the washington group

7/30/2019 The Washington Group

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THE WASHINGTON GROUP:FOUNDATIONS, 1936-1941

By Charles E. Schamel3rd Edition by 2008 WAIA Archives Committee


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1st Edition 1983

2nd

Edition 1995

3rd Edition 2008

Washington Area Intergroup Association

Washington, DC

Copyright 2008


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John Henry Fitzhugh M. (Fitz)Founder of the Washington Group


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Table of Contents

Preface to the 3rd Edition...................................................................................................... iPreface to the 2

ndEdition .................................................................................................... ii

The Environment and the Challenge................................................................................... 1

There Is a Solution.............................................................................................................. 7Three AAs Working Early in DC ..................................................................................... 10Fitz M., 1897 1943......................................................................................................... 12Florence R., 1895 - 1943................................................................................................... 18Jim S.................................................................................................................................. 21The Boys of 39 ................................................................................................................ 23Ned F................................................................................................................................. 26The Indigenous Drunks..................................................................................................... 28AA Growth in 1940 .......................................................................................................... 31The Nebulous Group......................................................................................................... 35The Bob Erwin Articles .................................................................................................... 44

Washington Group Meetings ............................................................................................ 47The Washington Group Comes of Age............................................................................. 51Post Script: Fitz After 1940 ............................................................................................. 57Appendices........................................................................................................................ 66


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i

Preface to the 3rd

Edition

This edition includes up-dates provided by the WAIA Archives Committee. Since

the stock of 1995 edition has been expended, the decision was made to issue a reprintwhich includes the following additions:

1. Expand the section on Florence R. based on recent, discovered archivalinformation.

2. Add a section on Jim S.3. Extend the time line to 2008.4. Add a section on Washington Area AA groups in the first 30 years.5. Add a section on locations of gravesites of Fitz M., Jimmie B., and Florence R.Several sections of the original appendices have been removed from this edition. This

edition will be available on the WAIA web site (www.aa-dc.org) and will be published in

hard copy. The web site edition will be updated periodically when new information

becomes available.

The Archives Committee is indebted to the following individuals: Charles E.

Schamel, for the fine work of the previous edition; Amy F., Archivist at AA World

Services, Inc. for information on Florence R. and Jim S.; and Sally M. for background

information on Fitz M. and Jimmy B.; and Peyton M., project coordinator for the

Archives Committee.

2008 WAIA Archives Committee


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ii

Preface to the 2nd

Edition

The compilation of this history was possible because of documents and oral

history interviews collected for the archives of the Washington Area IntergroupAssociation (WAIA). Most of the documentation came from three sources: the AA

General Services Archives in New York; the WAIA Office in Washington; and oral

history interviews with early members of the group. Many of the old-timers interviewed

by the author had saved documents from their early years in AA, and they donated the

historically valuable materials to the WAIA Archives project.

All the stories reported below came from reliable sources: members who were a

part of the Group at the time, contemporary correspondence, publications, and newspaper

articles. Some of the stories were, however, remembered or written many years after the

event -- memories fade and exact dates, even years, tend to merge over time. In this

history, however, only events that were documented at the time they happened are treated

as hard facts. Everything else, including after-the-fact accounts, are cited here as

"stories." The reader may decide their validity.

Many people who were part of the group and some who were central to the events

described here do not appear in this story because their names did not appear in the

correspondence or publications that were available for research. Additional

documentation may be discovered to provide the missing information, oral history may

eventually fill in some of these gaps, but as the events recede into the past, fewer first

hand witnesses remain alive.

This is the second printing of this work. Most of the information contained in the

first edition is included here, but major revisions have been made. An inventory of the

holdings of the WAIA Archives is appended to this history. Most of the documentation

supporting the history can be found in the archives.

Experience indicates that many "old-timers" preserved memorabilia and

documents from their early days in AA. Their memories and the documents they

preserved are an invaluable source of the history of bygone days. The WAIA Archives

Project has thus far only contacted a small portion of these valuable people. There still

remains much work to be done.


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iii

I would like to thank Penny W., who assisted in typing and editing, Lee D., who

designed the cover and provided much needed encouragement and support, and my wife

Wynell who assisted in many ways.

Charles E. Schamel

Riverdale, Maryland

April, 1995


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1

The Environment and the Challenge

It is difficult to imagine the world the alcoholic faced before Alcoholics

Anonymous. Today alcoholics live in a world shaped by the work, experience, and

wisdom of the members of Alcoholics Anonymous over the years.

Today hospitalization and a wide range of professional counseling are available to

the alcoholic. There is still a stigma attached to alcoholism, but it has become recognized

as one of the most common diseases in the modern world. Most important, the fellowship

of Alcoholics Anonymous is available to almost anyone anywhere who has a desire to

stop drinking. The great contribution of Alcoholics Anonymous is that it provides a

systematic program whereby alcoholics can stop drinking and achieve and maintain

sobriety. It is the first and only treatment or therapy program that can truthfully say,

"Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path."

In the world before AA, the victim of alcoholism was a hopeless case. No doctor,

priest, or psychiatrist could treat the illness. Neither love, money, faith, nor hope could

save the alcoholic once he had become addicted. This is reflected in the great psychiatrist

Carl Jung's prognosis for an alcoholic patient. Dr, Jung said, "You have the mind of a

chronic alcoholic, I have never seen one single case recover, where that state of mind

existed to the extent that it does in you." But, he continued, "Exceptions to cases such as

yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics

have had what are called vital spiritual experiences." But, he explained that he had never

been able to induce such a "vital spiritual experience" in an alcoholic.

What is so important about Alcoholics Anonymous is that it works every time the

person follows the prescribed steps. Indeed, it is possible that in some way the AA

fellowship has been able to help hopeless drunks to become open to what many call a

spiritual experience.This story is about the people and events surrounding the founding of the AA

group in Washington, DC. Only by examining the history can we become aware of how

profoundly their efforts have affected our lives today. Their work not only contributed to

the growth and development of AA, but it played a major role in changing the political

and social attitudes toward alcoholism.


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2

Alcohol and drunkenness have had an important place in American history from

the early days and have been the subject of numerous books and scholarly articles.1

One

author even described nineteenth century America as "a nation of drunks."2 But, during

that century America became more civilized and more urban. Even though drunkenness

had been overlooked on the frontier, it became more visible, more disruptive, and less

acceptable in the more complex and civilized society.

With the coming of the industrial revolution, workers were required to function

according to the rhythm of production lines and to work according to time tables.

Industrialization meant working with powerful machines and dangerous tools that

required a steady hand and clarity of mind on production lines that could not easily be

stopped. Drunkenness on the job meant injuries, lost time, and lost revenue. In this

atmosphere drunkenness began to be recognized as a burden on society rather than a

purely personal issue.

The earliest attempts to combat the problems created by excessive drinking

centered around the prevention of alcoholism. There was little anyone could do about a

drunk once he had become an alcoholic, so the best solution seemed to be to reach people

before they became caught in the grip of alcohol. Moral persuasion was the tool used to

inoculate the young. Prevention was embodied in the temperance-prohibition movement

that developed in the United States during the nineteenth century. The temperance

crusade was conducted by churches and social service organizations such as the Anti-

Saloon League, which was dedicated to suppressing "the evils of drinking." As early as

1865 thirteen states had passed prohibition laws, and by 1917 twenty-three states were

considered prohibitionist.

In 1919 the prevention strategy became the national law of the land with the

adoption of prohibition in the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that

outlawed the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating beverages.3

As a national public policy, prohibition was a failure and the Eighteenth

Amendment was repealed in 1933 by the Twenty-First Amendment. When prohibition

failed, there was no alternative policy to replace it. In many ways the government's

attempt to enforce prohibition left the nation in worse shape than it had been before

prohibition. Probably the most obvious damage done by prohibition was the increase in


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organized crime due to the illegal traffic in alcohol. Less obvious was the depletion of

resources for treating alcoholics that occurred during the period of prohibition. Most of

the hospitals and sanitariums that had treated alcoholics before prohibition had closed

when it became illegal to become an alcoholic, By 1933 the opportunities for obtaining

medical treatment for the alcoholic were worse than they had been before prohibition.

Religious and civic minded citizens continued to work toward prevention,

attempting to use moral persuasion to save young people from becoming alcoholics. But

the plight of the person who had already become an alcoholic remained the same--he was

written off as an incurable drunk, a burden on his family and on society until his death.

The sad truth is that in 1933 alcoholics really were incurable by any methods

known at the time. Most doctors and hospitals turned drunks away from their doors,

refusing to treat them at all. The situation was the same with most psychiatrists. Their

attitudes were understandable. Drunks made miserable patients: they broke

appointments, they refused to do as they were told; they were dirty, angry, ungrateful,

and untrustworthy; and they did not pay their bills.

Furthermore, alcoholism was not considered a health problem. The terms

"alcoholism" and "alcoholic" were rarely used to describe the hopeless drunk. Most

members of the medical profession, along with the rest of society, considered alcoholism

to be a moral or character problem and not a proper subject for medical treatment.

In 1933 the concept of addiction was new to the medical profession. Only during

the last century had addiction been discovered, and its implications had not yet been fully

explored. Most medical practitioners were not even aware of the new concept of

alcoholism.

While the medical and psychiatric communities did little to treat the problem of

alcoholism, the legal system addressed the affects of the behavior of drunks. Disruptive

drunkenness was considered a problem of morality and was dealt with by the courts and

jails.

The life history of a drunk, once he had crossed the line to alcoholism, could be

summed up by the "revolving door" metaphor; the doors of the public jails and insane

asylums became revolving doors to the alcoholic as his life became a series of

incarcerations and releases, until finally, toward the end, he became hopelessly insane or


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irreversibly physically broken. For the alcoholic, release from the institutional revolving

doors came only when he was permanently committed to an insane asylum, prison, or

graveyard.

It was under these grim circumstances that Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob S. founded

the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Among the earliest people to attain sobriety

with them were three of the AAs who brought the program to the Washington, DC area.

Less than two years after Bill and Bob had their initial meeting, the first AAs came to

Washington caring the message.

The capital city was an ideal location to establish an AA outpost. Washington had

probably always had more than its share of alcoholics. Since its founding as the nation's

capital in the 1790s, it has attracted people with high energy, intelligence, and well

developed egos--people driven to be successful, to do good deeds, or just to make

themselves rich or famous or powerful. Alcohol was the universal lubricant; it greased

the pathways to the halls of power, and it eased the passage of difficult legislation. It

relieved fears and inhibitions, removed doubt, and bestowed eloquence. Alcohol was

always present at cocktail parties, in executive offices, and on the floor of Congress.

In the year 1935, Washington was an unusually drunk town. That year the Census

Bureau reported that the District of Columbia had the second highest death rate due to

alcoholism in the United States. The Washington Star reported that the District ranked

first in the nation in per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Police Commissioner Melvin C. Hazen recognized that the penal system in the

District was not sufficient to deal with the alcohol problem. He noted that sending drunks

through repeated confinement at the work house was ineffective because, " the present

system was 'an endless chain' in which a man drunk, was arrested, convicted, sentenced,

served time, was released - and then went right back to drink again." He compared the

alcoholic to people with other diseases and noted that few resources were going toward

their treatment when he stated, "The habitual drunk is a sick man and needs care just the

same as a tuberculosis victim for whom the District was building a new $1,500,000

hospital"4

The Commissioner suggested the idea of creating an "alcoholic farm" where

alcoholics could be sent to dry out and regain their health. The alcoholic farm idea


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received a lot of attention and was periodically popular with public officials and later

with some AAs. The idea was supported by the Catholic Charities, the Superintendent of

Police, and the newly formed Public Welfare Association of the District. For years

public officials were attracted to it every time the tremendous costs and ludicrous

ineffectiveness of sending habitual drunks through the prison system became apparent.

The idea was, however, never put into action on a large scale.

Part of the reason for the failure of the alcoholic farm concept was that while the

idea was supported by many sensitive, influential friends, it was stoutly opposed by the

local temperance societies, most notably the Rechabites. At a large public meeting in

1936, the leader of the Rechabites announced that, as a taxpayer, he objected to the

commissioner's proposal for a farm to take care of drunks.5 The temperance groups

asked questions such as, "Why help alcoholics who are old enough to help themselves?"

More responsible groups like the Washington Committee for Education on Alcoholism

answered, "An alcoholic is like a man going over Niagara Falls; he is old enough to know

better, but he is already in the rapids6

By 1939 there were over 400 package stores in the District of Columbia and the

problems of drunkenness had become evident even in children. In the first five years after

the repeal of prohibition, 1,685 children had been arrested for drunkenness.7

Congressman Morris Sheppard declared, "I am incensed . . . the children of Washington

apparently are able to procure liquor by ordering it over the telephone from a licensed

dealer."8

A few years later the Washington Committee for Education on Alcoholism

published a pamphlet outlining the alcohol problems in the District. During the twelve

years between 1934 and 1946, there had been 318,000 arrests for drunkenness and

137,000 commitments to the DC Jail. Gallinger Municipal Hospital (later named DC

General Hospital) admitted an average of 4,000 patients annually for alcoholism. And

although only 5% of all St. Elizabeth's patients were diagnosed as suffering primarily

from alcoholic psychosis, at least one-third of all patients admitted reported a history of

alcohol abuse. It was estimated that alcohol problems cost the DC government between 5

and 8 million dollars annually.9


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The pamphlet published by the Committee also provided personal statistics to

illustrate how the revolving door syndrome worked in an alcoholic's life. One

distinguished Washingtonian had been arrested over 250 times and had served 197 jail

sentences for drunkenness. Several others could count well over 100 of each. The

numbers showed that throwing alcoholics into the drunk-tanks--even a great many times-

-did not solve the problem.

As the war effort brought increasing numbers of workers to the Nation's capital

and subjected many of them to unusual pressures, the problem increased. Fitz M., one of

the founders of the Washington Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, described Washington,

DC, in 1940 as a city with more than its share of alcoholics:

5% of the plastered in this burg seem always to be committing suicide.

Of course we blame it on the administration. Not enough relief or bonus

- or too much relief - wives shouldn't work or shouldn't marry if they can

only allow their husband a quart a day, which causes them to drink and

smoke - wives have all the jobs and the men can't do the housework

properly"10

In a letter dated March 15, 1940, Fitz suggested that the offices of the federal government

in Washington also had their share of drunks.

Some of these days, everyone that works for the government are going to

get drunk all at one time and then you are going to see the Northern lights

over Washington. At present they stagger their drinking spells, so that

somebody is always sober to carry on.11


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7

There Is a Solution

The decade of the 1930s may have been one of the bleakest times for alcoholics in

modern history. Little had ever been known about how to treat alcoholism, but part of the

knowledge that had been accumulated over time was lost during the prohibition

experiment that led society to believe that it would no longer be needed. By the time the

experiment had failed, the few professionals and sanitariums that had attempted to treat

alcoholics before prohibition had become even fewer.

It was during these years that the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous first saw

the light of day, At this low point Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob S., and the early members of the

new fellowship worked out the program that would become the solution to the age-old

dilemma of the alcoholic. During these years they designed the program, created the

organization, and learned the principles needed to carry the message across the continent.

The years between 1935 and 1939 were some of the most important years in the

growth of AA. Membership in the fellowship grew from just two men to over one

hundred. The members were aware that they had been given a gift and a responsibility to

carry the message to other suffering alcoholics. Two of the earliest members made

contributions to general AA history in New York and Akron and also came to

Washington to try to establish an AA outpost. The first AAs who came to Washington

were Fitz M. and Florence R.

Their activities are documented in the books Alcoholics Anonymous and

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age and in unpublished documents in the AA Archives

in New York and WAIA Archives in Washington. One of the most useful documents is a

"Fact Sheet" that Bill Wilson wrote while preparing to write Alcoholics Anonymous

Comes of Age, Bill's summary of the state of affairs at the end of 1936 mentioned Fitz.

By the close of 1936 a small but strong nucleus had been established in

Akron and New York. We had isolated out of towners like Fitz M---and

Don Mc---, a banker who lived in Cohoes, New York. Scores, and I think

hundreds were exposed to us. The failure rate was immense.


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Nevertheless, the two little groups and a few outlying people held on. This

was the state of affairs at the close of 1936.12

In 1937 two things were becoming clear: first, AA worked; and second, there

were too few AAs to carry the message to all the people who needed to hear it. Bills

visit to Dr. Bob in Akron provided revelations that shaped the AA agenda for the next

year.

This [trip] gave me a chance to compare notes with Dr. Bob. In his

living room one afternoon after the score had been added up we realized

for the first time there was no doubt whatever of the success of our little

society. Enough time had elapsed on enough desperate cases to prove the

point. I think we were able to top something like 40 cases in both groups

with enough [time] elapsed to mean something. Our joy was unbounded as

their realization fell upon us.

In the talk that afternoon we began to ask ourselves how this thing

should spread. Could we rely simply on the word-of-mouth program

which by now had broken down to the following simple essentials: A)

admitted we were powerless over alcohol, B) got honest with ourselves,

C) got honest with other people about our defects, D) made restitution to

those we'd harmed, E) tried to carry the message to other alcoholics, F)

prayed to whatever God we thought there was. This was the substance of

the word-of-mouth program. But wouldn't this get garbled?

We realized too that hospitals didn't have too much use for us. We

thought we needed money to carry on the work. Bob's practice hadn't

revived, and I was without any financial roots at all. Didn't we need

money to establish hospitals, the profits of which could carry on the work?

Didn't we need to subsidize members from the existing groups to go out

and start fresh groups? Didn't we need a book of some sort which would

set forth our technique so it couldn't be garbled? These were the


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realizations that were to lead to the formation of the Alcoholic Foundation

in New York.13

By the end of 1937, the fellowship was actively seeking solutions to these

questions. One of the promising leads was Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. In December of

1937 Bill Wilson, along with a few other alcoholics, managed to obtain a meeting with

the rich gentleman.14 This meeting did not solve the financial problems as the AAs had

hoped, but it provided moral support and a valuable lesson that would become the

foundation for the seventh tradition of self-support.

The central issue became how to carry the message to the vast numbers of drunks

spread out over the continent. Getting the message to those on the west coast was a

special problem because all the current members were in the east or midwest. Although

the program was simple, transmitting it by word of mouth would allow it to get distorted

as it was passed second and third and fourth hand. The publication of a book seemed to

be the solution.

In order to publish a book, the AAs had to solve some tough problems. They had

to agree on the contents, the style and title of the book, and then someone had to write it.

They needed money not only to publish the book, but also simply to survive while

writing and publishing the book. To insure that the book would be accepted and would

reach the alcoholics who needed it, they had to cultivate the good will of the community,

especially the professionals who worked with alcoholics.

As members of the New York group before they came to Washington, Fitz M. and

Florence R. made contributions in all these areas. The tribulations and debates that filled

these formative years in New York and Akron and surrounded the publication of the book

Alcoholics Anonymous have been recorded elsewhere15

and do not need to be recounted

here. The parts played by the Washington Group founders will be more meaningful

when the reader becomes more familiar with the history of each of them.


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Three AAs Working Early in DC

The following stories spanning 1935 to 1945 include three early AA members

from the Washington Area: Florence R., one of the first women in AA, Fitz M., whostarted the Washington Group, and Jim S., who started the first Negro Group and quickly

opened it to all alcoholics.

Fitz M. and Florence R. were among the earliest members of Alcoholics

Anonymous. Separately and alone, they each came to Washington with hopes of

establishing an outpost of AA in the city. They arrived as loners; their AA credentials

supported only by the contact and correspondence they had with the AAs in New York and

Akron. Florence may have brought the AA message to Washington as early as 1937,

although she was unable to establish a permanent group here. In that same year Fitz came to

Washington from his home on Maryland's Chesapeake shore, also in search of alcoholics to

help.

Although both had achieved sobriety in the New York area fellowship, there is no

evidence that the two ever met. In fact, a letter Fitz wrote upon arriving in Washington in

the fall of 1939 indicates that he had been alerted to look out for Florence, but had no idea

what she looked like.

Both their stories appeared in the first edition of the book Alcoholics Anonymous.

Fitz's story labeled "Our Southern Friend" and Florence's "A Feminine Victory." Although

her story appeared in the first edition, it was removed from later editions. We believe that

her story has such significance archival merit that it should not have been removed from

future editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. Her first paragraph is especially poignant, in

which she prayed for inspiration to tell her story in a manner that would give other women

courage to seek the help she had been given. Her story was later reprinted in the Alcoholics

Anonymous publicationExperience, Strength & Hope. A reprint of A Feminine Victory

from Alcoholics Anonymous is included in Appendix D of this book.


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Jim S. struggled with alcoholism until he met Charlie G. through a mutual friend.

Since segregation of the races was the rule, Jim struggled to start the first Negro Group,

which later became the Cosmopolitan Group. This was the first racially integrated AA

group on record.


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Fitz M., 1897 1943

John Henry Fitzhugh M. was one of the earliest members of Alcoholics

Anonymous -- probably the fourth member after Bill, Dr. Bob, and Hank P. -- dating

from the fall and winter of 1935 when he sobered up with the help of Bill Wilson.16

He

was important to the early years of AA in New York and made contributions to the

writing of the Big Book. He has long been regarded as the founder of Alcoholics

Anonymous in the Washington area.17 During the closing weeks of 1939, after many

months of vain attempts, he found the people who would help him create a permanent

AA group in the nation's capital.

His early history reveals his roots in the Maryland countryside and the events that

shaped his character as a spiritual man and a teacher. In 1902 when Fitz was four years

old, his family moved to the quiet parish rectory of Christ Church in Owensville,

Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay south of Annapolis. His father was the Rector of the

Episcopal Church.18

During his early childhood, he developed close and lasting friendships that would

serve him well throughout the rest of his life. Along with his best friends, he went away

to an Episcopal high school for boys in Alexandria, One of these friends, Jimmy B.,

became his lifelong companion and together they made important contributions to the

spread of Alcoholics Anonymous on the east coast. The other friend, E. Churchill

Murray, who also remained a friend for life, gave Fitz a house to live in during the worst

of his alcoholism and preserved letters from Fitz that show his spiritual nature as early as

his tenth birthday.

Just before the First World War, Fitz graduated from Washington and Lee

College, where he had his first experience with alcoho1.19 With the coming of the First

World War, he and Jimmy B. joined the Army together, although the war ended beforethey completed training.

After the war, Fitz taught school in Norfolk, Virginia, to support his wife

Elizabeth and three young children. When he lost the job in Norfolk, E. Churchill Murray

gave him a piece of land on Cumberstone Road, next to his farm in Owensville,

Maryland, to live on. At Cumberstone Fitz was close to his family and childhood friends.


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By this time he was powerless over the alcohol he consumed. His condition was well

known to those close to him, and his friends recall that his drinking bouts often ended in

neighborhood searches that located him passed out in the loft of a nearby barn.20

In the fall of 1935 Fitz found his way to Town's Hospital where he met Bill

Wilson. His story in Alcoholics Anonymous tells how he came to the AA way of life and

how he tried to stay sober in the small rural bayside setting. He describes periods of

depression, doubt in God, and bouts with an overpowering compulsion to drink. He tells

of unbearable isolation and the need to work with others, "I am blue again. I want to sell

the place and move away. I want to get where I can find some alcoholics to help and

where I can find some fellowship."

He tells about traveling to distant cities and of spiritual lessons to be learned

during these years, "I am on a train headed for a city, and later pick up my bags and

leave, I stay with understanding friends." A man asks him to work with a young

alcoholic, and he writes, "Soon I have others who are alcoholics and some who have

other problems. I begin to play God. I feel that I can fix them all. I do not fix anyone but I

am getting part of a tremendous education and I have made some new friends." 21 He

does not name the city. It could very possibly have been Washington and the friends

those at Gatewood House.

Jimmy B.'s story in Alcoholics Anonymous also indicates that Fitz had worked as

a loner in Washington as early as 1937 and that he had at least one sober AA friend, a

man named Jackie. Jimmy's story, "The Vicious Circle," documents one of the first

successful twelve step calls in Washington. The hope and tragedy of these early days is

recorded in Jimmy's story:

January 8, 1938 - that was my D-Day; the place Washington, DC.

This last real merry-go-round had stared the day before Christmas and I

had really accomplished a lot in those fourteen days. First, my new wife

had walked out, bag, baggage, and furniture; then the apartment landlord

had thrown me out of the empty apartment and the finish was the loss of

another job. After a couple of days in dollar hotels and one night in the

poky, I finally landed on my mother's door step shaking apart, with several


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days' beard... This is the way Jackie found me, lying in a cot in my

skivvies, with hot and cold all over.

I had not asked for help and seriously doubt that I would have, but

Fitz, an old school friend of mine, had persuaded Jackie to call on me. Had

he come two or three days later I think I would have thrown him out, but

he hit when I was open for anything.22

Jimmy's story goes on to describe how he found sobriety, but it also tells of the fate of his

first sponsor, Jackie, who did not make it.

All of us in AA know the tremendous happiness that is in our

sobriety, but there are also tragedies. Jimmys sponsor, Jackie, was one of

these. He brought in many of our original members, yet he himself could

not make it and died of alcoholism.23

Fitz's twelve step work in Washington during these early years is further

substantiated by Bill Wilson's Fact Sheet. Bill recalls that in 1936.

There was much visiting back and forth between ourselves, the

Parkers [sic] and Fitz, who lived at Cumberstone, Maryland, not far from

Baltimore. Fitz was trying to start a group in Washington and Baltimore

without success.24

During these years Fitz's visits with Bill and the AAs in New York and Akron

were an important part of his life.25

The history of those early years shows that Fitz was

a member whose presence profoundly affected the fellowship in many ways.

Among the contributions Fitz made were his contacts among the professional

community. Bill W. recalls that in the early years the acceptance of the fellowship by the

public depended, in part, upon good endorsements from medical and religious

professionals. As early as 1938, Fitz was able to obtain a letter of support from a friend

at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.26


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His pursuit of acceptance by the local community, including the doctors and

judges, is evident throughout the rest of his life. He used endorsements from those

familiar with AA successes to introduce new professionals to the program, and when they

became convinced of its effectiveness, he asked them for their own endorsements. In a

letter dated November 25, 1939, Fitz requested copies of endorsements of AA to show

his new friends, two ministers and a priest. In his letter to Ruth Hock, secretary of the

Alcoholic Foundation, he asks for lots of ammunition, "Can you get me a copy of Harry

Emerson Fosdick's letter about the AAs? Also just a few of Dr. Silkworth's articles? Has

any Catholic ever written any kind of endorsement of AA?"27

And, although Fitz was never financially secure himself, it was through him that

funds were acquired to carry the Foundation through a financial crisis in 1938. His sister

Agnes lived in Washington, and when Fitz went to the city to work with drunks, he slept

at her apartment on S Street. Agnes had seen how AA had changed Fitz's life, and when

the Foundation desperately needed financial support, she provided a $1,000 loan.28

No doubt, his greatest contributions to the fellowship, however, were in the area

of spirituality. In Fitz's explorations of spirituality, he often had his friend Jimmy B. as a

counterpoint.

Jimmy B, was a traveling salesman who, in his sobriety, carried the AA message

with him as he canvassed the east coast.29 He is credited with founding the Philadelphia

Group, and, along with Fitz, influencing the establishment of AA groups in, at least,

Washington, Baltimore, and Richmond.

These two friends greatly influenced the shape of the new fellowship. Their

conflicting spiritual attitudes - Fitz was deeply religious and Jimmy agnostic - contributed

to the adoption of the phrase "God as we understand him," that has saved so many lives.

In Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age Bill W. described a debate which took place

during the writing of the book Alcoholics Anonymous that produced the phrase.

Fitz M., one of the most lovable people that AA will ever know

fell at once into hot argument with Henry (F.) about the religious content

of the coming volume. A newcomer named Jimmy B., who like Henry


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was an ex-salesman and former atheist, also got into the hassles. Fitz

wanted a powerfully religious document. Henry and Jimmy would have

none of it. They wanted a psychological book which would lure the reader

in; when he finally arrived among us, there would be enough time to tip

him off about the spiritual character of our society. As he worked

feverishly on this project Fitz made trip after trip to New York from his

Maryland home to insist on raising the spiritual pitch of the AA book. Out

of this debate came the spiritual form and substance of the document,

notably the expression, "God as we understand Him," which proved to be

a ten strike. As umpire of these disputes, I was obliged to go pretty much

down the middle, writing in spiritual rather than religious or entirely

psychological terms.30

When the content of the book had been decided, there was still the issue of what to name

the book. The naming of the book Alcoholics Anonymous is a story in itself, and the

earliest Washington AAs both played a role in determining what that name would be. Bill

remembered that,

voting on what the title of the new book should be became one of our

major occupations, both in Akron and New York. The more we tried the

more difficult it seemed. Some wanted a novel type title, others wanted a

title like a textbook. Perhaps a couple of hundred were suggested.31

There were three front runners for the title: "One Hundred Men," "The Way Out," and

"Alcoholics Anonymous." "One Hundred Men" seemed appropriate because there were

nearly one hundred AAs sober in the fellowship. But, as Jimmy B. pointed out, "We. . .

found our name 'One Hundred Men' inadequate for we had forgotten the ladies and we

already had one girl, Florence R. on the ball32 So because of Florence, the name "One

Hundred Men" was rejected. That left the decision between the titles "The Way Out" and

"Alcoholics Anonymous." Quoted below is Bills description of Fitz's contribution to the

final title choice.


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As the day of publication approached we racked our brains to find a

suitable name for the volume. We must have considered at least two

hundred titles. Thinking up titles and voting upon them at meetings

became one of our main activities. A great welter of discussion and

argument finally narrowed our choice to a single pair of names. Should we

call our new book "The Way Out" or should we call it "Alcoholics

Anonymous"? That was the final question. A last-minute vote was taken

by the Akron and New York Groups. By a narrow majority the verdict

was for naming our book "The Way Out." Just before we went to print

somebody suggested there might be other books having the same title.

One of our early lone members (dear old Fitz M., who then lived in

Washington) went over to the Library of Congress to investigate. He

found exactly twelve books already titled "The Way Out." When this

information was passed around, we shivered at the possibility of being the

"Thirteenth Way Out." So "Alcoholics Anonymous" became first choice.

That's how we got a name for our book of experience, a, name for our

movement, and, as we are now beginning to see, a tradition of the greatest

spiritual import. God does move in mysterious ways, His wonders to

perform!33

After 1938 AA work came to dominate Fitz's life, often taking him to Washington, New

York, or Akron. In the fall of 1939, he left his family at Cumberstone and took up

permanent residence in Washington, living with his sister Agnes sometimes and with

friends other times. By December of that year the charter members of the first permanent

AA group in Washington had come together. During the spring of 1940, Fitz met Ruth

J., the woman he would marry in 1943. (Ruth was also known by the name Arabella.) At

this point Fitz's life became intertwined with the Washington Group of Alcoholics

Anonymous. Our story will turn to the Washington Group and then discuss the final years

of Fitz M.'s life in the Post Script.


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Florence R., 1895 - 1943

During this same time frame, another figure was fighting to maintain sobriety and

attempting to reshape her life in accordance with the principles of the Twelve Steps.

Florence R. occupies an important place in the story of how AA came to the Washington

area.

She was the first woman to get sober in AA in New York. Her story A Feminine

Victory has the distinction of being the only story written by a woman appearing in the first

edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. Its opening paragraph is especially poignant, as it served

as an inspiration for countless other women.

To my lot falls the rather doubtful distinction of being the only "lady"

alcoholic in our particular section. Perhaps it is because of a desire for a

"supporting cast" of my own sex that I am praying for inspiration to tell my

story in a manner that may give other women who have this problem the

courage to see it in its true light and seek the help that has given me a new

lease on life.34

Between 1936 and late 1939, Fitz M. had been living in Cumberstone, Maryland

and making periodic visits to Washington to work with drunks, but Florence was the first

AA to reside there permanently working to establish an AA foothold in the nations capitol.

Before leaving for Washington, Florence lived in New York where she was married

to a man named K------, a friend of Bill W. She had a very difficult time staying sober.

Although she and K------ divorced, he continued to help her, finallytaking her to BellevueHospital in New York for treatment. At this point, Bill and Lois got involved and brought

her home to live with them for a while. She also stayed, on and off, with various other

members of the New York fellowship. Finally, after she gained a year of sobriety, Bill

Wilson sent her, along with a $50 grant, to start up AA in Washington.


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GSO has her DC address during these years as 3407 Holmead Place, NW. It is just

off 16th

Street near Park Road. Her death certificate has her address as 805 5th St., NW.

Bill Wilson's description of her years in Washington continued her story.

along about 1936 or 1937, Florence dug a lot of people out of Gallinger

(Hospital) and they finally overwhelmed her and she got drunk and by this

time (1939), I think she was washing around in the background down there.

Poor girl, she had been sober a year or two. She came from New York to

start a group - I remember finding the records at the Foundation now, about

1936 or maybe 1937, we granted her $50 to go to Washington and start an

AA group. But I think - she kind of got in the background, but I imaginethere were still some of the people washing around - practically nobody

staying sober at this period [1939 Washington] " 35

Even though Florence was unsuccessful in establishing a group in Washington, she

nevertheless played an important part in early AA history. One of the legacies she left the

fellowship was the role she played in the naming of the Big Book. Her heroic efforts to stay

sober resulted in a vital change to the naming of Bill Wilsons opus from "One Hundred

Men" to "Alcoholics Anonymous."

In this regard, Jimmy B. was later to write, "We also found our name One Hundred

Men inadequate for we had forgotten the ladies and we already had one girl, Florence R.,

on the ball."

By the fall of 1939, Florence's AA pioneering work within AA was over. In the first

letter Fitz wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation upon arriving in Washington in November of

1939, he passed the sad news to Bills secretary Ruth Hock.

One woman . . . Florence R. is not in evidence. She is in love with a hellion

15 years younger than she who feeds her beer - so says her landlady. He and

she put Shirley on the train the other day and Florence did not return to the


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boarding house. I am hoping she boarded the train with Shirley - she owes

the landlady $36.00 I am told. Poor woman - I hope she finds the way out - I

don't think she will here. You know how the people chatter, especially the

gals about the leader who slips.36

This letter clearly implies that Florence slipped. However, it is also clear that the

words so says her landlady make this a matter of hearsay. Without other

corroborating evidence, only speculation can be made regarding her sobriety after the fall

of 1939.

Sometime after 1939 Florence R. married a carpenter named Krouse and appears to

have had further contact with the program. A copy of Alcoholics Anonymous in the

General Service Organization archives in New York contains her signature dated April 9,

1940. The WAIA archives also holds a copy of that signature.

She died on April 19, 1943 at the age of 47 of pneumococcal meningitis. The WAIA

archives maintains a copy of the Death Certificate that indicates she died in Gallenger

Municipal Hospital (DC General Hospital) after a two day stay.

Two Washington Group AAs including Fitz, were called to the coroner's office to

identify the body.37 She was buried in George Washington Memorial Cemetery in Prince

Georges County, Maryland on April 26, 1943.

In 2006, the gravesite of Florence R was located by the WAIA archives committee.

In 2007, Washington area AA members volunteered individual funds to erect a gravestone

for Florence. The headstone appropriately contains the title of her story A Feminine

Victory.


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Jim S.

Jim S. helped to form AAs first Black group in 1945. At the time, DC was a

racially segregated society, creating a problem for Black members who wanted to attend

AA meetings.

Jim, like his father, was a physician. He attended Howard University in DC and

practiced medicine, although he never thought of himself as a good doctor. He married

Viola (Vi) and they started a family.

In 1935, during the Great Depression, Jim suffered financial losses and turned to

heavy drinking. His attempts at geographic cures in North Carolina, Seattle, and

Pittsburgh failed him. Vi stayed in DC where she had steady employment. He returned

to DC, ran afoul of the law, and served some jail time for spousal abuse. He became

concerned about the effects of drinking when he filled a prescription for one of his

friends wife, but had no memory of doing so the next day. He continued to drink.

Ella G., a friend, made arrangements for Jim to meet Charlie G., a white man who

became Jims sponsor. The three of them and three or four others started holding AA

meetings at Ellas house. This became the first meeting of a colored group, originally

called the Negro Group. Interestingly, they decided that the group should be open to all.

Several white AA members attended the meetings, assisted with finances and provided

some suggestions concerning how meetings were conducted and how to do Twelve Step

work.

Vi continued to work while Jim spent his time getting the group going. When thegroup grew too large for Ellas house, Jim obtained a room at the YMCA for two dollars

a night. He was an active 12 stepper and often brought drunks home to help them get

sober. He would call Vi and ask if it was ok to bring this new drunk over. She

encouraged him to bring the drunk home, adding, Im not afraid. 38 Vi also went to

many of the early meetings, helping Jim wherever she could. When Jim was busy, Vi


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would go on 12 step calls herself, trying as best she could to provide support for the wife

of the drunk. In an interview with Lois W., she indicated that she had read the Big Book,

telling Lois that is became a new way of life for herself as well as for Jim. Over those

early years they estimated that they had 100 drunks stay at their house.

Jim had the experience of helping his sponsor, Charley, who had a couple of slips

and was drinking heavily. Jim would go to Charleys house and bring him back home

where he and Vi would help him get sober. When Jim was interviewed by Bill W., in

1954, he said that Charley had been continuously sober for several years. Bill also asked

Jim, Was yours the first colored group? Any place? Jim answered, To my knowledge

it was. The one in Harlem started later. I came up and I helped start it there. 39

In 1955, Jim was invited to address the AA International Convention in St. Louis.

Bill W.s introduction was powerful. Jims story appears in the new AA book, second

edition, and I suppose the starting of Jims group in Washington is one of the epics of

AA. And Vi, his good wife, has probably sheltered more drunks under her roof than

anyone else in AA. In AA Comes of Age, Bill recalls that day as follows. A deep

silence fell as Dr. Jim S., the AA speaker, told of his life experience and the serious

drinking that led to the crises which brought about his spiritual awakening. He re-

enacted for us his own struggle to start the very first group among Negroes, his own

people. Aided by a tireless and eager wife, he had turned his home into a combined

hospital and AA meeting place, free to all. He told how early failure had finally been

transformed under Gods grace into amazing success, we who listened and realized that

AA, not only could cross seas and mountains and boundaries of language and nation but

could surmount obstacles of race and creed as well.40


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The Boys of 39

The term "Boys of 39" first appears in the records of the Washington Group in the

spring of 1948, when Henry S., a member of the Chevy Chase Group, became interestedin writing a history of AA in Washington. According to Henry S. and Hardin C., both of

whom were present during the final months of 1939, the "Boys of '39" were Fitz M., Ned

F., George S., Bill E., Steve M., and Hardin C.41

The unfolding history of the Washington Group reveals how closely the history of

the group parallels the history of the larger AA fellowship.

The year 1939 was a very important year for Alcoholics Anonymous both

nationally and locally in Washington, D.C. In 1939, the book Alcoholics Anonymous

was published, the Alcoholic Foundation was incorporated, and the Foundation office in

New York became a central clearing house and referral point for information from and

about alcoholics all over the country. In Washington, DC, 1939 was the year of the

founding of the Washington Group.

Throughout 1939 the fellowship got important national attention through articles

in several magazines and newspapers. With the new recognition came letters and

telephone calls from drunks and relatives of drunks in cities and towns across the

country, seeking information about the fellowship and AA contacts in their area. The

Alcoholic Foundation received hundreds of requests for the new book, Alcoholics

Anonymous.

Members of the Foundation staff answered letters, filled book orders, and referred

inquiries to the AA member or group nearest the caller. They carefully filed away the

correspondence of the Foundation, preserving an accurate record of the business

transacted during these formative years. The foresight of the early Foundation staff to

keep careful records made it possible to accurately reconstruct the history of the early

years of Alcoholics Anonymous and the foundations of the fellowship in Washington,

D,C., and other communities across the country.

The earliest documented evidence of AA in the Washington area is preserved in

the correspondence files of the General Services Archives. A letter dated October 26,

1939, from the Alcoholic Foundation to Fitz M. at the Gatewood House, 2107 S. Street,


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begins a dialogue between Washington area AA members and the Foundation that

established many personal ties over the coming years. It is a simple and businesslike

letter that begins, "glad to hear that you are back in the Washington area," and refers four

inquiries from drunks in the Washington area.42

When Fitz moved to Washington, he became the southernmost representative of

Alcoholics Anonymous, and he was therefore responsible for the territory south of the

Mason-Dixon Line. Two of the four inquiries that were referred to him came from

Washington, one came from lower Virginia, and one from North Carolina. One of the

Washington drunks referred to Fitz by this letter was Hardin C. The first contact between

Fitz and Hardin C, marks the beginning of the Washington Group. From this meeting of

two men, the Washington Group grew and continued to expand over the decades.43

The date of the meeting was two or three days after Fitz received the letter from

New York dated October 26, 1939. If the mail took two days to arrive from New York,

then the date of the founding of the Washington Group was October 28, 1939.

Fitz's reply to the Alcoholic Foundation's letter of October 26, 1939, implies that

he had already established personal relationships in Washington where there were people

staying sober - even before 1939. But his correspondence also indicates that the people he

knew before Hardin C. did not become part of the original AA group.

His letter begins by reporting that Hardin C., "the fine fellow referred to him in

the October 26 letter," had contacted him and offered his home as a meeting place. This

was an answer to a prayer, for the little group of alkies could hold their Tuesday night

meeting there.

In the letter, he also mentioned that he met a retired Navy Commander living in

D.C. who had gotten his AA in California two years earlier and who was now working

with alkies in the city. He goes on to say, "We are getting sort of solid now with Comdr.

C., Goldsmith, Dillard and myself getting together. Then we have Hardin C" the Magills,

the Waters, the Andrews all very interested. Also George E."44

This is a curious letter because it contains the names of many people that we

never hear about again. Furthermore, it is difficult to distinguish between those who are

alcoholics and those who are non-alcoholic friends. Who, for example, is Commander C.,

and where could he have gotten his AA in California in 1937? Who are the Magills, the


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Waters, the Andrews, Goldsmith or Dillard? Fitz writes as though these people form a

group, and yet only Fitz and Hardin were among the original members of the Washington

Group. The most likely explanation is that some of these people were members of the

local Oxford Group and some of them may have been alcoholics.

Nevertheless, the meeting of Fitz and Hardin was the beginning of the new group.

During the next few months four more men joined them to form the beginnings of a

fellowship. According to Hardin C., these six men were Fitz M., Ned F., Bill E., George

S., Hardin C., and Steve M.45

As a long-time member of AA, Fitz brought his experience, strength, and hope

from the established groups in New York and Akron. But Fitz would not be the only

experienced AA to contribute to the founding of the Washington Group. When Ned F.

arrived from New York in December of 1939 with about six months AA sobriety behind

him, he became an invaluable member of the group during its first year.


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Ned F.

Ned became a member of Alcoholics Anonymous in New York during the spring

of 1939. A lawyer by profession, but unemployed because of his drinking problems, hehad survived the year on $22.50 a week supplied by his mother who lived in Cleveland.

Before finding the New York AA group, Ned had tried all the known treatments

for his alcoholism. He spent the summer of 1938 in the expensive Bloomingdale

Institute, only to end up drunk and in trouble two weeks after his release. His next stop

was the Westchester Hospital for the Insane, where he met the man who introduced him

to Alcoholics Anonymous and took him to his first meeting.

At that meeting, in which Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob S. spoke, two things that Ned

heard stuck in his mind. Dr. Bob described how he had been drunk from 1898 until he

met Bill in 1934, and Bill W. said that hope was the spiritual base of the fellowship. Bill

asked those affected with the incurable disease, "Can you admit to the barest possibility

of a power greater than your-self?"

Later, as he approached a neighborhood bar, Ned contemplated the threatening

reality implied by Bob's experience. Bob had been a young man like himself 40 years

ago, and he had lived in the anguish of alcoholism all those years, not a fate that Ned

relished. But, in Bill's message was a hope of salvation for even the worst alky, Ned

decided to give AA a try.

During that summer and fall he remained in New York where he attended AA

meetings and worked with other drunks. A happy coincidence occurred for Ned when a

man from Washington, DC visited his friend, Dr. Sam Crocker, who had been treating

Ned's alcoholism. The friend had come to New York to interview a patient of Dr.

Crocker's for a job at the Civil Aeronautics Authority. But the man was an alcoholic and

unable to accept the position because he was an inmate at a mental institution. Dr.

Crocker had been impressed by Ned's recovery in AA and recommended him to fill the

legal assistant position.

Ned accepted the job and moved to the nation's capital. When he arrived in

Washington, his first AA assignment was a referral from Bill W., who suggested that he

talk to an ex-Army Sergeant who needed and might even want the AA program.46

Ruth


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Hock, the secretary of the Alcoholic Foundation, wrote to Ned, "Bill Wilson advised me

that you are now in Washington and would be glad to do what you could," and she adds,

"I have a few inquiries which I will send along shortly. Meanwhile, we have an urgent

and sincere letter from Mr. Louis M. of Baltimore"47

Ruth's letter constituted Ned's

official initiation into the Washington AA community.


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The Indigenous Drunks

In addition to the two experienced AAs from the New York group, the "Boys of

'39" included four local drunks. Little is known of the native Washingtonians. One ofthem, Hardin C., had contacted the Foundation office in New York (or someone, perhaps

his wife, had contacted the office for him) and his case was referred to Fitz. Hardin and

his wife offered their home as a meeting place for the newly forming group.

When Fitz found George S., the second Washington native, he was in the

Greenhill Institute undergoing "Samaritan Treatment" for his alcoholism. This was

probably early in November of 1939. Shortly after his release from Greenhill, George

became an active member of the new AA group and returned to his prestigious job with

one of the New Deal agencies. Fitz described him in glowing terms in his letter of March

in 1940.

With the same zest that he landed in Gallinger Hospital under the

influence of gin and five policemen, he is now out to give the message of

Alkies Anon to Washington in a big way. Having been put in charge of all

the Federal projects in the District, with 29 supervisors and 3800 men

under him, he has gotten himself into a vital position so to speak, where a

lot of people have to listen to him. Anyway, he says, "to hell with

opposition, this city needs meetings" and forthwith three halls are offered.

The one chosen is Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall (appropriate for alkies, I

think, don't you?).48

The third man from Washington was Steve M., an ex-Army Sergeant and

probably the man Bill W. had sent Ned to contact. While he was a member of the group,

he worked in one of the area correctional institutions. Joining the group in late 1939, he

remained a member until the summer of 1941, when he moved to Atlanta and played a

key role in founding the AA group there.

The fourth man was Bill E., a well-to-do Washingtonian who worked in the

publishing business. Before finding the Washington Group, he had remained sober by


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attending the meetings of a local Oxford Group. Although he was an active member of

the Washington Group and in later years worked toward the opening of a Washington

office of the National Council on Alcoholism, very little is recorded about him during the

first year.

As 1939 drew to a close, events for the Washington Group began to occur rapidly.

The publication of the Big Book increased the calls for help from all over the country and

those from the Washington area increased proportionately. The steady stream of referrals

from New York produced new recruits and the small group's twelve step work added to

the number. As soon as the new recruits were sober, they began twelve-step work. One

of the first products of this work was Dick T., a man who tried to pan-handle Fitz in a

downtown park and ended up getting twelve-stepped into the program.49

Most of the information about the AA work in Washington from November and

December of 1939 is from Fitz's correspondence with New York. His reports of great

progress were filled with a buoyancy and enthusiasm that seemed to reflect his faith that

God was in Heaven and the world was unfolding as it should. He talked about his new

contacts Dr. Klein of the Green Hill Institute, someone at St. Elizabeths Hospital, and

George S., the new recruit. He reflected on his unhappy financial condition, but was not

dismayed by his troubles.

After trying various expedients to get what man calls a 'job', I find that

nothing has happened. But I find that there is plenty to do here - so to hell

with that other stuff - I may have to sleep in the dog house...but it's O.K.

with me... If I'm supposed to have that kind I'll get it. I find plenty to do as

is... I am paid up at Gatewood until Sunday.50

By Monday Fitz had moved in with George E., a fellow alky. As he had done

before, Fitz used the apartment of his sister Agnes as an office. His main concern was

getting the Washington AA group firmly established and making it highly visible in the

community -- visible enough that even the sickest alcoholics would know about it and

could find it.


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The first thing needed for AA in the District of Columbia was a general

headquarters, or as Fitz described it, "a room with a phone as headquarters. And get some

permanency in it, we are rather nebulous to the general public When we get the

G.H.Q., I will get some publicity on it."51

By the end of 1939 Washington, DC had an Alcoholics Anonymous Group of its

own. As the members rang in the New Year of 1940, the Washington Group was less

than two months old, but it had established a permanent beachhead. The nation's capital

would never again be without an AA group.


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AA Growth in 1940

As the Washington Group was getting established in 1939, the national AA

fellowship was also reaching a stage of escalating growth. According to statisticsprepared by Dr. Harry Tiebolt, approximately 400 people sobered up in AA during 1939

bringing the total membership to around 600. At the end of 1939 the Washington Group

had 6 or possibly 7 members. In 1940 another 2000 sobered up nationally including

about 70 members from the Washington Group. Another 8000 came into the program in

1941 increasing AA membership to over 10,000 nationwide52

, and by September of 1941

the Washington Group had grown to more than 300 members53.

No central record has been kept of the founding dates of the various AA groups.

A good approximation of the national AA scene in 1940 has been provided, however, in

correspondence between Margaret B., secretary for the Foundation in 1948, and Henry

S., of the Chevy Chase Group.

Henry S., who had a longtime interest in the history of AA, intended to write a

history of the Washington Group. In August of 1940 and again in 1948 Henry wrote to

the Alcoholic Foundation to ask, "Just where does the Washington Group stand in the

order of AA group beginnings?"

His 1940 letter to the Foundation requested a complete list of AA membership

and mailing addresses. The Foundation staff, who were at that time learning to work

with the concept of anonymity, refused this request, but sent instead a list of cities in

which "AA activity goes on." The list sent to Henry included the following 14 cities and

the name of an AA contact in each city, The Washington Group is not included because

the list was written for Washingtonian Henry S., who didn't need to be informed of its

existence54.


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Richmond, VA Cleveland, OH

Dayton, OH Houston, TX

San Francisco, CA Coldwater, MI

Little Rock, AR Detroit, MI

Akron, OH Chicago, IL

Los Angeles, CA Jackson, MI

Evansville, IN New York, NY

This was not a comprehensive list, of AA groups in early 1940. Instead, it was a

list of cities in which there was an AA contact. The list included cities with established

groups; cities in which a few meetings occurred, but the group failed to survive; and

cities in which a lone alcoholic maintained contact with the New York Group.

When Henry wrote her again eight years later, Margaret could provide a clearer

impression of the state of AA across the country in the summer of 1940. She said that

only about six of the fourteen cities listed in the 1940 letter actually had AA groups and

the remaining eight probably were AA loners or contacts. She ascribes the groups in

these eight cities as follows:

The Richmond Group which was represented by McGhee B., did not

really get off the ground until a few years later. Dayton did not appear

until much later and it is questionable whether the AA contact listed in

1940 remained in the program. Larry J. was in Houston, but there wasn't

much of a group therein 1940. The same goes for Los Angeles and San

Francisco, which had a couple of members each and plenty of headaches

before any established group could be recognized. Coldwater and

Evansville were simply listed for contacts and the Little Rock entry is

questionable55.

Margaret also provided a description of the groups that did exist at that time, as

she reminisced about her first six months in the program:


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I first saw the light of day in AA early in 1940, and that summer

Ruth [H.], another member, and I decided we would visit the established

AA groups. So we set out to visit the first one which was holding regular

meetings and had more than a handful of members. This was Cleveland.

We next went to Chicago, where about 100 members gathered in a

downtown building each Tuesday night. Then we cut back to Detroit,

where I guess there were about 25 or 50 members. Jackson, Michigan

also boasted of 20 members, and we stopped there. In order to make a big

showing, they had their wives, husbands, sweethearts, friends, and anyone

who had been dry five minutes come to the meeting. This was in the good

old days when we had to show the world a large membership, and anyone

who could sit still for 2 hours was counted in. At that time, I believe Fitz

had gone to Washington, and there were a few scattered members there,

but not what we then called a large group, The same might be said for

Philadelphia and a couple of other places.

It's awfully hard to specify dates of founding and ages of groups,

for so many personal factors enter. I imagine that Washington dates their

founding from the time Fitz went there. I know Philadelphia bases theirs

from the date Jimmy (B,) stepped on their ground56.

The fellowship was growing at amazing speed in 1940. By the fall of the year the

number of groups had grown to twenty-two, according to a Bulletin prepared by Ruth

Hock at the Alcoholic Foundation on November 14, 1940. The bulletin listed sixteen

towns where lone AAs had recovered through the book alone or from a brief contact with

established groups, five cities where groups were "in a get together stage," and the

following list of communities where AA work was well established and weekly meetings

were being held:


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New York City, NY Evansville, IN

South Orange, NJ Little Rock, AR

Washington, DC Philadelphia, PA

Richmond, VA Baltimore, MD

Detroit, MI Waunakee, WI

Jackson, MI Greenwich, CT

Coldwater, MI Cleveland, OH

Chicago, IL Akron, OH

Houston, TX Toledo, OH

Los Angeles, CA Dayton, OH

San Francisco, CA Youngstown, OH

Although the two lists appear to conflict--Ruth's letter says there were no more

than six groups in the summer, and the bulletin lists twenty-two in November -- it is

possible that the numbers were both correct, reflecting the tremendous growth of the

fellowship during 1940, just after the Big Book was published.

All over the country alcoholics and their loved ones had tried everything

available, and many were wiling to go to any length to find a cure or relief from their

addiction. When Alcoholics Anonymous was published, word spread through

newspapers, magazines, and by word of mouth. The Alcoholic Foundation was awash

with calls and letters from all over the country asking for copies of the book. Because the

way to stay sober described in the book was to work with other alcoholics, twelve-step

work proliferated.

One only has to witness the amazing growth of the Washington Group during the

first months after it was formed in order for the nationwide numbers to become more

believable57.


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The Nebulous Group

As the New Year of 1940 opened, the small Washington Group met on Tuesday

nights, probably at the home of Hardin C. because they had not yet found a location tohold open public meetings. They answered referrals from the Alcoholic Foundation,

twelve-stepped local drunks, and helped each other stay sober. But to Fitz and Ned, it

was clear that in order for the group to flourish and to car the message to all the drunks

that needed it, they had a long way to go.

Although Alcoholics Anonymous had finally attracted national attention, the

small group of AAs in Washington was still new and unknown. Few people knew

enough about alcoholism or the AA program to search out the fellowship. In order to

accomplish their goals, the group members had to make themselves better known in the

community. They had to convince doctors, police, and other professionals that their

program was both responsible and a service to the whole community as well as to sick

individuals. They had to demonstrate that they were not boisterous drunks, self-

righteously preaching during short periods of sobriety. Above all, they had to convince

the local alcoholics and their loved ones that they offered a real and lasting solution, not

just another short-lived quick-fix.

Twelve step work and staying sober were the principle tasks of the members

during the first months of 1940, but word spread rapidly that an Alcoholics Anonymous

group was in Washington. During that year the group made many new friends in

medical, religious, and civic organizations and brought in new members through an

active twelve step program. But not all of the early contacts were friendly.

Just after the New Year, Ned was approached by a member of the Women's

Christian Temperance Union who asked him to speak to her group. His letter of January

8, 1940, indicates that Ned expected a controversial evening at the Temperance Union,

"Also have talked to the W.C.T.U. lady and am licking my chops in anticipation of a

riotous evening later this week"58

The Temperance Union people wanted to outlaw alcoholic beverages entirely, and

the "belligerent drunken slob" was their best advertisement. They believed that the work

of Alcoholics Anonymous was intended to help the alcoholic, to relieve him of the


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compulsion to drink and help him become a useful member of society, and that it would

make the temperance movement's proselytizing chore more difficult.

One temperance writer described members of Alcoholics Anonymous as

"missionaries of the liquor business" because they demonstrated that all alcoholics were

not skid row bums, but that they could become productive, respectable members of the

community. Dr. Haggard, of the Yale Center for Alcohol Studies, commented that, "

this attitude makes sense, but it does not make humanitarianism"59

Ned did not seem threatened by the temperance people, and his later letters do not

refer to the outcome of the meeting. According to Fitz's second wife, Arabella, however,

some W.C.T.U. members tried a different strategy later that summer. The 1940 series of

newspaper stories by Washington Star journalist Bob Erwin were a great success,

informing the suffering alcoholics and their families, and public officials of the existence

of the group. The stories also informed the members of the temperance societies of the

presence of the group and, according to Arabella, required Fitz to explain the AA

position.

It (the articles) brought in a great many people. It also brought in

the W.C.T.U! Three very nice women came in, matronly looking women,

and they were very much impressed with AA and one of them got up and

spoke and told how happy they were that they had found an organization

to work with. They knew that we were all going to get along beautifully

together and we would really put Prohibition back on the map again! It

was at the time when this W.C.T.U. lady stopped speaking that Fitz ankled

up to the platform and in his drawling voice, announced very abruptly as

well as positively, that Alcoholics Anonymous had nothing to do with

people who could drink and needed no help. They were not out to save the

world from liquor, they were out to help those who had trouble with liquor

and a lot of other things he said in a very nice way but very positively and

these three dear ladies never showed up again!60

By 1940 the temperance societies had already lost the battle to control alcohol

consumption in America; prohibition had failed. Two powerful new movements that


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were changing the public's conception of alcoholism had begun in the mid-1930s:

Alcoholics Anonymous provided a practical program of abstinence and daily living for

alcoholics and the Yale Center for Alcohol Studies provided the first systematic scientific

study of alcohol problems. The heyday of the temperance societies was over.

Most of the Washington Group's contacts in the community were positive. The

hard work in the winter and spring paid off by the end of the summer with a strong, well

organized fellowship that was well known and respected in the community.

The first task, as Fitz pointed out, was to establish a permanent headquarters so

that people attempting to find the group could easily locate or contact the group. Renting

a post office box and establishing a permanent mailing address filled this need. Henry S.,

who had joined the group in its first months, worked at his father's printing business, and

by mid February had designed and printed a simple but elegant letterhead for the

Washington Group stationary. Part of a letter written on Washington Group stationary is

shown here:

The next important task was to obtain a public meeting place to replace meeting

in members' homes. George S., the Brigadier General who was in charge of federal

projects in the District, obtained the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall at 1700 L. Street

Northwest. The first meeting in the V.F.W. Hall was held on Thursday, March 21st, at

8:00 and thereafter the regular meetings were scheduled on Tuesday night.61 George S.,

it should be noted, had been sober about four months at this time, having been twelve

stepped by Fitz in the fall.

The Washington group met at the V.F.W. Hall for several months, probably from

March 21st through sometime in June, and then met briefly at the Burlington Hotel on

Vermont Avenue. Next they moved to the Hamilton Hotel on the corner of 14th

and K


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Streets, NW, where they met until September when they opened their first clubhouse at

1310 Massachusetts Avenue.

It was the nature of the fellowship that as it grew in numbers and recognition it

also increased in effectiveness. More members meant more twelve step calls producing

still more new members. Regular meetings in public locations made the meetings

predictable and easy to find. The opening of the clubhouse in September provided a

regular meeting place, a dedicated telephone number, and a place for new members to dry

out and hang out until they got steady.

And time itself was their ally. With every day that passed each sober member had

grown through another day of sobriety, had learned a little more, and had more

experience, strength, and hope to pass on to the new members. It is interesting to note

that on January 1, 1940, the cumulative sobriety of the group was about four and a half

years (Fitz had four years, Ned had six months), but by the end of the year the

accumulated sobriety had grown to several decades with many members approaching

first anniversaries. One of the first new members of 1940, and the first woman member

of the Group, was Dorothy H. Dorothy was fortunate to have an intelligent and sensitive

friend in her Aunt Frances, a non-alcoholic who worked for the Womens' Bureau.

Frances knew about Dorothy's drinking problem when she heard about the presence of

Alcoholics Anonymous in the District. She convinced her niece that the fellowship might

be able to help her with her drinking problem.

The members of the Washington Group readily accepted Dorothy and elected her

group secretary to ease her discomfort as the only woman in the group and to help make

her feel useful.62 The tradition of giving new-comers a "trusted servant" position to help

them become part of the group had already been established at this early date.

During the same months that Dorothy's Aunt Frances was searching for a way to

help her niece, another woman was searching for a way to help her suffering husband and

having a difficult time finding the fellowship.

In the fall of 1939 when Liz E. heard about Alcoholics Anonymous, there was no

AA group in Washington; the nearest established group was in New York. As the new

year began, the newly formed group was meeting in Hardin C.'s house. Their existence

was known only to a few friends and the Alcoholic Foundation in New York. It was


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difficult for a sober, intelligent, and resourceful person to find the group, and for the

drunk himself it would have been almost impossible. The story of Liz and Bob E.

illustrates how hard it was to locate the new group.

During the fall of 1939, while her husband, Bob, was out of work and suffering

repeated alcoholic binges, Liz heard about a group of people who could help people with

drinking problems like Bob. But she did not know the name of the group nor how to

contact it. None of her friends had even heard of the group.

After exhausting all the sources she knew, Liz wrote to Homer Haskin, an

Evening Star columnist, asking for information about a group called Anonymous Inc.

Neither Mr. Haskin nor anyone else at the Starhad heard of the group, but on January 6,

1940, Mr. Haskin wrote to the Federal Council of Churches of Christ of America, asking

if they knew anything about Anonymous Inc.

The letter from the Council of Churches dated January 13, 1940, provided the

needed information:

January 13, 1940

My Dear Mr. Haskin:

In reply to your inquiry of January 6 I am sorry to have to say that

I do not know anything about the organization called "Anonymous, Inc." I

wonder, however, whether your inquirer may not have confused this with

the movement known as "Alcoholics Anonymous." This is a group of

former alcoholics who meet in New York to strengthen one another's

resolution and to help alcoholics to reform. This is a very informal

organization, so informal that perhaps it can hardly be called an

organization. Those interested meet, I believe, in Steinway Hall, New

York. They have recently published a volume entitled "Alcoholics

Anonymous" which comes from the press of the Works Publishing

Company, Church Street Annex, P.O. Box 657, New York City.


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Mr. Haskin forwarded the reply to Liz, who then wrote to the address given for the

Works Publishing Company. On February 28, 1940, she received the following reply

from Ruth Hock, secretary of the Alcoholic Foundation:

February 28, 1940

Dear Mrs. E---,

Thank you for your recent letter. We know you realize how similar

are some of the stories in the book Alcoholics Anonymous and what you

tell us of your husband.

It is difficult for any of our members to be helpful to other

alcoholics unless they themselves sincerely desire to stop. You stated in

your letter that usually toward the latter part of his sprees he begs you to

get someone to help him and we are wondering if that would not be a good

time to tell him of Alcoholics Anonymous, what they have accomplished

and what they are trying to do. You, of course, woul

the washington group

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