Sponsorship as Transmitting Information from Those Who Know – John W.

I was noticing when Stuart asked for the hands of those who were here for the first time, it looked to me like at least 70 to 80 percent of the people in this room at this very moment are here for your very first seminar. And I think that's what's really exciting. And by the way, my name is John Williams and I'm an alcoholic. See? Break the ice. Some noise comes out of the room. Stuart mentions Wesley and of course whenever Wesley's mentioned, I'm enthralled with the seminar to the extent that as it becomes closer and closer and I work on it for months beforehand, but Wesley's always on my mind and the vision that he had about this. And I'm sure that what we're doing today in the year 2001, is probably what Wesley saw back in 1982. When he decided after meeting Charlie and Joe at some function out in the Midwest, in which he was a speaker and he heard Charlie and Joe doing a workshop on the big book one Saturday afternoon. And according to Charlie, Wesley comes waddling, well he came walking up the aisle. Wesley in his latter years got a little overweight, but he came up and he said, he came up to him and he says, who in the hell are you guys? Because what Wesley had discovered that day was that, and he was a big book fanatic himself. He loved the big book. And he loved what it was, what it represented, and he knew it inside and out. But when he heard Charlie and Joe speaking about that big book, he heard a music that he had never heard before. There was a melody coming out of their presentation that made it sound so good. It was so simple and so understanding. And Wesley was caught up in that. And I know that his wheels started turning at that moment about how in the world could he get these guys out here and bring them down to his part of the world. Let us hear Charlie and Joe. And I was one of Wesley's pigeons, and I liked to travel with Wesley. I carried his suitcase to different places and drove him around South Florida when he had the opportunity. I had the opportunity to speak. And I had been to Texas with him on one or two occasions. And out in Texas, there's something going on out that place every weekend. I mean, every weekend there's functions. You go to one of their deals, and out on the table, there must be a hundred things going on around Texas. Round-ups and get-togethers and picnics and all sorts of things going on. And I was out there with him a couple of times, and I said, Wesley, what do we have going on in Florida? Of course, we have the state convention, which is fun. We had two lake things, Lake Yale and Lake something else that was going on, but not much else in Florida. And so I said, we ought to do more than that in Florida. So he started sending me around to different places looking for a venue to do something like that. I think he was just trying to get me out of his hair, because I rode all over South Florida and found nothing. But he was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... He was... consisted of four tapes of Charlie and Joe that had been made at a meeting in Lawton, Oklahoma, in which they did a workshop on the big book, and they taped it. Somebody had requested that it would be all right if they taped it, and they said sure. So he made four tapes of that, and Wesley got a set of those tapes. And then he duped them and made a hundred sets that he was to give away as door prizes in New Orleans. And Wesley was a sort of a cunning kind of a person. Because he was in charge of not only the whole affair, but he was in charge of seating people at their tables. He knew exactly where everybody would be seated. And he wanted to make sure that the people who would do the most with those tapes got them. So the people who won the tapes didn't actually win the tapes. Wesley gave them the tapes. But they thought they won them because they were sitting on the lucky seat. And then after they all got their tapes and went home and looked at them, some week or two or three later, he was calling some of those folks and saying, well, what did you think about those tapes? And he was getting some good feedback about it. Wonderful stuff. Then in 1982, he got a call from somebody he knew in the hotel business who was working at Palm Air. And his name was Brady. And he said, I'm going out to Palm Air to have lunch with Brady. The guy he met at the Fontainebleau when he was the host chairman for the International in 1970. So he came back and he says, John, we've got two weekends at Palm Air. We're going to put together a program. And I said, well, how did you choose the weekends? And he said, well, I had Mr. Brady go to the books and find the two most disastrous economical weekends that the Palm Air has. And he said, we took them. One was in the spring and one was in the fall. And one happened to be around Mother's Day. And the other one was sometime in September. And in the beginning, he said, well, I'm going to go to Palm Air. And in the beginning, we did these things twice a year. So he starts working on it. And he starts putting together this program. And then he starts running it by me. And he showed me a copy of his proposal for the program, which started Thursday at 1 o'clock. And it went until 10 or 10.30 that evening. And then Friday morning, we start at 9 o'clock and we go to 9.30, 10 or 10.11 o'clock that night. And the same thing Saturday. And then there was Sunday in the morning until noon. We broke at noon. I said, well, Wesley, this ain't going to work. I said, I don't see any golf tournament here. I don't see any dance scheduling. When are we going to do that stuff? He said, we ain't going to do that stuff. He said, we're going to put together something that has to do with recovery. And we ain't got time for that other stuff. You see, I come from the place that that had been my only experience, going to fun and fellowship weekends, conventions and things like that, where you have a speaker now and then, and most of the time you're spent just catching up on friendships and swapping stories, that kind of stuff. So he showed me that schedule. I said, Wesley, this ain't going to work. Ain't nobody going to sit around all this time and listen to somebody jaw about the book. And he says, I think they will. He says, I think they will. I said, I don't think so. It just ain't going to work. Then he said, oh, by the way, John, he says, I want you to have part of the program. I want you to talk some about the history on the program. And I said, well, let me see that schedule again. I said, you know, this thing just might work. You know, I think you've got a good idea here, Wesley. So eight years sober, I had my experience at my first big book seminar in 1983 at Palm Air, in which I was given the privilege of talking about the writing of the big book. And that was... That was several years ago. And it's beautiful to see the progress that we have made and to see all of us get older. And some of us, in Frank's case, who's no longer with us physically, but he's certainly here with us in spirit. So a lot of you folks mistook the letter that I sent out in January about the announcement for this year's seminar when I said to you that... that this may very well be the last seminar. And then I put in parentheses, I don't guess you noticed this, as we know it. Because things being what they are, some of us are getting more fragile than we used to be. And the reality is that sometimes we don't last forever. But if anything happens to either one of us, we're still going to do seminars. Okay? So I'm making arrangements right now. This... This... This weekend, if I can, is to be ready to make an announcement that we'll be here again next year. But I said that so that... What would thrill me more than anything else is to have this room full of people shoulder to shoulder listening to the big book music. Listening to that beautiful song that that book sings to us. Especially when it's presented the way you're going to hear it this weekend. A lot of new people here and it's always important, I think, to put everything in context. Some of you who are here for the first time are fairly new in recovery, which I think is fantastic. Some of you who are in here are kind of longevity type people. I was going to say something sarcastic, but I'm not going to do that. And myself, I'm in my 27th year of sobriety. And I used to think of myself as the youngster. And I was. And I still am in terms of... What I'm surrounded with. But we were having dinner Wednesday night and we were trying to figure out how much time Willie and Joe and Joe and Charlie and I have. And it's an amazing amount of experience. It's about 170 years or thereabouts of sober experience that we're here to share this weekend. And I know I'm so privileged to have Joe McCoy with us this weekend who does a lot of big book studies with Charlie Stateside and Joe McQueen. He's been with Charlie since the beginning. He's here. Willie's landing in about a half an hour. She'll be here this afternoon and be on the program first thing in the morning. And so we're all ready and raring to go. As Stuart was alluding to, by the time this thing finishes, if you stay with us, Sunday afternoon your life will have altered and changed. It's got to. Of course, in the scheme of things, sobriety demands change anyway. I think... Wesley's vision about this weekend was to enable those who attended to become better sponsors. Because I guess if I were to say there was a real weakness in recovery today, it's probably sponsorship. Because I think sometimes if we perpetuate a bad message, then that message is going to be perpetuated. So if we get in here and find out about how this process really works, from the context of the big book, which is never ending and never changing, it has remained the same. And there's a new edition coming out shortly. And I just... My first question was, well, good. But they haven't done anything for the first 164 pages, have they? No. That doesn't change. So the more I know about that process, the better sponsor I'm going to be. Because sponsorship is about transmitting information, isn't it? From those who know to those who don't know. And that's the way AA works. And in this room we've got a lot of people who know. And then we've got... We've got a lot of people who don't know. And this educational process is transmitting information from those who don't know, from those who do know. So that's what we're here for. Not that we know any more than anybody else, but we're going to talk about it from the point of view that we do. Okay? And to put things in context, alcoholism has been around a long time. You know that, don't you? That's not news to you. We're not the first to come along. We've been here a long, long time. Ever since man began or found out that certain fruit drinks fermented, and then if you drank it, all sorts of so-called wonderful things happened. And then there were certain ones of us, even from the beginning, probably about 10% or more, that became addicted to that feeling. So alcoholism has been around a long, long time. And we've always been in the minority. And the majority has been the ones who were able to drink and the ones who didn't drink. And they have been the ones who have always formulated the opinions about us. And they've looked at us and said, you know, since you don't drink like I do, you must be crazy. Or since you don't drink like I do, you must be weak. Or depending upon their doctrine, they might say something like, since you don't... or since you drink at all, you must be sinful. So there's always been the majority of the non-drinkers forming opinions about the alcoholics. And as a matter of fact, before I came to Alcoholics Anonymous, I heard some of those same opinions from the uninformed. The problem of alcoholism in this country has been recognized for a long time and attempts have been made in the United States since the colonial days to do something about us drinkers. And so in the beginning, before I talk about the writing of this book that we're going to be studying this weekend, I want to go through and show you, if you don't know, what attempts have been made to deal with us before Alcoholics Anonymous came along. Because if you understand how fortunate we really are to have a program called recovery, that we don't have to die anymore, that we don't have to wind up in a sane asylum, and we don't have to wind up in the gutter if we don't want to. How fortunate we really are because we have something today that they had never had before. And then again, we have to take on a responsibility for that information because to pass it on, it's going to depend upon you and I, right? And part of this process of growing up in Alcoholics Anonymous is to come from a place where we don't always depend on others to do things. Alcoholics Anonymous is about becoming responsible citizens. And as Stuart mentioned in the beginning about the session started, there's going to be a piece of music that we play which will signify it's time to get in your seat if you're going to be here for that session. And the music is the beginning of the theme song 2001. You'll recognize it. It lasts a minute and 37 seconds. But who's counting? Who's counting? A minute and 37 seconds, which means when you hear the music, it's time to get in the seat if you're going to come. Okay? Here's what it sounds like. Oh, it'll be loud. Real loud. That's what it sounds like. A minute and 37 seconds. That's a signal that we're getting ready to start. And when Stuart says the session starts, that means that if the seats are up front, then those folks in the back, who want to sit up front, can come on up for that session. Here's what I know from experience, and you know this too, that there is not a bad seat in this house. There is not a bad seat in this. If you can hear the voice, that's enough. Because inside here, there will be some things flashed on the screen that Charlie and Joe will present. They'll be right in here. Okay? So you don't have to see this screen. You just go to where they refer you to in the packet. But that's not true with my session. I'm just a little slower than most. But let's take a look at what we've tried to do in this country in terms of treating alcoholism. I think you'll find it interesting that the first person to deal with us or write about us that we can find is this guy by the name of Benjamin Rush. Now, Benjamin Rush was a physician. Benjamin Rush was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence. And in 1985, he wrote a paper. 1785, I'm sorry. 1785, he wrote this paper on, and I'm going to say this word, but I'm not going to use it anymore. Inebriety. You've heard of that. I don't like to say it, so I'm going to stick to alcoholism. He wrote this paper about alcoholism in 1785, and he saw, amazingly enough, he saw that the problem was a disease. And the answer to that problem, the only one he could find was total abstinence. But he had no clue about how to bring that about. He just saw this seems like a disease process, and the only answer is total abstinence. Is that new? No, that's what we know today. We knew in 1785 that this was a disease. Now, you can check your records and find out how long it took AMA to recognize that. Long, long, long, long, long time. So, Benjamin Rush was the first. First. The next thing we have, is this temperance movement. Now, the temperance movement started in 1830, 1813, and it gave birth to the American Temperance Society. They believed that the problem was social. Drunks and real heavy drinkers were social problems. And they believed that the answer to that was social. And they believed that the answer to that was social. That was to temper, that is to moderate the drink. Now, they had problems because in 1836, some 18 years later, they went to a position of total abstinence. Now, you can imagine that 90% of people who liked to drink that never had any problem with it, when they had this national movement that was all about, was all about no drinking at all, well, the temperance movement lost its support. The moderate and social drinkers didn't support them any longer because they wasn't going to give up booze. They didn't have any problem with it. So they began to lose their thunder. Their concepts or their precepts were based on the teachings of a man by the name of Lyman Beecher. He was a congregational minister whose solution sounded like this. Let's prevent the young people from drinking. Nothing wrong with that. Let's keep these temperate drinkers tempered. Nothing wrong with that. And soon the drunks will die. Now, I don't like that too much. So as I say, they began to lose their thunder when they went to the total abstinence society and lost support. But they did give rise to the next movement. And this is a movement a lot of us are familiar with in alcoholism. Alcoholics Anonymous, if we've done any study of our history, the Washingtonian movement. The Washingtonians was the, it was called the forerunner of Alcoholics Anonymous because it was started by alcoholics for alcoholics. It began in April 1840 in Baltimore, Maryland. There were six men who used to go to this tavern called Chase Tavern on a regular basis. And apparently they were, they were there this one evening when they heard about this, this temperance speaker that was going to be speaking nearby. And they decided they ought to go hear what he had to say. So four of the six men did go and they heard a man by the name of Reverend Matthew Hale Smith, give a lecture on drinking. And these four guys returned and they were moved by whatever was said in that meeting. I don't know, but you know, sometimes uh, we do meetings. go to meetings and people will say things that will alter us for life. And this happens, this is what happened to these four guys who heard this reverend that evening. They came back and decided to start their own society for non-drinkers. And then they agreed to meet again the next day and the next day. And they decided to quit drinking and they organized this total abstinence society. They decided to call it the Washingtonians after the father of the country, George Washington. The movement spread and at the end of the first year they had a thousand members at its annual meeting. Think about that. A thousand people after the first year. You know when Dr. Bob and Bill got together in 1935 in June and the book was published four years later, there were 100 men and women who were sober. So they got off to a flying start. I'll tell you why in a minute. Soon after that they had 5,000 groups and at their second convention Abraham Lincoln was a guest speaker. But after seven years there was hardly ever a mention of the Washingtonians again. They had lost their thunder. And the reason they lost their thunder was that even though they were alcoholics for alcoholics, they used to compete about. They used to get involved in political affairs. They get involved in the wet issue, the dry issue. They get involved in the slave issue and the non-slave issue. And they started being distracted. But one of the reasons that they grew so fast was that in the beginning they said that the only way that you can come to one of our meetings is to bring somebody with you. So you can see that if you have a meeting of ten this week, guess what they're going to have next week? Twenty. And the next week you're going to have forty. And the next week they're going to have... No math. No math here. But that's how they grew that way. That was part of their requirement. Plus they had a membership fee of 25 cents. And the dues were 12.5 cents a month. So that's how they got their population. After seven years, you couldn't find any evidence of the Washingtonian movement. Because they got distracted, they lost their way. Next we have the Emanuel movement. This was started by a man by the name of Elwood Wooster in Boston about 1900. Although he didn't understand or use the disease concept of alcoholism, it was the first organized group to suggest that psychological factors were involved in problem drinking. Do we know that to be true today? You bet. It was greatly influenced by a book that you'll hear a lot about in AA, Varieties of Religious Experiences by William James. They briefly saw the problem of drinking as psychological. The solution to which was a spiritual experience, but they did not have a recovery plan. Psychological, spiritual experience was the solution, but they didn't know how to bring it back. What they saw was that alcoholism had positive effects if you were drinking alcohol. We've been talking plenty about the psychological side of alcoholism in a lot of the books, and we've seen what it looks like in university officers' as well. Likewise, we know that the psychological side of alcoholism is 250 per cent different from psychological. If you need a apply on a � down for pension if you want to go throughout campus, it'll be just 24 hours. A couple of weeks later, you're in them. If you're watching this if you have a felony EPX Neileneca mathematician, a little bit joking that it'll be, giving attorney that you need to pray for your kids, then take what and what. Thinking about, And those of us who've been sober for a while know that that's where the work has been done. I still have the allergy. I just haven't aggravated it sometime. Now we come to another outfit which is getting closer to us. Probably the springboard for Alcoholics Anonymous. It was the Oxford Movement. Started in 1918 as a spiritual movement. The Oxford Group was founded by Frank Buckman. As you hear some of these names as the weekend passes you will see and go around and you'll see these. I know Frank Buckman's pictures on the mirror up front. He was a guy who started the Oxford Groups. He had a spiritual experience while attending a church in England in 1908. He was in England on a resentment. He went to here. As a matter of fact it was probably a profound female preacher that evening which altered his life. He had a spiritual experience which changed him forever. He met Sam Shoemaker while he was traveling in the Far East in the 1920s. And they established at the Calvary House in New York City the headquarters for the Oxford Groups worldwide. And how did they get their name the Oxford Groups? Well while traveling on a train with a group of students from Oxford. They were having this meeting and the conductor had to identify them by putting a sign on their door. And so they asked him who they were and Frank said well we're just a group from Oxford. So they put a sign on the door called the Oxford Group. And that's just how they got their name. Nothing profound. Just that way. The Oxford Group had been compared to first century Christianity. They were known they had house parties. They had no structure, no membership dues. The group included people from all religions and all kinds of people who came together to try to attain. Not try but to attain. A spiritual regeneration. That was their mission. Buckman felt that every human being no matter who he was or what station in life he was he needed a jolt. Of spiritual regeneration. And that was their mission. And if you heard some of their doctrine you would hear them. It would sound like first century Christianity. Conversion. Salvation. Used to be bad. It got good because of this. And you will notice that. That their requirements were. If you compare the first page of the Oxford Group book you will see that their requirements for membership sounded an awful lot like the ones that we acquired. No dues, no fees, no requirements. Non-sectarian. So on and so forth. There was no membership list. Anybody could belong to the Oxford Group. Attendance was almost always by invitation. But under the Oxford Group. There was no membership list. But unfortunately they thought that the problem of drinking was a sin. And if you can imagine. In the beginning Dr. Bob. And Bill. Especially Bill after 1934 December 34 when he and Lois were attending Oxford Group meetings in New York City. And unbeknownst to Bill. Dr. Bob was also being. Going to Oxford Group meetings in Akron Ohio. And as the fledging little group of. Alcoholics in New York City from 1935 to 1939 began to go to these Oxford Group meetings. Well they had a conflict. See the Oxford Group members thought the alcoholic was a sinner. Well those folks already knew because of Dr. Silkworth that they were suffering from a disease. An allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind. So this is one of the reasons that we split with the Oxford Groups. In 1937 I think. We split initially from in New York and then right after the book was published in 1939. The Midwest broke from the Oxford Groups. But we owe them a great. Indebtedness for what they gave us. They gave us the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous. They indoctrinated our co-founders into their principles. Then we come to Dr. Silkworth. Dr. Silkworth wrote the doctor's opinion in our book. Matter of fact the description of alcoholism is described by him in the doctor's opinion. Matter of fact I had no idea about what my problem was until I read the doctor's opinion. In which he stated it was a disease. He was the attending physician of Bill Wilson. For Bill's three or four stays at the hospital. He was at Towns Hospital. So in 1935 he knew that alcoholism was a disease in his opinion. And that according to his opinion that unless one was willing to go through an entire psychic change. There's very little hope of recovery. But he himself had no idea how to bring that about. Then a fellow by the name of Roland Hazard in about 1930 and 31 was visiting with Carl Jung. Carl Jung, Carl Jung. Who was an intimate psychiatrist. A protege of Sigmund Freud. Roland Hazard was a real rip roaring drunk. Had a lot of money though. And was able to go and visit with Carl Jung for a year. And so he spent a year with Carl Jung. And at the end of that year he figured well I know all of the things that trigger my drinking. Be alright to go back to the country. I'll be okay now. And so he went back to this country with all that self knowledge. He was soon drunker than ever. Then he goes back to see Dr. Jung and he says. And Dr. Jung told him the bad news at that time. Sort of like what Dr. Silkworth told Lois. That unless you get a bodyguard to watch you. You're not going to live very long. Are you going to go crazy or are you going to die? You can't handle any more drinking. And then Roland says. Well isn't there any hope? Because Roland as he described it. It sounded like the gates of hell had closed on him. And then it was at this time that Carl Jung gave him the answer to alcoholism. Although he didn't know it at the time. But this is what he said. He said every now and then men like you have had what I call a vital spiritual experience. Whereas you have a huge emotional displacement. And rearrangements. You get rid of old attitudes, ideas and emotions. Where once you're guiding force. And you pick up a new set of emotions and ideas and opinions and beliefs. That become your new guiding force. He said I've been trying to do that with you Roland. But I've had no luck. So he says the only thing I can do is suggest that you go back to your country. Immerse yourself in some sort of a religious or spiritual environment. And hope for the best. And thank God Roland did come back to this country. And he got himself involved with the Oxford groups. Which was a non sectarian religious environment. And he got sober. Then comes Bill Wilson. Who gets sober in December of 1934. And he ultimately puts all of this stuff together. He takes Dr. Silkworth's description of the disease. And calls that step one. He finds out we're powerless. Dr. Carl Young's experiment with Roland Hazard in 1931. Who carried the message to Ebby Thatcher. Who carried the message to Bill Wilson. In the fall of 1934. The solution rested in the belief in a power greater than oneself. And Bill took the six steps that the Oxford groups were using in the mid 1930's. Expanded them to ten steps. Steps three through twelve. Which give us the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. So we see that you and I are rather fortunate today. That we have had that experience of all those attempts to deal with us in the past. So. Roland Hazard comes back to this country. He meets or he hears about Ebby Thatcher. Ebby Thatcher and Bill Wilson are old high school buddies. They grew up together. They got drunk together. Roland, I mean Ebby Thatcher was in Manchester. Vermont. And he was at his parents home. He had just finished painting the house as part of his, probably his assignment by his parents. To keep him out of trouble. And he had already been in trouble in Manchester. And was told by the judge. He said if you get into any more trouble I'm going to put you in jail. And Ebby Thatcher finished painting the house. Went off somewhere. And when he came back he was noticing that the pigeons were roosted on his house. And they were pooping all over the house. And Ebby quite logically goes in the house and gets a shotgun. And starts shooting those pigeons. Of course the police are called and Ebby is arrested. And he goes down before the judge. Roland Hazard and a fellow by the name of Zebra Graves intercede on Ebby's behalf. Because they tell the judge. Judge, we think we might have an answer for Ebby. We've both been sober for a while in the Oxford groups. And maybe we can introduce Ebby to you. To what we're doing. And lo and behold the judge released Ebby to these two guys. And Ebby got sober. Then he went to the Calvary House. Which was the headquarters of the Oxford groups in New York City. And where he was living. And while he was there he heard about Bill Wilson. And his problems. Fall of 1934. The summer of 1934. And Ebby decides to give Bill a call. He calls him up. And Bill is so glad to hear from Ebby. Hadn't heard from him in a while. And Ebby wanted to know if he could come over. And Bill says, come on over. Ebby gets over there. He knocks on the door. And Bill says, come on in. Have a drink. And Ebby says, I don't drink anymore. I've got religion. Because that's what Ebby thought he had. But Bill invited him on in anyway. Because he figured his gin and pineapple juice would last longer than Ebby's ranting. So. And as a matter of fact he thought he must be some kind of religious fanatic at this stage of the game. But Ebby went in and told him what he found out. What he'd experienced in the Oxford groups. And he told him about those six steps. And Bill continued to get drunk. But shortly thereafter he made an attempt to go to the Oxford group meeting. He went one night drunk. He and his story relates that he was inspired to. He called for some witnessing from the audience. He was inspired to go up and tell something. Ebby tried to grab him by the seat of his pants before he got up. But he got up anyway. He doesn't remember what he said. But it didn't work. Because Bill continued to drink until December 1934 when he had his experience at Towns Hospital. Now. This was December of 1934. Bill gets sober. His story relates what occurred to him. If you read his story. And you'll see this as we go through his story this weekend. That Bill had the precepts of recovery in his mind before he had the spiritual experience. As the spiritual experience gets out. Stays sober. He's trying to hammer all the drunks around New York City with his white flash experience. Going into bars. Can you imagine Bill Wilson going into a bar trying to talk to a drunk? About his vision. Well these drunks are saying. Man this guy is cuckoo. Let's get him out of here. And nobody was listening to Bill. Early May. He happens to visit with Dr. Silkworth again. And Silkworth says. You know Bill I've been listening and hearing about you and your attempts to carry this message to others. He says. And you haven't had any luck. But at least you've stayed sober. Yeah. He could agree to that. And then Dr. Silkworth says. Well I think you've got the cart before the horse. He says. I think you need to let these people know what their problem is. Before you hit them with this spiritual thing. And the very first person that he tried that on. Was Dr. Bob Smith. Just in a few short days later. In Akron, Ohio. When Bill was out there on one of these failed business attempts. He went out to Akron, Ohio. Thinking he was going to be the CEO of some tire making company. Or tool making company in the tire business. And his reputation preceded him. And so he didn't. That didn't happen. So on Mother's Day in 1935. He was at the Mayflower Hotel. Feeling dejected. Had a few coins in his pocket. He heard the music and the tinkling of glasses coming out of the lounge at the Mayflower Hotel. And he thought maybe he might need a Coke or something. But what he really knew that he needed was to talk to another drunk. So in his attempt to find somebody. There was this church directory in the lobby of the Mayflower. And it just so happened that one of the names on that directory. Was the man by the name of Dr. Walter Tunks. Who was more or less the head of the Oxford Movement in Akron, Ohio. Bill calls him up. Says he's a rum hound from New York. Looking for another drunk to talk to. Did he know anybody? And so Walter Tunks. Gave him a list of some names. Which Bill began to call. The last name on the list was Henrietta Cyberling. He called her. I can just imagine this conversation. He calls her. Hello. Hey my name's Bill Wilson. I'm a rum hound from New York. Looking for another drunk to talk to. And she says. Well come on over. I could never believe why that happened. Until you understand about the Oxford Movement. Henrietta had been praying for guidance for Dr. Bob. Probably that very morning. She had been praying for Dr. Bob again. And when Bill called as a rum hound from New York. Looking for another drunk to talk to. It was just like providential to her. Come on over. And as he was making his way over. She was calling Ann Smith. To invite Dr. Bob over. To talk to this guy from New York. She calls Ann Smith up. And Ann says. Well hello Henrietta. How are you doing? And she says. Well I'm going to come over to my house this afternoon. And she says. Well Henrietta you know it's Mother's Day. Dr. Bob just got home. And he brought me a potted plant for Mother's Day. Isn't that nice? But unfortunately he's under the table. Potted himself. So we cannot come over. Anyway they did it the next day. And Bob and his story relates it. On the way over. He says. I'm going to give this guy 15 minutes. And I'm out of there. And you know he was going to be thirsty. After 15 minutes of this. But fortunately he was able to. They visited for hours together. And Bill told him about his problem. He told him about the allergy of the body. And the obsession of the mind. Here's this New York stock broker. Talking to a physician about his body. But Dr. Bob says. You know this is the first man I ever talked to. That made sense to me. That explained it. And made sense to me. So he got Dr. Bob's attention. Dr. Bob had one more episode. On an annual trip to a medical clinic. To a medical convention in New Jersey. But he had his last drink. On June the 10th 1935. He got back from that trip. And shortly thereafter he remembered. Oh God I got an operation in the morning. And so Bill took him to the hospital that morning. Bob's hands were going like this. You know he's a proctologist. And you don't want anybody like that. Working with your procto. Laughter. Laughter. Laughter. So Bill gives him a couple of bottles of beer. To soothe his nerves. And sends him off into the hospital. Well Bill goes home to wait on him. And Bill and Ann are waiting for Dr. Bob all day long. He didn't show up. Of course they were worried. Bill thought to himself. That beer this morning must have triggered the allergy. He's off to the woods again. But Dr. Bob came in later that evening. He was sober. And of course he reported that what he had been doing. As soon as the operation was over. He said it was successful. But what he had been doing. Was going all around Akron, Ohio. Making amends and apologies. And so on and so forth. To the people that he had harmed. As a result of his drinking. Did step nine that day. So Dr. Bob gets sober. Small group in Akron. Small group in New York City. It's two years later. In the fall of 1937. Bill is on another business trip to Akron, Ohio. That didn't make it. I don't think Bill ever worked again. In any field other than recovery. Thank God. From the time he got sober. But this business deal failed. But it gave him an opportunity to visit with Dr. Bob again. And while they were visiting. I could just see him sitting on the porch of Ardmore. Probably in a swing. And they began to take note. And they started figuring out who was sober. And they decided there was about 40 people. Sober at that time. And they started to look at their method. That word of mouth method. The six steps that they had from the Oxford group. You admit you're licked. And so on and so forth. And we'll speak to those in just a moment. And they were recanting what was going on. And then they said. You know we know that there are thousands and thousands. Maybe millions of people who need what we've got. How can we help them? Well Bill said. We need to build a chain of hospitals. Because most hospitals don't have anything to do with drunks. We need some missionaries. We need some people to go out and carry the good message. The good word. And of course we need some literature. Because we don't want our message to get messed up. Well Dr. Bob says. You know what we ought to do is put this before the group that's meeting tonight. And so they did. And they put the same proposals before the group that met. And Clarice and Henry Williams' home. They were Oxford group people who had opened their home to alcoholics. They had this meeting. And then they made these proposals. And that bunch that was there tonight. About 18 of them. They said. You know when they talked about hospitals. They said. Hospitals are a big business. And they're a racket. We don't want to get involved in that. And they said. Missionaries. Missionaries cost money. We ain't got no money. We're looking for jobs. And then they said. Literature. Why do we need literature? And here was their argument. After all. The 12 apostles didn't need literature. So you can see where they were coming from. But anyway. With Dr. Bob's support. They took a vote. And by the bearish majority. According to the book. They decided to go for the whole package. The hospitals. The missionaries. And the literature. They were excited. So Bill goes back to New York. And you New Yorkers like this. They go back. And they're all excited about this deal. Money. You know what I'm saying? Well we'll raise some money. And I'll run the hospital. And I'll be the head missionary. We know who's going to be the head missionary. Bill Wilson himself. But they started trying to raise money to do these things. Because they're going to take a lot of money. Hospitals. Missionaries. Books. They couldn't raise nothing. They scraped up a couple of super salesmen. Who had some history of selling. Couldn't raise any money. They couldn't raise anything. And of course you can imagine with all these grandiose ideas. And you go and there ain't nobody giving you no money. You get upset. And so Bill when he gets upset. He goes to see his brother-in-law. Leonard Strong. Leonard Strong is married to Bill's sister. And he always had a shoulder for Bill to cry on. And Bill went to see Leonard Strong one day when he was just upset. About all these rich. These short sighted people. People with all the money. And Leonard Strong listened with a. I'm sure with passion. And he said to him. You know I used to know a guy that was connected with the Rockefellers. If he's still alive. He may remember me. Why don't I give him a call. And he did. Leonard Strong called. And got a hold to Willard Richardson. And Willard Richardson listened to Strong's comments about what Bill had done. And what was going on. And he said that sounds like something we might be interested in. Why don't you come on over. And the next day they went over. Strong and Bill. And Richardson met for lunch. And Mr. Richardson suggested that they meet again. And he said only at the next meeting. I want to bring some of my guys from the Rockefeller Foundation. And he said I want you to bring Dr. Silkworth. Dr. Smith. And some of your alcoholics. And we'll have a sit down. And in December of 1937 they had this meeting. In John D. Rockefeller's office. At this meeting was Albert Scott. He was the chairman of the Trump administration. And one of the trustees of the Riverside church. Which was Rockefeller's church. Frank Amos who was an advertising executive. Leroy Chipman. An associate of Mr. Rockefeller. And of course Dr. Strong was there. And of course there was Bill. Dr. Bob. And some of the other alcoholics. Then they didn't know how to start the meeting. But so some of the alcoholics began to express their experience. What it used to be like. What happened. And what it's like now. And Mr. Scott exclaimed. Well this sounds like first century Christianity. What can we do to help? And then of course Bill puts it out on the table. We need some hospitals. We need some missionaries. We need to get some literature printed. So that our message does not become garbled and twisted. Then these people who were not alcoholics. Said you know don't you think hospitals are a racket. Too much money involved. Missionaries not so sure about that. Don't know about the literature either. So they had the same arguments they had in Akron, Ohio. But anyway Bill says listen. We've considered all of that. But to do nothing is just as dangerous as to do these things. And it made sense to them. And they said well what we'll do is investigate you. We'll send Mr. Amos out to take a look at you. And we'll use his report as a means to ask Mr. Rockefeller for some money. So Frank Amos made an investigation of the fellowship as it existed at that time. He made a report after going to Akron, Ohio. Talking to some people around there. Talking to some members. He found a place in Akron that would be used as a. That could be used converted to a hospital. Because Bill and the rest of them knew that because of Dr. Bob's practice was not being revived fast enough. He was in money troubles. And that if they had a hospital Dr. Bob would be the head doctor. So. He made his report which suggested a contribution of $50,000 to start. This is 1937 folks. $50,000. A lot of money. Ain't too bad today. And he gave it to Mr. Richardson who in turn gave it to Mr. Rockefeller. And Mr. Richardson added his own glowing words about what he had discovered about this bunch. Nevertheless Mr. Rockefeller turned down the plea for a large sum of money. And this is what he said. I'm afraid that money will spoil this thing. He gave his reasons and they were identical to his. And he said if we had sold to the majority in Akron. Then this was a great turning point in Alcoholics Anonymous. If John D. Rockefeller had given us $50,000 at that time. I dare say we wouldn't be sitting here today. But then he was told of the desperate plight of Dr. Bob and Bill. Bill wasn't working. Dr. Bob's house was about to be foreclosed on. And Rockefeller says well here's what I'll do. I'll put $5,000 in the trust fund at the Riverside Church. And he says these guys can draw on it until it's gone. But don't ever ask me for another nickel. And then they paid off Dr. Bob's mortgage. And then began to draw a certain amount out each week. In the spring of 1938 this tax free charitable foundation was set up. So that if they found anybody that would contribute any money. At least it would be a tax write off. Sometime in March or April 1938 Bill began to work on the big book. Now he, one of the things that they had decided to do was to write a book of their experience. Primarily because they didn't want the message that they had. They had to become garbled and twisted. In 1938, April 1938 he began to work on the big book. He completed his story. We know that's chapter one in the big book. And the chapter there is the solution which is chapter two. These two chapters were then used as paraphernalia when they were trying to raise money. They go up to see somebody and say we're trying to raise a little money for recovery. We need to build some hospitals, hire some missionaries and write some literature. And this is who we are. They had that Bill story. He's a typical alcoholic. And the chapter there is a solution which is all about the hope. They were mimeographed and were part of this money raising thing which fizzled. The trustees, there was in this foundation a board of trustees were set up. They had regular meetings to talk about what was going on and to look at this empty treasury. In the fall of 1938 Frank Amos set up a meeting between Bill and Eugene Exman who was the religious editor of Harper's Magazine. Bill went to see Mr. Exman. Who scanned over these two chapters that he had written. Bill's story and there's a solution. And Mr. Exman looked at these things and says well let me ask you something. Do you think you can write a whole book using this same style? Bill says I think so. He said how long do you think it might take? He said oh eight, ten months. And he said this was a startling thing. He said if you think it will help I'll be able to perhaps advance you $1500 for seed money. And this sounded like good news. But Bill says on the way over to break the news to the trustees he began to think about the hazards of someone else owning their book. And he said he thought if someday the book was to become the basic text which it is of our society he didn't think it should be owned by an outsider. Also if there was a lot of publicity and thousands of pleas for help they wouldn't have any income to handle it. To hire people to write letters, to buy postage and so on and so forth. The trustees thought the deal was good. Bill thought it was bad. So they had a, no decision was made about it. They were hung jewelry. Now here's where the action really started. There was a guy by the name of Hank Parkhurst. Hank Parkhurst was a protege of Towns Hospital. He was a former Exxon executive. He had red hair. He had a bright idea every two minutes. And energy beyond telling. He had this little idea. He had this little business called Honors Dealers which was a co-op of gas station dealers branded together for buying power. He had this building, this business at 17 William Street in Newark. He had a secretary by the name of Ruth Hawk. And Hank was not a trustee and he didn't have any say so in anything. But he says to Bill, why do we bother with these trustees and that foundation? They haven't raised a cent and I don't think they're going to. Why don't we put this proposed book on a business-like basis, form a stock company, and then we can sell shares to the folks right here in New York. And if we give them a real argument, I'm sure they'll buy the stock. Well Bill admitted that he would toy with some of those kinds of ideas and he didn't have enough confidence. He didn't have as much confidence as Hank did. And Bill said the foundation will never agree to this stuff. But Henry's skin seemed to be thicker than Bill's. And Bill finally agreed to the scheme. Then Bill went to see Eugene Exman and out of courtesy to tell him what had happened. And to his surprise, Mr. Exman agreed. A society like yours ought to control and publish its own literature. Well when the trustees were told what Mr. Exman said, they didn't register with them. But it was good news for Bill and Hank. Even with this proposal of stock, they were not able to sell the property. Anything to anybody in New York. Hank would go around brow-beating these people, hanging them up against the wall, telling them how much money they were going to make. And Bill was coming behind him, easing their ruffled feathers. And of course Bill kept Dr. Bob informed all the time as to what was going on. And Hank even had a prospectus drawn up about how much they would make if they sold 100,000 books, 250,000 books, a half a million books. And it was just a preposterous amount of money that they were going to make on the deal. But yet he couldn't get anybody to do it. Nobody to buy anything. Then Hank gets another idea. He says, why don't we go down and see Reader's Digest? If we can get them to agree to publish an article about us, I know we'll sell these stocks. So, plus they realized that they lacked two ingredients. One is that they didn't have any stock certificates. So, they went to the store and bought a pad of blank stock certificates. Across the top he writes, Works Publishing, Inc. Down at the bottom, Hank Parkhurst, President. $25 par value. Even with that, they couldn't sell anything. So, then they go down to Reader's Digest. Oh, by the way, let me tell you what the split on the stock was. There were 600 of these stocks printed. Two hundred. Two hundred was for sale. Two hundred was for Bill for writing the book. And two hundred was for Hank for doing PR work. So, that's how the 600 were to be distributed. Selling two, Bill and Hank together having four. Then they had this idea to go see Reader's Digest. They go down and see Kenneth Payne. Kenneth Payne invites them in. And I can almost imagine what the conversation was like. They begin to tell them who they are. They start dropping a few names like John D. Rockefeller. And so on and so forth. And telling them about their society of sober people. And of course, this is not too long after the great experiment we had in this country of prohibition. And Kenneth Payne says, you know, this sounds like something Reader's Digest would be really interested in. But of course, I must check up with my other editorial managers and I'll let you know. Well, Bill and Hank didn't hear that. All they heard was Reader's Digest was going to endorse them and say something about the book in a future publication as soon as the book was done. They came back to New York and they sold those two hundred stocks. Of course, they made it easy for everybody. You could buy it with five dollars down and five dollars a month. Or you could pay twenty-five dollars up front. Then Bill began to get earnestly serious about the book. He went to Newark every morning. He'd go to the office over on William Street. And as he was, he wrote the book from chapter titles. He'd stand over Ruth Hawk and dictate what he wanted to say. And she'd type it all up. Then as the day got finished, he would take what was written, send a copy to Dr. Bob in Akron for his editorial. And then he'd take probably copies to the meetings that night. And you can imagine what it must have been like. Taking a proposed book about a group of alcoholics to a meeting. And saying, this is what we're saying about this, that, and the other thing. And everybody in that meeting had different ideas about what it ought to be said. So there was nothing but arguing. And then Bill gets to this place in chapter five called Working with Others, which is the chapter title he had. Bill was worried because after all, he'd never written anything. He's not an author. Progress had been slow. The hassle over the four chapters already finished had been terrific. You can imagine that. Anyway, Bill was not in a very spiritual mood the night the twelve steps were written. He was laying in bed, had a pencil and pad in hand. And then he began to reflect on all that occurred since he got sober. He knew that most of the basic ideas came from the Oxford groups. This is his acknowledgement. Most of the basic ideas came from the Oxford groups. From William James, who wrote Varieties of Litigious Experiences. And from Dr. Silkworth. Who had described the problem of alcohol as being an allergy to the body and an obsession of the mind. And what they had at that time sounded like this. Those six steps. First one was we admitted that we were licked, that we were powerless over alcohol. The second proposition was we made a moral inventory of our defects or sins. Third, we confessed or shared our shortcomings with another person in confidence. Four, we made restitution to all those we had harmed by our drinking. Five, we tried to help other alcoholics with no thought of reward in money or prestige. And six, we prayed to whatever God we thought that there was for the power to carry out these precepts. That was the six little steps that they were using at the time. Everybody was using Silkworth's expression of describing the alcoholic dilemma of being powerless. And Bill's mind began to run over these developments. And as I said, he didn't feel much like writing. But he thought that what they had needed to be more specific. They needed to be said in such a way that the alcoholic couldn't wiggle out of it. And so he started to write. What he did was relax to begin with. And I think the most important thing that he did was he asked for guidance. He relaxed. He asked for guidance. He relaxed. He asked for guidance. Then he says, with speed that was astonishing, he completed the first draft. Took about 30 minutes. The word just kept on coming along, as Bill says. Then he reached the stopping point and then he numbered the new steps. And lo and behold, there were 12 of them. And he connected them with the 12 apostles. Shortly after he finished this, he was visited by a member of AA at the time. His name was Howard. Howard had a pigeon with him. And then Bill read to Howard the new steps. Howard was furious. As you can imagine, what if you went to your home group this coming week and discovered that they had 24 steps and so on. And you were like, well, I'm going to go to my house instead of 12. And they didn't ask you. How would you feel? This is how Howard felt. He was upset. And his pigeon was watching, wondering what in the world is going on here. Howard said there was too much God in the steps. And Charlie's going to read to you from the original manuscript the way the steps were originally written. He said alcoholics might object to getting on their knees because in the seventh step at that time it says humbly on your knees. And they had some heated debates about the way those steps were written. And they were quite heated until Lois came in and told them both to shut up and have some coffee. And then Bill got down to the business of completing the book. You need to know that there were three factions of us at that time who had a great influence on how the book was written. There were the conservatives. I don't know which one you might have belonged to, but if you listen to the way they're described, you might determine what bunch you would have been with. The conservatives wanted the book written with a lot of God and even biblical quotations and biblical terms. That was the conservative bunch. Things haven't changed much, have they? Okay, liberals. They had no objections to the term. They had no objection to the term of the word God, but were against any theological or religious position. They said this, spirituality yes, religion no. Then you had the radicals. The radicals were the Jimmy Burwells, the atheists and the agnostics. They wanted a psychological book, not any God. So those were the three factions, the three groups of people that went in to influence our book. And the radicals were the ones that were in the middle of all the arguing. Bill. And so Bill finally got so disgusted, he said to him, I'm going to listen. I'm going to throw this damn book out the window unless one of you guys want to write this book. And they looked around at each other and said, you want to write the book? You want to write? I don't want to write no book. So Bill says, you're going to have to let me be the judge of what goes into the book. Of course, I will bounce it off of you and get your intake or feedback. So he asked that he might be the judge of what the book said, and nobody else wanted to write it, so they let him do that. It was decided as they were writing this book, completing the recovery process, that something more was needed. That's when they decided on the stories. Then they began to wonder if the book might be widely accepted by people of religion, of medicine, of psychology. So they made up 400 copies, mimeographed copies of the book, and sent it out to all these people for their edification. And they wrote it down. They wrote it down for verification, and to send back any comments if they needed to. Each of these copies were stamped, loan copy to protect any future copyright. And then while waiting for the returns, a hot controversy got underway as to what they would call the book when it was finished. Although the mimeographed copies were sent out, they were stamped Alcoholics Anonymous, this was not accepted by everybody as the name. They had other options or other considerations, like 100 Men, The Empty Glass, The Dry Way, The Dry Frontiers, The Way Out. But Bill Wilson liked the title Alcoholics Anonymous. And The Way Out was also popular, probably a little more popular than Alcoholics Anonymous. So Bill sent a wire to Fitz Mayo, one of the town's hospital protégés, who was also the preacher's son. He lived in Maryland, and he says, Fitz, go over to the Library of Congress and check and see how many books there are titled Alcoholics Anonymous, and how many books there are titled The Way Out. Well, the next day Bill gets a telegram from Fitz who says that there are no books titled Alcoholics Anonymous, there are 12 books titled The Way Out. And Bill asked those guys, he says, you think we want to be the 13th Way Out? I don't think so. So, Bill and his son, in his cunning ability, got them to accept the title Alcoholics Anonymous. Just before the manuscript was finished, another event of great significance took place. There had been an argument over the content of the steps led by the atheists and argued by the conservatives, and a compromise was reached. In step two, it was decided to describe God as a power greater than oneself. In step three and 11, we inserted the words God as we understood Him, and from step seven, we deleted the expression on your knees. All of this, and as a lead-in to all the steps, they wrote these words. Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery. What they actually did was widen the gate for Alcoholics Anonymous, alcoholics to come through, no matter who the sufferer was. Bill and Hank then went to see Ed Blackwell of the Cornwall Press to make an order for the book. Now, Mr. Cornwall is, I'm sure, used to dealing in big book sales, but they go down there, and they were thinking in terms of carloads, but Mr. Blackwell suggested that they ought to start with $5,000 to begin with. And, oh, by the way, how do you want to pay for this? And so they wanted to make a $500 deposit. And then Mr. Blackwell picked himself up off the floor after that, but he decided to go along with this, and he decided, printed the books, $5,000 in the first edition. Then they got into the argument about what to charge. This new bunch of alcoholics trying to make these major decisions. What shall we charge? Well, they agreed after a long debate on $3.50. Some people wanted to give it away, some people wanted to charge more, but they finally agreed on the $3.50 price. That was Hank's proposal. Then they directed Mr. Blackwell to do something that gave way to the name The Big Book. He ordered Mr. Blackwell to print the book on the thickest paper available in his shop. And the idea was to convince the purchaser that he was indeed getting his money's worth. It proved to be so bulky that they affectionately titled, called the book The Big Book. Okay, Henry, Ruth, and Dorothy Snyder and Bill went to Cornwall, New York, to assist in making the galleys for the first book, Alcoholics Anonymous. During all this activity, no one had thought about contacting the Reader's Digest about the book being finished. And Bill and Hank go to Pleasantville one more time to see Mr. Payne, to tell him that we're ready to roll, we're ready to shoot, and Payne says, shoot what? They go in and remind him of their meeting some months before. And then he said, oh yeah, I remember you two guys, connected to the Rockefellers, sober, alcoholic, yeah, yeah, I remember that. He said, remember I told you that I'd have to check up with my medical, my managing editors, and you know, to my surprise, they thought it was a bad idea. But I forgot to let you know that. They thought it would be too controversial. And of course, Bill and Hank, you can imagine how depressed they were as they left Pleasantville, headed back to New York, to break the news to the alcoholics there that they were not going to get an article in the Reader's Digest. But by that time, some of the members of AA had caught on to the spirit and said, what's the matter with you guys? Don't you have any faith? In April of 1939, the first printing had been done, and the books were published. There were some reviews in religious periodicals. As a matter of fact, Fosdick, who was the preacher over at the Riverside Church, made a great review of the book. But it made no influence, and they didn't sell any books. So they had 5,000 books in the warehouse, and they weren't selling any. One day, this member by the name of Morgan came up with an idea. Now, Morgan had just been released from an insane asylum, but had been in the ad business before his fall, and he knew Gabriel Heater. Now, back in those days, Gabriel Heater was probably like the Tonight Show. Everybody in the country listened to Gabriel Heater on the radio every evening. And he had a show called We the People. He was very popular. Morgan went to see Heater. And made a proposal that he interview him and put in a pitch for the book. And Gabriel Heater said he'd be glad to. And they set a date in the near future for Morgan to come on his program. And they would tell about the rise and the fall of alcoholics, and then they'd put in a plug for this book. That was really some great news for those alcoholics. And then Hank began to remember. Well, wait a minute. Morgan just got out of the insane asylum. Who's to guarantee that he'll be sober ten days from now? . We gotta do something. And so Hank says, what we gotta do is guard this boy. . And they, somebody had a membership in one of the clubs in New York City, and they put Hank Morgan, they put Morgan in this room, and they put a guard on the door, and they didn't let him out of their sight for ten days. . Because they didn't want him to be drunk before or on the day of the broadcast. . And then Morgan did go, and if you want to read the transcript of that program, you can read it in the book called Pass It On. Yeah, I think he did a pretty good job. And, but more importantly, Henry had an idea that occurred to him before the broadcast. He says, what we need to do is send postcards to all the doctors east of the Mississippi, reminding them to listen to this program and put in an order for the book, A Sure Cure for Alcoholism. And, but they didn't have any money. So they had to borrow some money, $500 against some merchandise in the guy's store, and they got these postcards printed and sent them out. And sure enough, Morgan does his radio show, and then Ruth and Hank and Bill wait three days, 72 hours after the radio show before they go down to the post office. According to the story, they each carry two suitcases with them. . And they get the postcards that they know they're going to get as a result of that radio show. They go down to the post office, and they look in this little glass box window in there, and there's just a few little postcards in there. And Hank says, hell, they probably got them in the bags in the back. Called up the clerk. The clerk came up, and he says, well, we're here to get our postcards. And they went back and said, well, this is all you got. All that money down the tubes again. They had one order for a book. And they were really a little upset about the outcome. Couldn't get rid of any publicity, couldn't get rid of any books. Then one day while visiting with Charlie Towns, who was a great friend of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill was told that Towns knew this guy by the name of Morris Markey, who was a feature writer in the Liberty Magazine, and had approached Fulton Owsley, who was the editor. And Owsley had commissioned Markey to do an article about Alcoholics Anonymous, and Towns, Charlie Towns wanted to know when Bill could get with Markey. So soon they got together, and there was this article, Alcoholics and God, which appeared in the September 1939 issue of Liberty Magazine. Then this magazine received 800 urgent pleas for books and help. So several hundred books were sold. Sold retail as a result of that article. And then more importantly, correspondence was struck up between Ruth and the alcoholics throughout the country who were writing for books. And they corresponded with family and friends. Then in 1940, an unfortunate incident occurs in which Hank gets drunk. And he gets drunk in a dispute with Bill over the location of where the headquarters office ought to be. Bill lived in the Bronx, and this office that they were using at the time was in Newark, and it was just a mite too far. They wanted to do something to compromise. And so during, after Hank got drunk, Bill turned his 200 shares of stock over to the foundation and convinced Hank to do the same thing. So in the summer of 1939, the Midwest broke away from the Oxford Groups, and AA was fully on its own. As I said before, in New York, they broke away in 1937. I think I had that back with me a while ago. Then in February 1940, another great incident happened. John D. Rockefeller gave a dinner and invited 400 of his friends to come and celebrate the good news at AA or the good work that AA was doing. Everybody who was invited got a copy of the big book. Of course, they sold them to the big book. They sold them to John D. Rockefeller for about a buck apiece. And when this dinner finally came about, as they were all gathering, Bill was in his store. He says, you know, he was looking around. He saw about a billion dollars worth of commerce coming into that room. Boy, he was going to network that night and make him, you know, get some money out of this bunch. But John D. was sick that evening and couldn't make it, and he sent his son Nelson in his place. And as the dinner got started, Nelson Rockefeller rose to his feet. He expressed his father's regret for being unable to attend, and he told how deeply his father had been affected by his experience with the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous. He read a note from his father, and it said something to this effect. Gentlemen, you can see that this is the work of goodwill. Its power lies in the fact that one member carries a good message to the next without any thought of financial income or reward. Therefore, it is our belief that Alcoholics Anonymous should be saved. And that is what we are doing. We are not self-supporting so far as money is concerned. It needs only our goodwill. Whereas all them billionaires got up and clapped hands and left. But Rockefeller probably did us more good than we can imagine. He never gave us money, but he loaned us his name, his reputation, his integrity, plus his men. So, in February 1940, he committed." Speaking on the air, Ray repairing Summary Results Prof.