Good morning everyone, welcome to those who have just joined us-

Turning to page xv and reading through to the end of the foreword to
the second edition we have a brief history of AA presented. At the
top of page xvi the "alcoholic friend" was Ebby Thatcher, sober 2
months in the Oxford Groups. The Oxford Groups were a fundamentalist
Christian movement that sought to practice the principles of first
century Christianity. Vestiges of this movement survive to this day
although the movement has experienced many transformations and is no
longer called the Oxford Groups or Movement. Dr. William D.
Silkworth is the physician who introduced Bill to the allergy theory
and the mental obsession of alcoholism. Bill and Dr. Bob Smith met
at Henrietta Sieberling's house (of the Sieberling rubber and tire
family) through an introduction by Rev. Walter Tunks. When Bill was
pacing up and down the hotel lobby of the Mayflower Hotel in Akron
he was trying to choose between going to the bar and scraping up an
acquaintance or search for an alcoholic to help. Forunately for
all of us he looked at the Church Register. He picked Rev. Tunks'
name because it was an unusual name and he had a thing for unusual
names. Turns out that Rev. Tunks was a member of the Oxford Group in
the Akron area and steered Bill toward Dr. Bob Smith through
Henrietta Sieberling. Dr. Bob was also involved with the Oxford
Group, though still unable to stop drinking. The first time the two
of them met they spoke for five hours, and this after Bob had
elicited a promise from his wife Anne that the meeting would last no
more than 15 minutes.

Paragraph 1, page xvii - AA number three was named Bill Dotson -
"the man on the bed". When Bill and Bob approached Bill Dotson in
the hospital they had him moved from the ward to a private room
known as "The Flower Room". The only people who had private rooms in
hospitals in those days were the rich or, in the case of "The Flower
Room", the people about to die. Bill D., being destitute, thought he
was dying after being brought to "The Flower Room", maybe it helped
Bill and Bob carry the message to him.

Keep in mind that the book hasn't been written yet and Bill and Bob
would work through the next couple of years carrying the message.
They used the Oxford Groups Four Absolutes; Absolute Love, Purity,
Unselfishness and Honesty. Tall order for any alcoholic. It wasn't
until the "Drunk Squad" of the Oxford Groups separated from the
Oxford Groups, starting in New York, in 1937-8 that AA itself became
a separate entity.

More on the foreword to the second edition and the beginning of the
Doctor's Opinion on Monday.

Jim