jellinek remarked one day, ‘would warn on the jacket of this book that temperance societies and the alcoholic beverage industry should not read it. It will not make them happy.’”

21
    Thomsen, p. 211; Marty Mann, tr. and interview of 15 November 1977; the point in the final sentence, if not sufficiently clear already, should become so as this study continues.

22
    The Marty Mann publicity first appeared in the Pittsburgh, PA. newspapers:
cf
. both the
Post-Gazette
and the
Press
for 28 and 29 April 1944. The most extensive New York City coverage appeared in the
Herald-Tribune
of 9 October 1944; Ms. Mann was featured in a
TIME
story of 23 October 1944. That all this publicity did not at this point harm Mann’s role within A.A. is clear, e.g., from a request for her help with a special
AAGV
issue on women: Maeve S.
[AAGV
staff member] (New York) to Mann, 29 March 1945. Also, the
AAGV
devoted its cover story and two other feature articles to Mann and the N.C.E.A. at the time of the Committee’s formal founding:
AAGV
1:5 (October 1944), 1-4, 8. This coverage was unequivocally favorable.

In 1944, visits by Wilson were given extensive coverage (without his last name) in the Dayton, Ohio
Journal
, 6 March, and the Parkersburg, WV
News
, 14 March; his full name identified as “co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous” appeared in the Daytona Beach, FL
Journal
of 19 March.

The letterhead referred to was used for the crisis-provoking letter of 4 September 1946, cited above, note #19.

The phrase quoted at paragraph-end is from the Pittsburgh newspapers cited above. The whole point may be clearer from a
Herald-Tribune
quotation of Mann: “‘To do this job … I had to discard anonymity, for I realized I could be more convincing if people could view me as living proof that an alcoholic can get well.’”

23
    Tiebout’s concern is clear from Wilson to Tiebout, 9 February 1945.

The appeal: Mann (New York) to Wilson, 27 August 1946, and the N.C.E.A. open letter of 4 September 1946, cited in note #19. The 27 August letter mentions a campaign of 11,000 letters, which it seems clear from context must have made some use of A.A. group listings.

The final citation is from Dick S. (New York) to Wilson, 4 September 1946.

24
    Telegrams: Margaret B. (New York) to Wilson, 6 September 1946; Wilson (Victoria, BC) to Margaret B. and to Dr. Smith, both 6 September 1946.

The furor is described in a letter, Margaret B. (New York) to Bill and Lois Wilson, 16 September 1946. The A.A. press release, dated 12 September 1946, refers to “a special meeting [of] the Trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation on 10 September 1946.”

Wilson never tried to deny or minimize his support of Mann and her efforts. He saw his mistake as allowing the use of his own name;
cf.
, e.g., Wilson to Abbo T., 22 November 1946: “I went along with Marty in dropping her anonymity and on everything else she has done to date.”

The Mann episode is treated by Thomsen, pp. 331-332. My interpretation differs, but is supported by the documentation cited, as well as by my interview with Ms. Mann. Thomsen, I suspect, confused the N.C.E.A. flaps of 1946 and 1949, perhaps because apparently Wilson’s memory did the same.

25
    As vacation and the Hal Wallis meeting, the 16 and 17 September exchange of letters between Margaret B. and Wilson cited above;
re
his depression, among many citations in Wilson’s later correspondence, Wilson to Jack Alexander, 31 March 1954, stresses its acuteness at this point; Margaret B. (New York) to Dr. Smith, 26 April 1946, expresses deep concern over its severity. Three of Wilson’s letters from the period offer glimpses into its progress and relationship to occurrences within A.A.: Wilson to Dick S., 18 February 1946, to Royal S., 12 March 1946, and (Kaslo, BC), to Dick S., 1 September 1946;
cf
. also interviews of 16 November 1976 with Lois Wilson and of 15 November 1977 with Marty Mann. Thomsen, in his compression of Wilson’s depression to 1940, finesses the matter here and thus makes little sense of Wilson’s therapy with Tiebout:
cf
. pp. 334-337; for this connection,
cf
. especially Wilson to M.J.M., 3 March 1947.

26
    Ted L. (?) to Wilson, 15 January 1944;
re The Lost Weekend
, Stanley M. Rinehart (New York) to Wilson, 20 December 1943, announced its publication on 27 January 1944 and asked A.A.’s help in promoting the book; Billy Wilder (Hollywood, CA) to Alcoholics Anonymous, 3 July 1944, asked for literature to assist in the movie production; Charles Jackson’s name appears on the N.C.E.A. letterhead cited previously.

Newsreel coverage:
March of Time
, 26 April 1945, following up
September Remember
, best-selling novel by two pseudonymous A.A.s writing as “Eliot Taintor;”
R.K.O. Pathe
, “This Is America: Alcoholics Anonymous,” feature by Ardis Smith, 3 July 1945; Margaret B. (New York) to Robert W. of
March of Time
, 20 June 1946, thanking for a second coverage; among radio stations broadcastings continuing A.A. series in 1945 were WWJ in Detroit and WTIC in Hartford — the latter, according to V.M.M. (East Hartford, CT) to Alcoholic Foundation, 3 January 1945, at the behest of the Travellers’ Insurance Company which owned the station; the
Fortune
article, “A.A.,” appeared in
Fortune
43:2 (1 February 1951), 99-100, 138-144; no publisher is credited for the pamphlet, but it was distributed from A.A.’s General Service Office.

27
    Nina Wilcox Putnam, “Let Me Tell You About the Miraculous Redemption of a Confirmed Drunkard,”
True Confessions
39: 52-57 (January 1946); on 1 June 1949, Walter S., editor of
True Confessions
, wrote Austin M. Davies, executive president of the American Psychological Association, asking his help in obtaining Wilson’s own story for the magazine; there is no record of further correspondence, and the story did not appear;

Homer H. Shannon, “Alcoholics Anonymous: No Booze,
BUT PLENTY OF BABES,”
Confidential
35: 54-56 (June 1954); the A.A. response is clear from Wilson to Betty E., ? June 1954, although the quotation is my paraphase from this plus John C. Ford, S. J. (Weston, MA) to Wilson, 17 May 1961 (on a different but similar matter), and Wilson’s response, 6 September 1961.

28
    Wilson (Victoria, BC) to Margaret B., 17 September 1946 (italics Wilson’s).

29
    Wilson to Mildred O., 14 November 1946; “We’re Not Perfect Yet, Bill Cautions at Banquet,”
AAGV
2:7 (December 1945), 3;
cf
. Wilson to secretary of Richmond, VA, group, ? August 1949; “We Approach Maturity — by Bill,”
AAGV
6:5 (October 1949), 4-5.

30
    Wilson, “To the Trustees: Concerning the Future of the Alcoholic Foundation,” 1 November 1945; the quotations are from pp. 8, 7, and 9. Wilson’s sense of his own “withdrawal” from A.A. is clear in Wilson to Royal S., 12 March 1946.

31
    [Wilson], “Why Can’t We Join A.A. Too!”
AAGV
4:5 (October 1947), 3; Dowling (St. Louis) to Wilson, 5 November 1945; “Memorandum Concerning an A.A. General Service Office — by Bill,” ? February 1949; the trustee letters of resignation are in the 1948 Alcoholic Foundation folder; Wilson to Smith, 17 February 1949; Smith (Akron) to Wilson, 14 March 1949, refused on the basis; “Do not have the feeling that this is a particularly guided thing to do now.”