HAPPY FOUNDERS DAY!

[TommyCelt]

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/June/Bill-Wilson-Founded-Alcoholics-Anonymous.html

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.