Not-God (65 page)

Anne C., interview of 7 September 1977, strongly stressed “Dr. Bob’s coming to agree with Bill in the year before he died.” In the early 1950’s, she had privately published a pamphlet containing her evidence: I have been unable to locate a copy, but I found Anne’s oral memories and evidence convincing.
Cf
. also tr. of wire recording of George H. to Wilson
re
Dr. Bob and the pressures on him in this matter (undated, but from context from 1948).

32
    The reference to “writing out” is to
12&12
, to be treated just below.

33
    Wilson’s 1949 talk before the A.P.A. was published as “Society.” The outline history of official medical attitudes to alcoholism can best be followed in the “Digest of Positions of the American Medical Association,” no publisher, place, nor date given, but internally datable with each appropriate heading: 1956, pp. 12-18, “Alcohol—Consumption;” 1971, p. 38,"Alcohol and Alcoholism;” 1973, unpaged, “Alcoholism.” “Illness” first appears in 1956; “complex disease” in 1967.

34
    At depth, this whole monograph in its treatment of A.A. as an expression of
religious
ideas speaks to this point; for the meaning(s) of alcoholism as disease,
cf
.
Chapter One
, note #49.

35
    Jellinek,
Disease Concept
, p. 157; the work quoted by Jellinek is A.D. Ullman, “The Psychological Mechanism of Alcohol Addiction,”
QJSA
13: 602-608 (1952); the post-Prohibition re-opening of the question within the A.M.A. occurred in 1950 —
cf
. p. 16 of the 1956 “Digest” cited above, note #33.

36
    The A.A. understanding is that alcoholism is a condition that continues in its victims, albeit in a “state of remission” so long as they do not drink alcohol. My understanding of the “change” treated here was explored in depth with Lois Wilson, interview of 16 November 1976. At first — verbal — level, it had been an unwelcome idea to most A.A. oldtimers interviewed, yet it did seem they were objecting more to the word than to the concept explicated here and in the next paragraph. Lois, after discussion, confirmed the accuracy of this as Bill’s point of view, especially after his experiences of 1940 and 1946: the phrase “state of remission” is from her and at her insistence — it seems to have been the key for Bill to the new distinction explored below.

37
    
Living Sober
is the title of the second of the books added to the A.A. canon since Wilson’s death (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1975). Its implications were discussed with Lois Wilson, interview of 16 November 1976, and with its anonymous author, Barry L., interview of 18 November 1976. The evolving distinction was also discussed with and confirmed by A.A. oldtimers interviewed, especially Chuck C., Ed. J., and Joe M. Chuck C. was at the time of the interview Hazelden’s counselor-specialist in “relapses”: this distinction was the essential foundation of his philosophical and therapeutic approach.

38
    
Cf
. Harry M. Tiebout, “Direct Treatment of a Symptom,” pamphlet published and distributed by the National Council on Alcoholism (New York, 1958); also Charles W. Crewe, “A Look at Relapse” (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 1974); and especially three volumes in the Hazelden “Caring Community” series, all anonymously authored and all (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 1975): “The New Awareness,” “The New Understanding,” and “Challenges to the New Way of Life.”

39
    
Cf
. citations in notes #37 and 38;
The A.A. Way of Life - a Reader by Bill
(New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1967), published since 1972 as
As Bill Sees It;

The phrase “a way of life” appears in the “Foreword” to
12&12
, p. 15, without emphasis but clearly as theme.

40
    “Report on the General Service Conference,”
AAG
9:1 (June 1952), 3; full citation for
12&12
appears in the Bibliography, p. 416.

41
    
12&12:
“a way of life,” p. 15;

the necessity of total deflation, pp. 21-24;

“childish” traits, pp. 126-127;

“humility” as foundation, p. 71.

On the concept and term “recovering alcoholic,” the best explicit treatment is Kenneth Anonymn (pseud.),
Understanding the Recovering Alcoholic
(Canfield, OH: Alba House, 1974). As early as April 1939, in the script for Morgan’s presentation on Gabriel Heatter’s “We The People,” reference to “way to cure themselves” was crossed out and replaced by “method of recovery” in the opening description (by Heatter) of A.A. (Copy of script in A.A. archives.)

42
    
12&12
, pp. 64, 59-60;
cf
. “This Matter of Humility — by Bill,”
AAGV
17:1 (June 1961).

43
    
12&12
, p. 71;
cf
. p. 30; for the “strength out of weakness” theme: pp. 21, 22, 37, 63, 76, 96, 129;
cf
. also
AACA
, p. 46: “Such is the paradox of A.A. regeneration: strength arising out of complete defeat and weakness, the loss of one’s old life as a condition for finding a new one” — reprinted,
ABS1
, p. 49; also the following themes in the Wilson correspondence:

“pain is merely the touchstone of growth”: to Adam C., 16 December 1957, to George ?, 3 April 1958; to Lisa N., 25 July 1960;

“A.A. is nothing but capitalized grief: to Ethel B., 5 January 1950;

“A.A. is not grounded so much on success as upon failure”: to Raylene C., 17 October 1949, to Charles H., 17 November 1955.

A fascinating personal sense of this appears in Wilson to Sam Shoemaker, 3 January 1950: “To be entirely truthful, my attitude on anonymity and the like is far more a necessity than a virtue. Despite some spiritual progress, most of us A.A.’s are still so confoundedly egocentric that we cannot endure the thought of permanent leadership. You see there are so many runners-up that one gets knocked down if he doesn’t stand out of the way. In this respect, our vices actually conspire to make us a quite perfect society composed nonetheless of very imperfect and misshapen people. My own rating in this regard is still very high.”

44
    Wilson to Mary B., 26 August 1957;
12&12
, pp. 43, 50, 65, 72, 118.

"Acceptance” as a key theme in Alcoholics Anonymous is best witnessed to by “The Serenity Prayer,” often referred to (outside of A.A.) as “The A.A. Prayer”: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” For the story of its adoption by A.A.,
cf. AACA
, p. 196. Further, “Acceptance” is the heading for fourteen passages in
ABSI
, dating from 1940 to 1966;
cf
. also “What Is Acceptance? — by Bill,”
AAGV
18:10 (March 1962).

45
    
12&12
, pp. 77, 54, 119;
cf
. p. 95; also “The Next Frontier: Emotional Sobriety — by Bill,”
AAGV
14:8 (January 1958); Wilson to Mary P., 14 April 1954; Wilson to Jack Alexander, 31 March 1954; Wilson to Caryl Chessman, 3 May 1954: the correspondence between Wilson and the condemned Chessman was instituted at the urging of Jack Alexander; the common theme underlying it implicitly accepted by all three was the similarity between the alcoholic and the criminal psychopath/sociopath in this matter of “demand";

for Wilson feeling such demands were made on him by others,
cf.
, e.g., Wilson to Bob H., 14 April 1959, where he blames this as keeping him from participating in A.A. meetings “as others do.”

46
    
12&12
, pp. 37, 61, 63, 108 (italics Wilson’s);
cf
. p. 84; the “going it alone” reference furnishes the clearest intrusion of specifically Oxford Group thought and experience in
12&12
, and it is an intriguing one, given the history we have seen. The passage continues: “It is worth noting that people of very high spiritual development almost always insist on
checking
with friends or spiritual advisors the
guidance
they feel they have received from God,” pp. 61-62, italics added.

47
    
12&12
, pp. 109-110;
cf
. also “The Greatest Gift of All — by Bill,”
AAGV
14:7 (December 1957), in which “spiritual awakening” so appreciated is the topic; also [Wilson], ‘“The Spiritual Experience’: It’s
[sic]
Therapeutic Value to A.A.,” prepared for and published as “The Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous,” in R. J. Catanzaro (ed.),
Alcoholism
(Springfield, IL: Chas. C. Thomas, 1968), pp. 116-124.

48
    
Cf.
, e.g., Wilson to Dorothy M., 1 April 1952; to Charles W., 3 June 1952; to Jeff K., 1 April 1953; to Gladys B., 6 April 1953; to Al S., 13 May 1953. The “experience” to which Wilson most explicitly adverted in these letters was that of his 1946 depression — one reason for the slight bending of strict chronology here.

Although from later, the whole matter is most clearly and expansively explained in a five-page letter, complete with diagram, Wilson to Mary B., 26 August 1957.

49
    The “immaturity” critique will be treated in
Chapter Nine
, pp. 215-219, with full citations.

50
    Thomsen, pp. 334-337, the direct phrase from p. 337; the theme recurs throughout Wilson’s correspondence,
cf.
, e.g., letters cited in note #48 above;

The Freudian understanding will be explained and explored below in
Chapter Nine
.

The best source for Tiebout’s referral of Marty Mann is her tr.; this point is recalled in repetitive asides because the circumstance is so significant to the sense of “being different” as this came to be understood by both A.A. and Tiebout.

51
    
Cf
. especially
12&12
, pp. 126-127; the correspondence on which I draw especially here is Tiebout (Greenwich, CT) to Wilson, 13 October 1950, 3 November 1950, and 12 July 1951; Wilson to Tiebout of 18 October 1950, 9 November 1950, and 23 July 1951; the unsent Wilson to Tiebout is dated 1 July 1951, but clearly from context is in response to Tiebout’s of 12 July: it is thus clear that a digit has been dropped, and that the eventually sent letter of 23 July is Wilson’s more considered response.

52
    The cultural context from plays such as
The Moon Is Blue
and movies such as
The Outlaw
to the whole atmosphere of “the Eisenhower decade,” from lowered hemlines to the dressing of even very young boys in long pants. The message as conveyed in advertisements for alcoholic beverages is my subjective impression from immersion in newspapers and magazines of the period. There is no direct evidence that A.A. explicitly adverted to all this, yet such ads adjoin many clippings in the A.A. scrapbooks, and the perception seems clearly behind the 1949 renewed N.C.E.A. push —
cf
, Marty Mann, tr. as reported by Professor George Gordon who found this interpretation congenial — Prof. Gordon was at the time chairman of the Department of Communication Sciences at Hofstra University.

53
    The earliest foreshadowing of this turn, revealing Wilson’s ambivalence here about the responsibility of A.A. as A.A., occurs in Wilson to Mildred O., 14 November 1946.

54
    The Alcoholic Foundation in 1938:
AACA
. p. 151;
cf
. above, pp. 66-67, the “no outside contributions” decisions:
AACA
, pp. 203-204; Tradition Seven is discussed in its historical development in
AACA
, pp. 110-114; the function of the trustees is clear from the “Alcoholic Foundation” documents of these years. Wilson’s friendship with the trustees does not seem to require specific citation:
cf
. correspondence in “Alcoholic Foundation” files, recall Dr. Strong as his brother-in-law, and note also trustee selection by internal choice and A.A.’s financial support of A. LeRoy Chipman, in his declining years — the last and the whole point confirmed by NW, interview, 5 April 1977.

“Gratitude” as an obligation of the “Responsibility” of “Maturity” begins as an A.A. theme that will increase in importance through the 1950s with the
AAGV
“Tradition Week Issue,” 6:6 (November 1949), in which the short-form of the Traditions was first published. Its tie with American Thanksgiving Day has continued each year in November, which is traditionally “Tradition Month” in Alcoholics Anonymous.

55
    "Cleveland, Here We Come!”
AAGV
6.12 (May 1950), 3;
cf
. Wilson to Trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation, 11 February 1950, explaining his intention; “May Humility Be the Keynote,”
AAGV
7:2 (July 1950), 3 (italics Wilson’s); "We Come of Age — by Bill,”
AAGV
7:4 (September 1950), 3-11; “Joe Goes to the Conference,”
ibid.
, 12-15.

“Hardly settled”: the howl that went up from the Akronites and especially from Henrietta Seiberling still echoes:
cf
. letter of HS (New York) to Al ?, dated only “Saturday 1950” but clearly from late in the year. The kindest interpretation of its contents would be “serenely vicious,” as HS equates Wilson with “the devil” come to “destroy” A.A.; also the somewhat more restrained open letter of HS, “A Message to A.A.’s,” dated only “1950;” Roy S., (Glen Ridge, NJ) [A.A. trustee], to Leonard Harrison [chairman of the trustees], 28 December 1950; supporting Wilson are many letters: worthy of note are those from Dorothy G. [group secretary] (Chicago) to Leonard V. Strong, 15 January 1951; Leila P. [g.s.] (Frankfort, KY) to Strong, 17 January 1951; Harry S. [g.s.] (Decatur, IL) to Strong, 26 January 1951.

56
    Tiebout to Wilson, 13 October 1950; Wilson to Tiebout, 18 October 1950.

57
    “Your Third Legacy — by Dr. Bob and Bill,”
AAGV
7:7 (December 1950), 6-9; the direct quotation is from 8-9. Wilson’s use of the imminently dying Smith’s name should be noted, and the deep student may wish to compare this proposal with “What Is the Third Legacy — by Bill,”
AAGV
12:2 (July 1955), 5-11;
cf
. also the testimony of Anne C. and George H., reported in note #31 above.