Page 8 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

which meanwhile had been established. Each inquiry was
painstakingly answered; pamphlets and books were sent
out. Businessmen, 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 “Alcoholics 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 alcoholics
successfully meet and work together? Would there be
quarrels over membership, leadership, and money? Would
there be strivings for power and prestige? Would there be
schisms which would split A.A. apart? Soon A.A. was beset
by these very problems on every side and in every group.
But out of this frightening and at first disrupting
experience the conviction grew that A.A.’s had to hang
together or die separately. We had to unify our Fellowship
or pass off the scene.