Pew Internet & American Life Project: Health Information Online

70 years of A.A.

Interesting that you should quote from, and reference to our 15 years of research on the history of early A.A.'s spiritual roots and successes. So often today's historians just overlook what early A.A. was really like. For one thing, people were CURED and said so; so did the newspaper accounts all over America. For another, there was a 75% to 93% success rate. For another, the A.A. program that was ultimately published in the First Edition of the Big Book was NOT the program that produced the foregoing results. Instead, it was a program that Bill Wilson himself fashioned largely from the life-changing program of the Oxford Group and the teachings to Bill about it by Rev. Sam Shoemaker of Calvary Church in New York. So much so that Wilson dubbed Shoemaker a "co-founder" of A.A. And this 70th year has brought with it not only 70 years of A.A., but the memory of how important Sam Shoemaker's role was in shaping Wilson's 12 Step invention. Thus on June 11th, Episcopal clergy and others celebrated Shoemaker's important spiritual role with services at Shoemaker's former church - Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City. Then on June 20th, there will be a celebration in Pittsburgh at Shoemaker's second church - Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh. This will mark the opening of the Shoemaker Room at that church, the placement therein of a complete collection of Sam's books, papers, articles, and other works relative to A.A., and a talk by Sam's older daughter Canon Sally Shoemaker Robinson. So congratulationst to you for giving balance to our history and displaying the Akron side, and hopefully displaying this New York side. God Bless, Dick B.