xv 

experience, following a meeting with an alcoholic 
friend who had been in contact with the Oxford 
Group of that day. He had also been greatly helped 
by the late Dr. William D. Silkworth, a New York 
specialist in alcoholism who is now accounted no less 
than a medical saint by A.A. members, and whose 
story of the early days of our Society appears in the 
next pages. From this doctor, the broker had learned 
the grave nature of alcoholism. Though he could not 
accept all the tenets of the Oxford Group, he was 
convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession 
of personality defects, restitution to those harmed, 
helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in and 
dependence upon God. 
Prior to his journey to Akron, the broker had worked 
hard with many alcoholics on the theory that only an 
alcoholic could help an alcoholic, but he had suc- 
ceeded only in keeping sober himself. The broker had 
gone to Akron on a business venture which had 
collapsed, leaving him greatly in fear that he might 
start drinking again. He suddenly realized that in 
order to save himself he must carry his message to 
another alcoholic. That alcoholic turned out to be 
the Akron physician. 
This physician had repeatedly tried spiritual means 
to resolve his alcoholic dilemma but had failed. But 
when the broker gave him Dr. Silkworth's description 
of alcoholism and its hopelessness, the physician began 
to pursue the spiritual remedy for his malady with a 
willingness he had never before been able to muster. 
He sobered, never to drink again up to the moment of 
his death in 1950. This seemed to prove that one 
alcoholic could affect another as no non-alcoholic 

noted clergyman, reviewed it with approval. In the 
fall of 1939 Fulton Oursler, then editor of Liberty, 
printed a piece in his magazine, called "Alcoholics and 
God." This brought a rush of 800 frantic inquiries 
into the little New York office which meanwhile had 
been established. Each inquiry was painstakingly 
answered; pamphlets and books were sent out. Busi- 
nessmen, traveling out of existing groups, were 
referred to these prospective newcomers. New groups 
started up and it was found, to the astonishment of 
everyone, that A.A.'s message could be transmitted in 
the mail as well as by word of mouth. By the end of 
1939 it was estimated that 800 alcoholics were on 
their way to recovery. 
In the spring of 1940, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. gave 
a dinner for many of his friends to which he invited 
A.A. members to tell their stories. News of this got on 
the world wires; inquiries poured in again and many 
people went to the bookstores to get the book "Alco- 
holics Anonymous." By March 1941 the membership 
had shot up to 2,000. Then Jack Alexander wrote a 
feature article in the Saturday Evening Post and 
placed such a compelling picture of A.A. before the 
general public that alcoholics in need of help really 
deluged us. By the close of 1941, A.A. numbered 8,000 
members. The mushrooming process was in full swing. 
A.A. had become a national institution. 
Our Society then entered a fearsome and exciting 
adolescent period. The test that it faced was this: 
Could these large numbers of erstwhile erratic alco- 
holics successfully meet and work together? Would 
there be quarrels over membership, leadership and 
money? Would there be strivings for power and 

period were being ironed out, public acceptance of 
A.A. grew by leaps and bounds. For this there were 
two principal reasons: the large numbers of recoveries, 
and reunited homes. These made their impressions 
everywhere. Of alcoholics who came to A.A. and 
really tried, 50% got sober at once and remained that 
way; 25% sobered up after some relapses, and among 
the remainder, those who stayed on with A.A. showed 
improvement. Other thousands came to a few A.A. 
meetings and at first decided they didn't want the 
program. But great numbers of these—about two out 
of three—began to return as time passed. 
Another reason for the wide acceptance of A.A. was 
the ministration of friends—friends in medicine, 
religion, and the press, together with innumerable 
others who became our able and persistent advocates. 
Without such support, A.A. could have made only the 
slowest progress. Some of the recommendations of 
A.A.'s early medical and religious friends will be found 
further on in this book. 
Alcoholics Anonymous is not a religious organiza- 
tion. Neither does A.A. take any particular medical 
point of view, though we cooperate widely with the 
men of medicine as well as with the men of religion. 
Alcohol being no respecter of persons, we are an 
accurate cross section of America, and in distant lands, 
the same democratic evening-up process is now going 
on. By personal religious affiliation, we include Catho- 
lics, Protestants, Jews, Hindus, and a sprinkling of 
Moslems and Buddhists. More than 15% of us are 
women. 
At present, our membership is increasing at the 
rate of about seven per cent a year. So far, upon the