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

aware that such forces must never be ruling among us, lest we perish

altogether.

The Tradition of personal anonymity and no honors at the public level is our

protective shield. We dare not meet the power temptation naked.

Of course, we quite understand the high value of honors outside our

Fellowship. We always find inspiration when these are deservedly bestowed

and humbly received as the hallmarks of distinguished attainment or service.

We say only that in our special circumstances it would be imprudent for us

to accept them for AA achievement.

For example: My own life story gathered for years around an implacable

pursuit of money, fame, and power, anti-climaxed by my near sinking in a sea

of alcohol. Though I survived that grim misadventure, I well understand that

the dread neurotic germ of the power contagion has survived in me also. It

is only dormant, and it can again multiply and rend me - and AA, too. Tens

of thousands of my fellow AAs are temperamentally just like me. Fortunately,

they know it, and I know it. Hence our Tradition of anonymity, and hence my

clear obligation to decline this signal honor with all the immediate

satisfaction and benefit it could have yielded.

True, the splendid citation you propose, which describes me as "W. W.," does

protect my anonymity for the time being. Nevertheless, it would surely

appear on the later historical record that I had taken an LL.D. The public

would then know the fact. So, while I might accept the degree within the

letter of AA's Tradition as of today, I would surely be setting the stage

for a violation of its spirit tomorrow. This would be, I am certain, a

perilous precedent to set.

Though it might be a novel departure, I'm wondering if the Yale Corporation

could consider giving AA itself the entire citation, omitting the degree to

me. In such an event, I will gladly appear at any time to receive it on

behalf of our Society. Should a discussion of this possibility seem

desirable to you, I'll come to New Haven at once.

Gratefully yours,

William G. W

Dear Mr. W :

I have waited to respond to your letter, of February 2 until we had a

meeting of the Committee on Honorary Degrees, which has now taken place, and

I want to report to you on behalf of the committee that after hearing your

magnificent letter, they all wish more than ever they could award you the

degree - though it probably in our opinion isn't half good enough for you.

The entire committee begged me to tell you in as genuine a way as I can how

very deeply they appreciated your considering this invitation as thoroughly

and thoughtfully and unselfishly as you have. We understand completely your

feelings in the matter, and we only wish there were some way we could show

you our deep sense of respect for you and AA. Some day, the opportunity will

surely come.

Meanwhile, I should say that it was also the feeling of the committee that

honorary degrees are, like knighthoods, bestowed on individuals, and that

being the tradition, it would seem logical that we look in other ways than

an honorary-degree award for the type of recognition that we should like to

give the organization in accordance with the suggestion you made in your

last paragraph. I hope this may be possible.

I send you the warmest greetings of the president of Yale University and of

the entire corporation and assure you of our sincere admiration and good

wishes for the continued contribution you are making to the welfare of this

country.

Cordially yours,

Reuben A. Holden
The series of letters ends with Bill's acknowledgment:

March 1, 1954

Dear Mr. Holden,

Your letter of February 8th, in which you record the feelings of the Yale

Corporation respecting my declination of the degree of Doctor of Laws, has

been read with great relief and gratitude. I shall treasure it always.

Your quick and moving insight into AA's vital need to curb its future

aspirants to power, the good thought you hold of me, and your hope that the

Yale Corporation might presently find the means of giving Alcoholics

Anonymous a suitable public recognition, are something for the greatest

satisfaction.

Please carry to the president of Yale and to every member of the board my

lasting appreciation.

Devotedly yours,

Bill W
Recently, the Grapevine received a letter from an AA who was a trustee on

the AA General Service Board at the time of this offer to Bill. The former

trustee, Cliff W. of California, recalls talking to Bill at the board

meeting following the ex-change of correspondence.

"I suggested that we make a pamphlet of these letters, as his refusal letter

was truly magnificent. Bill grinned and replied, 'Not while I'm alive. I

don't want to capitalize on humility.'" Cliff suggested to the Grapevine

that it would now be proper to print the letters.

During Bill's lifetime, copies of the Yale correspondence were privately

circulated within the Fellowship, with Bill's knowledge and consent. Jim A.,

who in 1965 was AA public information chairman for a central office in a

large West Coast city, wrote to Bill, asking permission to show the letters

to anonymity-breakers "...as an example that AA probably does not need their

individual names to keep it going or to make it more effective."

In reply, Bill wrote, "Certainly, you may show that Yale correspondence in a

limited way. But I see you agree that it would not be exactly right on my

part to consent to its general publication at this time. Actually, I'm not

so damn noble as you suppose. In reality, I rather wanted that

degree...However, I think the principle of anonymity will be so invaluable

to us, especially in future time, that one in my position should really fall

over backwards in trying to demonstrate the principle. By way of example, it

might help in the years to come."

Ten years before this, just one year after the Yale correspondence had ended

and less than two weeks before the Twentieth Anniversary AA Convention in

St. Louis in 1955, Bill replied to a Canadian AA friend who felt that

publishing the letters at that time would "help consolidate AA and fortify

the anonymity Tradition."

"I agree with you in part," Bill answered, "that publication now could help

temporarily. But I do think that publication would imply my permission and

would therefore be not a little ego manifestation on my part.

"Actually, when I declined the degree, I did it with the long future in

mind. I could picture a possible time when AA might find itself in some

great contention and crisis. At that time, this letter, though bearing the

dead hand, might have a marked, even a deciding, effect...Anyhow, I would be

disinclined to have it generally published at present - that is, published

under circumstances which will surely indicate to the reader that I have

given my consent."

Under present circumstances - seven years after Bill's death - there is

clearly no possibility of the consent that he called an "ego manifestation."

The Grapevine feels that AA members, now numbering around eight times as

many as were sober in 1954, have a right to know of Bill's example of both

courage and humility. This correspondence may help all of us appreciate the

sacrifice Bill made for us, and for the countless alcoholics yet to come to

our Fellowship for help.

From: t . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/10/2004 12:15:00 PM

newspaperman who

borrowed the Big Book from the Minneapolis Library, read it, and wrote to

the

help

August 9, 1940. The Alcoholic Foundation replied to Pat and sent his name on

to

the

1940.

took his last drink on November 11, 1940, and began working with others, and

the

first AA meeting in Minneapolis occurred shortly afterward. That is the

and

all

the state can trace their beginnings back to Pat C. and 2218 First Avenue

South,

the

We had other beginnings and other pioneers, however, and this is the story

of

another

stone

Minneapolis: There is a group that meets in Minneapolis, at 6301 Penn Avenue

South,

which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in October 1993. The name of the

is

the Nicollet Chapter and it began in 1943 when Barry C. left 2218 to start a

group, styled after the groups of his friend and AA's co-founder, Dr. Bob of

Akron, Ohio.

It was a big deal when the Nicollet Chapter left 2218. Until that time, 2218

was the

hub of all of the AA activity in this area. 2218 was mother and mentor to

AA

groups, and most early groups asked for and got a lot of help in starting.

the

that

and it shook a lot of AA members up. Was this a fight? Was there a problem?

Was

somebody going to get drunk? Barry and Pat both said no, but a rift was

between 2218 and the Nicollet Chapter that never quite healed.

Barry C. had quietly gotten sober in April of 1940, a few months before Pat,

after a

who

and

much of the first months of his sobriety incapacitated. Barry was in the

hospital

when Pat got sober and began working with others. He always had a much

"lower

profile" than Pat, and did not contend Pat's status as the founder of AA in

known, as

witnessed in this 1941 letter to his fellow Minneapolis AAs: "Many of you,

perhaps,

Only

fact that he was hopelessly invalided for a long time prevented Barry from

getting

out and organizing. You all know what he has accomplished since he has been

to

get around. That guy has more ideas in five minutes than I have in five

and we

Barry C. corresponded with Bob and others in Akron, Cleveland and Chicago,

and

the

believed

alcoholism was a family problem and that recovery must include the entire

family

-

the attendance of wives was strongly suggested. The Nicollet Group's most

characteristic was its intolerance of "slippers." Prospective members were

asked

if

they were ready, willing, and able to practice the Twelve Steps. If not,

were

considered

paramount, and once a member lost their faith, it was felt that it could not

be

easily regained.

with.

Falls,

modeled

the Nicollet Group. Those groups still correspond today, and still believe

that

their

ideology,

the Nicollet Group members stayed to themselves. The growth of AA in

Minnesota

and

nationwide did not change them. The adoption of the Traditions did not

their

And, fifty years later, the Nicollet Groups' 100 or so members still stick

to

the

There

coffee, yes, and more food than usual at a meeting place. Folks know each

other,

and

the

not.

Nicollet

also

meetings, or

notices of intergroup happenings. They do not participate in these events.

When I was newly sober, I asked an older AA member about our cofounders, Dr.

Bob and

Bill W. She told me about Dr. Bob wishing to keep AA simple, and about Bill

super

would

have made it out of the midwest, and if Bill had his way, it would be set up

as

an

international franchise. She said that between the two of them, they created

balance between simple service and service organization that we needed to

function

and carry out our primary purpose.

I don't know if this is what Dr. Bob had in mind, but I thought of this when

I

visited

newcomers,

and

talk of the Steps, and families, and sharing, and picnics, and announcements

visit

who

celebrating their one year membership in the group. I met couples who were

20 or

25

year members. I saw (and was given to pass on to our area archives) a wealth

historical materials - correspondence, articles, photographs - all telling

of

the

As a group, Nicollet is recognizing that in order to survive AA groups need

to

work

our

intergroup directory. They know they need to work with others, as do we all.

Autonomy

is a valued possession, and we cannot deny the Nicollet Group theirs. There

is a

lesson in autonomy here for me as an AA member. I see our autonomy must end

others are affected, as it states in the Fourth Tradition. The Nicollet

Group

will be

interaction

with them.

The Nicollet Group deserves recognition for their fifty years of meeting

together,

growing together, and staying sober together. They have contributed much to

the

fabric of AA.

1960 (Part One of Two)

From: NMOlson@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/11/2004 3:19:00 AM
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Proposal by Bill W.
For
Twelve Concepts For World Service
10th General Service Conference - 1960
This proposal, delivered by Bill W. at the closing of the 10th General

Service Conference, is of great historical significance as it was the first

time that Bill had spoken to the Fellowship on the subject of the Twelve

Concepts.

its course. And you have asked me, as of old, to conclude this conference,

our tenth.
I always approach this hour with mixed feelings. As time has passed, each

year succeeding itself, I have found increasing gratitude beyond measure,

because of the increasing sureness that AA is safe at last for God, so long

as he may wish this society to endure. So I stand here among you and feel as

you do a sense of security and gratitude such as we have never known before.

There is not a little regret, too, that the other side of the coin -- that

we cannot turn back the clock and renew these hours. Soon they will become a

part of our history.

represent three utter impossibilities, impossibilities that we know became

possible, and possibilities that now have borne this unbelievable fruit. Old

Fitz Mayo, one of the early AAs and I visited the Surgeon General of the

United States in the third year of this society, told him of our beginnings.

He was a gentle man, Dr. Lawrence Kolb, since become a great friend of AA,

and he said: "I wish you well. Even the sobriety of such a few is almost a

miracle. The government knows that this is one of the greatest health

problems we have, one of the greatest moral problems, one of the greatest

spiritual problems. But we here have considered recovery of alcoholics so

impossible that we have given up and have instead concluded that

rehabilitation of narcotic addicts would be the easier job to tackle."

become possible? First, the Grace of Him who presides over all of us. Next,

the cruel lash of John Barleycorn who said, "This you must do, or die."

Next, the intervention of God through friends, at first a few, and now

legion, who opened to us, who in the early days were uncommitted, the whole

field of human ideas, morality and religion, from which we could choose.

spirit which were first fused into our Twelve Steps for recovery. And some

of us got well. But no sooner had a few got sober then the old forces began

to come into play. In us rather frail people, they were fearsome: the old

forces, the drives, money, acclaim, prestige.
Would these tear us apart? Besides, we came from every walk of life. Early,

we had begun to be a cross section of all men and women, all differently

conditioned, all so different and yet happily so alike in our kinship of

suffering. Could we hold in unity? To those few who remain who lived in

those earlier times when the Traditions were being forged in the school of

hard experience on its thousands of anvils, we had our very, very dark

moments.
It was sure recovery was in sight, but how could there be recovery for many?

Or how could recovery endure if we were to fall into controversy and so into

dissolution and decay? Well, the spirit of the Twelve Steps, which has

brought us release, from one of the grimmest obsessions known -- obviously,

this spirit and these principles of retaining Grace had to be the

fundamentals of our unity. But in order to become fundamental to our unity,

these principles had to be spelled out as they applied to the most prominent

and the most grievous of our problems.

lives of working and living together, these were the forces that generated

the Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous.
But, we had to have more than cohesion. Even for survival, we had to carry

this message. We had to function. In fact, that had become evident in the

Twelve Steps themselves for the last one enjoins us to carry the message.

But just how would we carry this message? How would we communicate, we few,

with those myriad's who still didn't know? And how would this communication

be handled? And how could we do these things, how could we authorize these

things in such a way that in this new hot focus of effort and ego we were

not again to be shattered by the forces that had once ruined our lives?

right up through our society to its culmination today. And, again, many of

us said: This can't be done. It's all very well for Bill and Bob and a few

friends to set up a Board of Trustees and to provide us with some

literature, and look after our public relations, and do all of those chores

for us we can't do for ourselves. This is fine, but we can't go any further

than that. This is a job for our elders. This is a job for our parents. In

this direction only can there be simplicity and security.

fallible and perishable (although this seems to be a token they are not).

And Dr. Bob's hour struck. And we suddenly realized that this ganglion, this

vital nerve center of World Service, would lose its sensation the day the

communication between an increasingly unknown Board of Trustees and you was

broken.
Fresh links would have to be forged. And at that time many of us said: This

is impossible. This is too hard. Even in transacting the simplest business,

providing the simplest of services, raising the minimum amounts of money,

these excitements to us, in this society so bent on survival have been

almost too much locally. Look at our club brawls. My God, if we have