He Thought the Alcoholic Was a Detective – 1948 – Archie T.

About This Speaker Tape

1938 found Archie T. homeless, jobless, and crashing on a friend's couch while pretending he wasn't drunk—the wreckage that preceded the early days of AA in Detroit. He describes the grit of his early recovery: sweating out the booze in Akron living with Dr.

Bob for ten months because he was too physically wrecked to work and the slow often frustrating process of planting seeds in a city that viewed alcoholics as lacking willpower. He recounts the struggle to find a nucleus of sober men including the stubborn Mike E. who feared that starting a group might stop him from 'pitching one' during fishing trips.

The narrative shifts to the expansion of the fellowship into prisons state hospitals and the radio waves of WWJ illustrating how a handful of broken men built a sanctuary in Detroit.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction of Archie T. as the founder of AA in Detroit.
• 3:15 Archie describes his 'bountiful duty' to drink free whiskey.
• 7:40 The moment of clarity: deciding to talk to his friend Ralph before ending his life.
• 12:10 The physical wreckage: sweating out the booze and the recovery period with Dr. Bob.
• 17:30 Returning to Detroit and the struggle to find prospects in a city that didn't understand the disease concept.
• 22:15 The first 12-step work: helping a man in a dollar-a-day hotel.
• 28:40 Laughter: The story of Mike E. and the fear of being 'too sober' to go fishing.
• 33:10 The growth of the Detroit group and the move to 4242 Cass.
• 38:20 Archie's internal struggle over whether to 'advertise' himself as an alcoholic to get a job.
• 43:10 Sarah K. discusses the role of non-alcoholics and the early radio programs on WWJ.
• 48:50 The expansion of the message into Jackson Prison and state hospitals.
• 54:10 The story of the AA-manned factory and the restoration of citizens to the community.