June 10th is Alcoholics Anonymous (Founders) Day

On June 10, 1935, Bill Wilson and his friend Dr. Robert Smith set out to find the best way to reform alcoholics, and Alcoholics Anonymous was born.

Bill Wilson, a stockbroker from New York, had success battling his alcoholism with the help of the Oxford Group, a national organization founded by Lutheran minister Dr. Frank Buchman that promoted waiting for divine guidance in every aspect of life. He attempted to help other alcoholics, but none of them were able to become sober.

In June 1935, during a business trip in Akron, Ohio, Wilson felt the temptation to drink. Using a church directory, he was able to reach a local Oxford Group member, Henrietta Buckler Seiberling, who put Wilson in contact with Dr. Bob Smith, an alcoholic who had recently joined the Oxford Group. 

Wilson explained how he was able to become sober, which had a profound impression on Smith. They developed an approach to remaining sober through the personal support of other alcoholics. Seiberling insisted on emphasizing religion, even if it made certain alcoholics less likely to join.

“Well, we’re not out to please the alcoholics,” she reasoned. “They have been pleasing themselves all these years. We are out to please God. … God is your only source of Power.”

On June 10, outside an Akron hospital, Smith drank a beer to steady his hands for surgery; it would be the last drink he ever had.

Both men began devoting their free time to reforming other alcoholics at Akron’s City Hospital, and were able to help one man achieve sobriety. “Though the name Alcoholics Anonymous had not yet been coined, these three men actually made up the nucleus of the first A.A. group,” according to the Alcoholics Anonymous Web site.

In 1935, a second group of alcoholics formed in New York followed by a third group in Cleveland in 1939. Through the group, Wilson “emphasized that alcoholism was a malady of mind, emotions and body,” according to A.A.

In 1939, the group published its textbook, “Alcoholics Anonymous.” Written by Wilson, the book explained the group’s philosophy, including the now well-known 12 steps of recovery. 

Alcoholics Anonymous continued to grow, spreading across the United States and Canada. According to the A.A. Web site, by 1950, there were 100,000 recovered alcoholics worldwide. Also in 1950, A.A. held its first international convention in Cleveland.