Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book 4th Edition Hardcover
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THE OXFORD GROUP CONNECTION
This article
is an effort to put together in sequence the various events
that took place in the years from 1908 to 1935 which made
possible the meeting in Akron, Ohio between the AA founders,
Dr. Bob Smith and
Bill Wilson, and which resulted in the
subsequent birth of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is an assemblage
of facts gleaned from the following publications:
Practice These Principles And What Is The Oxford Group
Alcoholics Anonymous
AA Comes of Age
Pass It On
Dr. Bob and the
Good Old Timers
Not God (by Ernest
Kurtz)
For Sinners Only
(by A.J. Russell)
On the Tail of
a Comet (by Garth Lean)
Akron Genesis
of Alcoholics Anonymous (by Dick B.)
The Oxford Group
& Alcoholics Anonymous (by Dick B.)
Do you know
any of these names? Frank Buchman--Sam Shoemaker-- Rowland
Hazard--Jim Newton--Eleanor Forde--Ebby Thatcher--Shepard
Cornell--Henrietta Seiberling--Rev. Walter Tunks--Norman
Shepherd-- Russell Firestone--T. Henry & Clarace Williams??
All of these people were instrumental in a scenario that
contributed to making possible that historic meeting at
the
Gate House of the Seiberling Estate
in Akron that became
the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous. If it were not for
these people, that meeting could never have taken place,
and the fellowship to which we all owe our lives today might
never have been born. Where did the steps originate? In
AA Comes of Age, (p.39),
Bill wrote: "Early AA got it's
ideas of self-examination, acknowledgement of character
defects, restitution for harm done, and working with others
straight from the Oxford Groups and directly from Sam Shoemaker,
their former leader in America, and nowhere else."(1) We
prepare to start this history with the story of Frank Buchman,
the founder of the Oxford Group. You will see as we trace
the paths of Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson in the years before
they met, that the Oxford Group and the aforementioned cast
of characters played a part in every twist and turn of the
path that led Bill Wilson to Akron.
(1) See also
"Language of the Heart", p.298 
FRANK BUCHMAN
AND THE OXFORD GROUP
Who were
the Oxford Group (2)? In 1908, a YMCA secretary named Frank
Buchman had a spiritual transformation that changed his
life (3). Upon graduating in June of that year, he started
a streetside church in Philadelphia (Church of the Good
Shepherd) with a donation of seventeen dollars. The church
flourished, and he started a hospice for young men which
spread to other cities, and then he started a settlement
house project. Frank had a violent argument with his trustee
committee because they cut the budget and the food allotment.
He resigned and went to Europe, ending up at a large religious
convention in Keswick, England. The spiritual transformation
occurred when he heard a woman speaker talk simply about
the cross of Christ. He felt the chasm separating him from
Christ, and a feeling of a will to surrender. He went back
to his house and wrote these words to each of his six trustees
in Philadelphia: "My dear friend. I have nursed ill feelings
against you. I am sorry. Will you forgive me? Sincerely,
Frank." Feeling an urge to share this experience, he went
to nearby Oxford University and formed an evangelical group
there among the student leaders and athletes.
Later the
movement spread, and groups formed over the next twenty
years in England, Scotland, Holland, India, South Africa,
China, Egypt, Switzerland, and North and South America.
Many of the basic things they did have carried over directly
into our program. They practiced absolute surrender, guidance
by the Holy Spirit, sharing bringing about true fellowship,
life changing, faith and prayer. They aimed for absolute
standards of Love, Purity, Honesty, and Unselfishness, which
were an integral part of the first AA programs in Akron
and Cleveland and New York. Above all the group was a fellowship:
"A First Century Christian Fellowship." They carried the
message aggressively to others. They met in churches, universities,
and homes.
The Oxford
Group and their principles were carried to the United States
so that in both New York City and Akron, Ohio an Oxford
Group was in place and functioning when Bill Wilson
and
Dr. Bob Smith hit their respective bottoms. These two groups
would befriend and teach their principles to our co-founders
before they ever met, and then go on to host the fledgling
groups of newly dry and nameless drunks as they came together.
Here is how
the Oxford Group came to the United States. One early member
at Oxford, Ken Twitchell, had attended Princeton University
and had a brother in New York City who was a mainstay in
the Calvary Episcopal Church. This becomes one of several
amazing coincidences. In 1918 during his travels, Frank
Buchman met a young YMCA worker, Sam Shoemaker, in China
and converted him to the Oxford Group principles. Years
later, Sam became the minister of that Calvary Church in
New York, and that same church became the titular headquarters
for the Oxford Group in the United States. (The name was
changed in 1928 from "A First Century Christian Fellowship"
to the "Oxford Group.")
The groups'
popularity peaked during this period. There were 10,000
people at one meeting at Stockbridge in the Berkshire Mountains.
Business teams began to have their "house parties" in various
cities (4).
In 1931 in
England, a London newspaper editor, A. J. Russell, attended
an Oxford Group meeting with the intention of exposing the
group. But he wrote, "I came as an observer and became a
convert!" (Russell later edited "God Calling", which may
have found it's way into material used by the early
AAs.)
Some 9 years later, in 1940, Richmond Walker of the Quincy,
Mass. group wrote the 24-hour book still used by us today.
This was modeled after Russell's "God Calling" but was slanted
away from all spiritual to more of a 24-hour not drinking
theme. Russell's book, "For Sinners Only", described his
journey from prodigal son to the Oxford Group and became
a best seller in the early 1930s in England and the United
States, and was printed in eight languages.
One chapter
of the book was devoted to Calvary Episcopal Church in New
York City and it's rector, Sam Shoemaker. Calvary Church
became the virtual American headquarters for the Oxford
Group during the 1930s. And it was here, (in the church's
mission), that Bill Wilson's sponsor, Ebby Thatcher, was
living at the time of Bill's last drunk.
(2) See "Pass
It On", p.130
(3) See also "Life Changers" by Harold Begbie (Mills
and Boon)
(4) For further details of the Oxford Group in the U.S.,
see "Pass It On", p.127-32; p.168-74 "AA Comes of Age",
p.39
HOW THE MESSAGE
CAME TO BILL
In 1932 and
1933, a man named Rowland Hazard, son of wealthy Rhode Island
mill owners and a State Senator, had become a hopeless alcoholic,
and in his quest for help had sought out the world famous
psychiatrist,
Carl Jung. Jung told him there was no hope
for him there, and to go home and possibly find a conversion
through some religious group. He did this in the Oxford
Group in the United States and became sober. They taught
him certain principles that he applied to his life. This
story is documented in our Big Book.
In 1934,
Ebby Thatcher, childhood friend of Bill Wilson's, was about
to be locked up as a chronic
drunk in Bennington, Vermont. He was visited by three
men from an Oxford Group; Shep Cornell, Rowland Hazard,
and Cebra Graves. (A precursor to our Twelve Step work!)
They later sent Rowland Hazard back alone to see
Ebby. He
acted as a sort of sponsor and told his story. He taught
Ebby the precepts he had learned from the Oxford Group.
Later, as we know, in December of that year, Ebby had his
chance to relay these precepts to Bill Wilson. Here they
are, transcribed from a tape of one of Bill's AA talks:
We admitted
we were licked.
- We got honest with ourselves.
- We talked it over with another person.
- We made amends to those we had harmed.
- We tried to carry this message to others with no
thought of reward.
- We prayed to whatever God we thought there was
(We also
have Bill's handwritten copy of the above.)
Now we begin
to see the emerging pattern of events in Akron and in the
New York area in the ten year period before the start of
AA. We see how, through the machinery of the Oxford Group
and its key leaders, Frank Buchman and Sam Shoemaker, events
conspired to make possible this meeting between Bob and
Bill in Akron in 1935. Shep, Cebra, and Rowland were all
three Oxford Group members. They were part of the business
teams which were working around the country in various cities.
In November of 1934, Ebby surrendered his life to God at
the Calvary Episcopal Church mission run by Sam Shoemaker.
(Sam had met Frank Buchman in China in 1918, and by 1934
was regarded as a major leader of the Oxford Group movement
in the United States and was hosting their headquarters.)
Ebby is staying at his mission. Bill W. shows up there drunk
looking for Ebby, can't find him, and goes to Towns Hospital.
Bill Duval
recalls in a letter, "Bill W. told us at the mission that
he had heard that Ebby, on the previous Sunday at the Calvary
Church, had witnessed that with the help of God he had been
sober a number of months." Bill said that if Ebby could
get help here, then he (Bill) needed help, and he could
get it at the mission, also. Bill looked prosperous compared
to our usual mission customers, (actually, he was wearing
a Brooks Brother's suit purchased at a rummage sale for
$5.00!), so we agreed that he go to Towns Hospital where
Ebby and others of the group could talk to him.
After his
spiritual experience at Towns, Bill immediately made a decision
to become very active in Oxford Group work, and to try to
bring other alcoholics from Towns to the group. He visited
the mission Oxford Group meetings and the hospital daily
for four or five months, right up to the time of the Akron
trip. No one stayed sober.
Bill W. and the
Oxford Group Work
(Jim Newton enters the scene)
Rowland Hazard,
who rescued Ebby in August 1934, had a thorough indoctrination
in Oxford Group teachings and he passed many of these along
to Ebby and Bill W. Soon after his release from Towns Hospital
at the end of 1934, Bill and the rest of the alcoholic contingent
of the Oxford Group began gathering at Stewart's Cafeteria
in New York following their regular meeting. Shep Cornell,
then a member of the Oxford Group business team that included
Rowland, Sam Shoemaker, and Hanford Twitchell, was also
a recovering alkie. Lois Wilson talked of regular attendance
at the Oxford Group meetings with Bill, Shep, and Ebby.
James Houck, a nonalcoholic Oxford Group member in Frederick,
Maryland, stated that Bill W. went to many Oxford Group
meetings at the Francis Scott Key Hotel in Frederick and
always centered on alcohol. He was obsessed with the idea
of carrying the message. The conclusion is that Bill had
a wide acquaintance in Oxford Group circles, not just confined
to Sam and Calvary House. Bill told Houck that he worked
on 50 drunks in the first 6 months with no success. Calvary
House was Sam's residence and contained an Oxford Group
bookstore. Calvary Mission was at another location in the
"gas house" district. Thousands of people passed through
the mission where they offered lodging, free meals, and
Oxford Group meetings every night. Tex Francisco was its
superintendent in 1934 when Bill showed up there.
Now enters
the man most certainly responsible for the fateful Akron
meetings between Bill and Dr. Bob. Jim Newton was surely
the sole catalyst that ordained the Oxford Group would be
in place in Akron, Ohio when Bill showed up there in 1935.
This amazing string of circumstances plays out as follows:
Jim, at age
20, was a luggage salesman in New York who had come upon
an Oxford Group meeting by accident (actually, he was looking
for fun and games that night!) in Massachusetts in 1923
when he was 18 years old. He was converted at the party,
got on his knees and gave the direction of his life to God
at that time. He met a lady named Eleanor Forde who greatly
influenced his thinking about the movement. (He and Eleanor
were to meet and marry 20 years later in 1943.) (endnote
1)
Several twists
and turns of fate placed Jim Newton in Akron, Ohio and installed
our next cast of characters. These were both Oxford Group
members and regular attendees at Oxford Group meetings.
We will be talking about the intertwined relations of Henrietta Seiberling, Dr. Walter Tunks, Harvey and Russell Firestone,
Sam Shoemaker, Frank Buchman, T. Henry and Clarace Williams,
and Anne and Dr. Bob Smith.
Jim Newton
went to Ft. Myers, Florida in 1926, at age 21, to visit
his father,and they bought a 35 acre tract of land across
the road from the Thomas Edison estate(5). Jim Newton became
as an adopted son to Mr. and Mrs. Edison, and often acted
as host and toastmaster at Edison's famous birthday parties
which were attended by Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and
many world renowned business leaders and public figures.
Here begins
another key circumstance to set the stage in Akron, Ohio.
Harvey Firestone, Sr., offered Jim a job as secretary to
the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in 1926, and moved
him to Akron, Ohio putting him in residence at the Portage
Country Club adjacent to the Firestone Estate(6) Jim worked
for Firestone eleven years and was being groomed as president
of the company when he resigned and went full time with
the Oxford Groups. Firestone's clergyman was Rev. Walter Tunks. Jim joined Tunks' church and became active in raising
funds for their birthday committee.
Jim had been
in New York for the Jack Dempsey vs Gene Tunney fight. While
there he confessed to Frank Buchman that his life was in
turmoil and he was about to take a "geographical cure".
Buchman sent him to meet Sam Shoemaker at the Calvary Church
and he made an Oxford Group confession to Sam and was led
to join one of the Oxford Group business teams.
These were
groups of important men who made attempts to convert others
to the Oxford Group method of spirituality. Jim frequently
met with the aforementioned Shep Cornell and Rowland Hazard.
He met T. Henry and Clarace Williams, husband and wife
Oxford
Group members from Akron and members of Walter Tunks' church.
The business team put on house parties in various cities
at the finest hotels and clubs. In January of 1933, Frank
Buchman, leading a team of thirty men and women, descended
on Akron for the first time to give testimonials at the
Mayflower Hotel and in Akron churches, and initiate the
townspeople in the experiences of the Oxford Group. Here
we can clearly see input from Jim Newton's parties with
Firestone and Tunks' Episcopal Church group to influence
the choice of Akron as the site of this endeavor, rather
than some other city. Had Jim not already been a business
team member and in place in Akron, it is very unlikely that
Buchman would ever have chosen this small, rather unknown
city as a place to pursue his evangelistic efforts. Jim
was the spokesman who introduced Buchman at all the affairs
that week in Akron.
Now our cast
of characters is nearly complete and in place. Still to
appear on the scene, however, are Henrietta Seiberling,
Anne and Bob Smith, and T. Henry and Clarace Williams.
When Jim
first arrived in Akron he had been welcomed into the Firestone
family, and had become fast friends with a son, Russell
(Bud) Firestone. Bud had a very bad drinking problem and
had already been sent to several hospitals to no avail.
Jim went with Bud to still another drying-out place, on
the Hudson River in New York, and stayed through the entire
30 day program. Then he took Bud to an Episcopal Conference
in Denver to which the Oxford Group people had been invited.
On the train East again after the party, he was able to
introduce Bud to his old Oxford Group minister, Sam Shoemaker.
Alone with Sam, Bud surrendered his life to God in a private
car on the train. His life changed, and his family situation
and marriage were saved.
"Now Akron
was the place where AA was to be founded. Jim Newton had
helped bring to the city the Oxford Group message of his
alcoholic friend, Bud Firestone. The message led to Bud's
"miraculous" recovery which lasted for a time. The message
and the recovery were broadcast to an interested community
by a grateful father, Harvey Firestone, Sr., and by widespread
press accounts."(7)
Clarace Williams
was there, and joined the Oxford Group along with T. Henry
Williams, and began regularly attending the meetings. About
the same time, a lady named Henrietta Seiberling, the wife
of John Seiberling of the Seiberling Tire and Rubber Company,
found herself with personal and marital problems, and separated
from her husband. She turned to the Oxford Group and attended
the first meetings at the Mayflower Hotel. She went with
a woman named Anne Smith, the wife of a well-known Akron
surgeon who was in deep trouble with his drinking.
The progenitors
now assume their roles. A kindly and missionary-oriented
couple, the Williams, had been impressed with the Oxford
Group message, and had a home to offer for a meeting place.
A gifted and compassionate lady named Henrietta Seiberling,
who had mastered some of the Oxford group principles, had
her eye on using the biblical principles to help her good
friend, Dr. Bob Smith, with his drinking problem. Add to
this mix the efforts of his wife Anne, who assembled books
and spiritual readings and principles from the Bible, the
Oxford Group, and various other Christian writings, all
the while praying for a solution to her husband's seemingly
hopeless drinking problem. The talented and very alcoholic
surgeon became the focus of all these efforts. He did a
lot of spiritual reading, attended a lot of meetings, but
remained drunk.
Now all the
earlier seeming coincidences converge, and this story merges
into the facts we all know from our AA literature.
Onto this
scene landed the "rum hound" from New York, moved by what
both Bill Wilson and Henrietta Seiberling felt was the guidance
of God. Bill had recovered from his disease, and was determined
to stay sober by seeking out and helping another drunk.
The "rum hound from New York", (Bill's self-description
when he made the fateful phone call to Henrietta), "just
happened" to bring to Akron some solutions heretofore never
assembled in one place and delivered by just one person.
1. Some important
knowledge about the disease of alcoholism accumulated through
the work of Dr.Silkworth at Towns Hospital in New York.
2. An important
spiritual solution to the problem that had been passed from
Dr. Carl Jung to Rowland Hazard and then on to
Bill by Ebby
Thatcher.
3. A validation
of this spiritual solution by the scholarly studies of Professor
William James.
4. A linkage
between the problem of alcoholism, and this solution that
God could and would solve the problem if a relationship
were sought with Him by using the Oxford Group's practical
program of action, which was already proven by the results
experienced by Rowland and Ebby when they followed the Oxford
Group program.
In Akron,
T. Henry and Clarace Williams and Henrietta Seiberling were
attending Oxford Group meetings at the Mayflower Hotel and
elsewhere. Dr. Bob Smith also attended with his wife, Anne.
He shied away from talking about his problem publicly, and
continued drinking. In her concern for Bob, Henrietta suggested
to T. Henry that if they could set up a smaller, more private
meeting perhaps Bob might feel more at ease and be able
to make a confession in the Oxford Group fashion, and a
commitment to sobriety. T. Henry's home was chosen for this
special meeting and these meetings started on a Wednesday
in April of 1935--just one month before Bill Wilson came
to Akron. These meetings were usually led by T. Henry, Henrietta,
or Florence Main, and at one of these Dr. Bob was able to
confess that he was a secret drinker and needed help as
he could not stop. This was the very place that was to become
the home to the "about to begin" Alcoholic Contingent of
the Oxford Group.
We can now
see how all these characters contributed to putting Dr.
Bob and Bill at a meeting in Henrietta Seiberling's home
in the Gate House of the Firestone Estate, and make possible
the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous.
(5) The land
was subdivided and exists yet today as a prosperous residential
developemnet called the Edison Estates.
(6) Bill
Wilson was also furnished quarters here seven years later
after he started working with Dr. Bob!
(7) This
paragraph was taken from "The Akron Genesis and AA".
can find no references anywhere to indicate that Bill
Wilson considered or made any conscious effort to locate
an Oxford Group member when he made his desperation phone
call in the Mayflower Hotel in Akron. Henrietta Seiberling
wrote as follows:
"Bill looked into the cocktail room and was tempted and
thought, "Well, I'll just go in there and get drunk and
forget it all and that will be the end of it!"
Instead, having been sober five months in the Oxford
Group, he said a prayer. He received guidance to look at
a ministers' directory board and a strange thing happened.
He put his finger on one name--Tunks. The Rev. Walter Tunks
was Harvey Firestone's minister, and Firestone had brought
Buchman and thirty Oxford Group members to Akron for ten
days in gratitude for their help for his son, Russell, a
drunkard.
Out of the act of gratitude of this one father, this
whole chain started.
note 1. - This writer, along with the Akron Archivist
Ray G., had the good fortune to be able to visit Jim and
Eleanor Newton at their home in Ft. Myers, Florida, in May
of 1993. Thay are active and well, she at age 94, and he
at 88. Eleanor was employed by Sam Shoemaker, who introduced
her to Frank Buchman. She went abroad as an Oxford Group
worker with Frank in 1926, and has remained active in the
movement ever since.
Permission to reprint for the benefit
of AA or it's individual members has been granted at
large, so long as the text of the doc is not altered in
any way
http://www.winternet.com/~terrym/oxford.html
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