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

Henrietta Sieberling arranged for Bill to stay at the Portage Country Club.

(DBGO 70, 77)
Jun.,

Bill W moved to Dr Bob's house at the request of Anne Smith. Bill insisted

on

keeping two bottles of liquor in the kitchen to prove that he and Bob could

Oxford

Williams.

T Henry lost his job due to the proxy fight that brought Bill to Akron.

(AACOA

Favored

Sermon on the Mount, First_ _Corinthians

Chapter 13 and the Book of James_. (AAGA 193, 208-209, 253) (GTBT

95-96 says that meetings were held at Dr Bob's house and moved to the

Williams'

house in late 1936 or early 1937)

26, Bill W returned to NYC. Meetings were held at his house at 182 Clinton

St

on Tues. nights. His home also became a halfway house, of sorts, for drunks.

W's efforts in working only with alcoholics were criticized by NY Oxford

Group

members. Similarly, in Akron, T Henry and Clarace Williams were criticized

well by OG members who were not supportive of their efforts being extended

primarily to alcoholics. (NG 44-45, NW 73, AGAA 76)
Aug.

26, Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group experienced an international public

relations disaster. A _NY World Telegram_

article by William H Birnie, quoted Buchman as saying, 'I thank heaven for a

man like Adolph Hitler, who built a front-line of defense against the

anti-Christ of Communism.'' Although the remark was taken out of context in

its

reporting, it would plague Buchman's reputation for many years. It marked

beginning of the decline of the OG. (NW 30, 96, DBGO 155, BW-FH 96, PIO

170-171, GB 53, AGAA 161)
*1937*
Early,

Bill W and Lois attended a major Oxford Group house party at the Hotel

Thayer

in West Point, NY. For the previous 2 ½ years they had been attending two OG

spring, leaders of the Oxford Group at the Calvary Mission ordered

alcoholics

staying there not to attend meetings at Clinton St. Bill W and Lois were

criticized by OG members for having 'drunks only'' meetings at their home.

The

be

lagging in their devotion to OG principles). (EBBY 75, LR 103, BW-RT 231, NG

Bill and Lois stopped attending Oxford Group meetings. The NY AAs separated

from the OG. (LR 197, AACOA vii, 74-76)
*1938*
Nations

of the world armed for World War II and Frank Buchman called for a 'moral

and

spiritual re-armament'' to address the root causes of the conflict. He

the _Oxford Group_ to _Moral Re-Armament_. (www, NW 44)

10, Led by pioneer member Clarence S (whose Big Book story is _Home

Brewmeister_) the Cleveland, OH group

met separately from Akron and the Oxford Group at the home of Albert (Abby)

G (whose

Big Book story is _He Thought He Could Drink

Like a Gentleman_). This was the first group to call itself _Alcoholics

Anonymous_. The Clevelanders

still sent their most difficult cases to Dr Bob in Akron for treatment.

(AACOA

late, (AACOA viii says summer) Akron members of the 'alcoholic squad''

withdrew

from the Oxford Group and held meetings at Dr Bob's house. It was a painful

separation due to the great affection the alcoholic members had toward T

Henry

8-10, 188, 243)

Dr. Sam Shoemaker left the Oxford Group (then called _

italic;">Moral Re-Armament_) and formed a fellowship named _Faith at Work._

MRA was asked to completely

vacate the premises at Calvary House. Shoemaker's dispute with Buchman was

amplified in the press. (EBBY 75-76, AAGA 161, 244)

14, in a letter to the Rev Sam Shoemaker Bill W wrote 'So far as I am

concerned, and Dr Smith too, the Oxford Group seeded AA. It was our

spiritual

wellspring at the beginning.'' (AGAA 137)
*1961*
Frank

N D Buchman died. _Moral Re-Armament_

had declined significantly in numbers and influence and became headquartered

in

Caux, Switzerland. (NW 45, 97-98) A month after Buchman's death Bill W wrote

a friend regretting that he did not write to Buchman acknowledging his

contributions to the AA movement. (PIO 386-387)
*2002*
Apr.,

MRA changed its name to _Initiatives of

Change_. (www)
The

role of the Oxford Group is an interesting and significant one. I get a

sense

that the underlying tension occurred because the Oxford Group was out to

the world and Bill was primarily focused on saving drunks.

OG influence in Akron appeared much stronger and orthodox even though the

Calvary Church in NY was the OG US headquarters. Dick B has written books

that

of

the books, _Anne Smith's

*From:* soomedrunk

*Sent:* Saturday, January 24, 2004 10:51 PM

*Subject:* When did the break from Oxford Groups take place

take place.

it happen?

to be the 1st

that caused the

From: ny-aa@att.net . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/27/2004 11:28:00 PM

Rearmament which was also called MRA. They're still around

today trying to "remake the world." As of 2001, MRA became

Initiatives of Change. I quote:

With the approach of the new millennium, there

is world-wide recognition that the words

'moral re-armament' no longer hold the same

resonance as they did in 1938. In 2001 the

new name Initiatives of Change (IC) is

announced to the world's media by the Caux

President, Dr Cornelia Sommaruga (former

President of the international Red Cross),

and Professor Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of

the Mahatma.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
++++Message 1624. . . . . . . . . . . . RE: serenity prayer

From: J. Lobdell . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/27/2004 8:59:00 AM

1943 as it was already in existence by 1941 and (by Dr. Niebuhr's testimony)

in the 1930s. Nor can Mrs Sifton's 1943 revision be counted as the original

wording.
>From: NORMANSOBRIETY@aol.com

>Reply-To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com

>To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com

>Subject: [AAHistoryLovers] serenity prayer

>Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 03:49:49 EST

>

>Dear All,

> I have just read the SERENITY PRAYER BY ELISABETH SIFTON.

>Does anyone know if it was a AA member that changed the Serenity prayer as

we

>know it today. The original Serenity Prayer is:

CHANGED,

>DISTINGUISH THE ONE FROM THE OTHER.

>Does anyone know where the second part of the serenity prayer came from as

it

>is not mentioned in the book.

> Yours in the fellowship

>

> Norrie F. Oban Sunday

From: Lash, William (Bill) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/29/2004 11:44:00 AM

(Facts and thoughts transcribed from a talk given by Wally P. on 11/23/96 in

Mesa, Arizona. Wally is the author of the book "Back To Basics: The

Alcoholics

Anonymous Beginners' Meetings, 'Here are the steps we took...' in Four

One-Hour

Initial growth in Alcoholics Anonymous took place in Cleveland, Ohio.

Clarence

S. and the guys went out actively pursuing drunks and brought them off bar

stools and street corners. We don't do that today, but we were doing it back

then [late 1930's and 1940's]. And it worked!

In early 1940, when there were about 1,000 members of AA, more than half

were

21:

devised for the new people. Each prospect was assigned an older AA, who

visited

him at his home or in the hospital, instructed him on AA principles, and

sponsor

than

saying, "But in the face of many hundreds of pleas for help, the supply of

elders could not possibly match the demand. Brand-new AA's, sober only a

month

Because

In

the book 'Dr. Bob and the Good Old-timers' it states on page 261, "Yes,

many

half

During the winter of 1941 the Crawford Group (founded in February 1941)

organized a separate group to help newcomers through the Steps. By the first

issue of the Cleveland Central Bulletin, October 1942, the Crawford

"Beginners'

Class" was listed as a separate meeting. And in the second issue, in

November

1942, there was an article entitled "Crawford Men's Training". This refers

to

possibly the first "Beginners' Class". "The Crawford Men's Training System

been highly acclaimed to many. Old AA's are asked to come to these meetings

with

or without new prospects, where new prospects will be given individual

just as though they were in a hospital. Visiting a prospect in his home has

always been handicapped by interruptions. But the prospect not daring to

unburden himself completely for fear of being overheard by his relatives and

by

the AA's reticence for the same reason. Hospitalization without question is

ideal answer to where the message will be most effective; but the Crawford

training plan strikes us as being the next best."

In the early days they weren't sure if you could get sober if you didn't go

to

treatment. That was one of the early questions - could a person get sober

that sometimes ten and twenty AA members came to visit the new person. And

each

hour the prospect was awake he would hear someone's story - over and over

And something gelled during these hospital stays. But they were trying to do

it

outside of the hospital and this is where the first of the classes came

These classes continued at Euclid Avenue Meeting Hall through June 1943 and

at

that time the Central Bulletin announced a second session - "The Miles

Meeting". The bulletin read, "The Miles Group reports they have enjoyed

unusual

success with their training meetings. The newcomer is not permitted to

regular AA meeting until he has been given a thorough knowledge of the

work."

The newcomer couldn't go to a meeting until he completed the training

lot of places didn't allow you to go to AA meetings until you had taken the

four

classes. You didn't just sit there - you had already completed the steps

you went to your first AA meeting. "From 15 to 20 participate at each

training

meeting and new members are thoroughly indoctrinated."

These meetings grew and spread and visitors came from out of town and out of

state. In 1943 the Northwest Group in Detroit, Michigan standardized the

classes

into four sessions. "In June 1943 a group of members proposed the idea of a

of

the recovery program to the new affiliates. The decision was made to hold a

meeting of the Northwest Group was held on Monday night June 14, 1943 and

has

been held every Monday night without exception thereafter (as of 1948). A

of presentation of the Twelve Steps of the recovery program was developed at

this meeting. The plan consisted of dividing the Twelve Steps into four

categories for easier study." The divisions were:

1. The Admission

2. Spiritual

3. Restitution and Inventory

4. Working and the message

"Each division came to be discussed on each succeeding Monday night in

rotation.

This method was so successful that it was adopted first by other groups in

Detroit and then throughout the United States. Finally the format was

published

in it's entirety by the Washington, DC Group in a pamphlet entitled 'An

Interpretation of our Twelve Steps." The first pamphlet was published in

1944

of

aquatinting both the old and new members with the Twelve Steps on which our

time

devoted to each of the four subdivisions. Thus, in one month a new man can

get

the bases of our Twelve Suggested Steps." This pamphlet was reproduced many

being

In the Fall of 1944, a copy of the Washington, DC pamphlet reached Barry C.

-

one of the AA pioneers in Minneapolis. He wrote a letter to the New York

"Conference Approved Literature" today; but this is the way the Fellowship

operated back then. This is a letter from Bobby B., Bill W.'s secretary,

printed

pamphlet, like the new Cleveland one, and a host of others, are all local

projects. We do not actually approve or disapprove these local pieces. By

that I

'can

points and very few have caused any controversy. But in all things of a

local

nature we keep hands off - either pro or con. Frankly, I haven't had the

more than glance at the Washington booklet, but I've heard some favorable

comments about it. I think there must be at least 25 local pamphlets now

being

And then in 1945 the AA Grapevine printed three articles on the "Beginners'

Classes". The first one was published in June and it described how the

classes

plan"

now

has

is

somewhat as follows: Each new prospect is asked to attend four successive

learn something about Alcoholics Anonymous, it's founding and the way it

works.

The new man is told something about the book and how this particular group

until they've attended these four educational meetings."

In the September 1945 issue of the Grapevine the Geniuses Group in

Rochester, NY

explained their format for taking newcomers through the Steps. The title of

the

how

been

indiscriminately

and without adequate preliminary training and information can be a source of

considerable grief and a cause of great harm to the general moral of the

group

itself. We feel that unless a man, after a course of instruction and an

without

sponsors

sufficient grasp of it's fundamentals then he is brought to his first group

meeting. Then he listens to four successive talks based on the Twelve Steps

and

the

sections.

The first three Steps constitute the text of the first talk; the next four

the

entitled

rather than in segments.

In December 1945, the St. Paul, Minnesota Group wrote a full-page

description of

the "Beginners' Meetings". The description of their four one-hour classes

was:

every

to

recover from those things which caused us to drink and to help others who

what we have." In 1945 Barry C., of Minneapolis, received a letter from one

of

the members from the Peoria, Illinois Group. In the letter, the writer, Bud,

Classes".

"In my usual slow and cautious matter I proceeded to sell the Peoria Group

on

the Nicollet Group. Tomorrow night we all meet to vote the adoption of our

the

at

4:30 our first class in the Twelve Steps begins. We're all attending the

series of classes so we'll all be on an even footing. We anticipate on

losing

some fair-weather AA hangers-on in the elimination automatically imposed by

rule that these classes must be attended. This elimination we anticipate

with a

"we" feeling of suppressed pleasure. It is much as we are all extremely fed

with running a free drunk taxi and sobering-up service."

Then sometime prior to 1946 in Akron, Ohio the Akron Group started

publishing

four pamphlets on the AA Program. They were written by Ed W. at the

direction of

Dr. Bob, one of the co-founders of AA. Dr. Bob wanted some "blue-collar"

pamphlets for the Fellowship. In one of the pamphlets, "A Guide to the

Twelve

Steps", it reads: "A Guide to the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is

sober

and

founded in 1935. Most of the ideas and explanations were brought out in a

series

of instruction classes conducted by veteran members of the group." So this

places

Then the classes were actually formalized into a book called "The Little Red

Book" in 1946. The inscription on the inside cover says, "The material in

this

Twelve Step instruction to AA beginners." So we know the "Little Red Book"

came

out of these four one-hour classes also. "Few books have had greater record

humble service than the Little Red Book upon which so many members have cut

their AA teeth." A manuscript drawn up from these notes was sent to Dr. Bob

at

the request of USA and Canadian members. He approved the manuscript and the