184 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS COMES OF AGE

Nelson Rockefeller. Directly in front of me was Wendell Willkie.
The dinner was squab on toast. For a bunch of ex-drunks, we were
doing remarkably well. We wondered how Mr. Rockefeller had dared
to go so far out on a limb for an obscure and struggling fellowship of
alcoholics.

After dinner Mr. Nelson Rockefeller rose to his feet. He expressed
his father’s regret for being unable to attend. He told how deeply
Mr. John D., Jr., had been affected by his experience with this society
of Alcoholics Anonymous. Promising a highly interesting evening,
Nelson Rockefeller began to introduce the speakers. Dr. Fosdick gave
us a most wonderful testimonial and expressed complete confidence in
our future. Dr. Kennedy warmly endorsed us and read a letter of protest
he had written to the Journal of the American Medical Association
because in their review of the book Alcoholics Anonymous they
had somewhat ridiculed us. Dr. Bob spoke briefly, and I gave a rapid
account of my own experience as a drinker, my recovery, and the subsequent
history of our fellowship. As we watched the faces of the
guests, it was evident that we had captured their sympathetic interest.
Great influence and great wealth were soon to be at our disposal.
Weariness and worry were to be things of the past.

Finally the big moment came. Mr. Nelson Rockefeller, visibly
moved, got to his feet once more. On behalf of his father he thanked
us all for coming. He reiterated that few more affecting things than
Alcoholics Anonymous had ever crossed his father’s life. His father
would be delighted, Nelson said, to know how many guests had
availed themselves of the chance to see the beginnings of this most
promising adventure of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Breathlessly we waited for the climax - the matter of money. Nelson
Rockefeller obliged us. Continuing, he said, “Gentlemen, you can all
see that this is a work of good will. Its power lies in the fact that one
member carries the good message to the next, without any thought of
financial income or reward. Therefore, it is our belief that Alcoholics
Anonymous should be self-supporting so far as money is concerned.
It needs only our good will.” Whereupon the guests clapped lustily,
and after cordial handshakes and good-bys all around, the whole 
billion dollars’ worth of them walked out the door.

We were dazed. Why had Mr. Rockefeller gone to all that trouble-just
for this? We simply could not figure it out. But a few days later
we began to see, and as time passes Alcoholics Anonymous sees ever
more clearly what he meant and what he did.

Dick Richardson had transcripts of all the talks that had been
made at the dinner, and he asked me to condense and edit them. This
really meant editing Dr. Bob and me, for who would edit Dr. Harry
Emerson Fosdick and Dr. Foster Kennedy? Dick said that Mr.
Rockefeller wanted to buy 400 books, and we let him have them at a
whopping discount, too: one dollar each. He wanted to send one to
every guest on the dinner list, along with a pamphlet containing 
the talks given at the dinner.