Bill Wilson’s Trip to Akron

On Armistice Day in 1934, Bill Wilson, a New York stock broker, had a visit from an old friend and drinking buddy. Wilson had done a great deal of drinking over the previous six to ten years, much to the dismay of his wife. He had tried many times to quit without success. That day, Wilson’s friend declined the offer of a drink and informed Wilson that he’d found something that enabled him to stay sober. Something miraculous started that day. Bill Wilson started reaching out to other drunks, urging them not to drink. For the next six months, Wilson did not succeed in getting a single one of his buddies to go on the wagon, but to Wilson’s amazement, he managed to stay sober himself for the first time in 16 years. In May of 1935, Wilson took a business trip to Akron, Ohio in hopes of closing a deal that did not pan out. One evening, at his hotel, he had an almost overwhelming urge to drink, so he called a local clergyman and asked to be put in touch with another drunk that he could talk to.

Later that evening, he met Doctor Robert Smith. Doctor Smith was a long-suffering alcoholic who knew very well that he was very close to drinking himself to death. Initially, Doctor Smith said that he could only speak for five minutes. They talked for six hours. The next day, both men were still sober and they both realized they were onto something. They went to a local hospital and asked if they could meet with a patient being treated for alcoholism. The man they spoke with was a lawyer who told them that he had been through treatment half a dozen times and had most recently gotten drunk on his way home from the hospital. He said, sadly, in exactly so many words: “I’m a goner.” Bill W. and Doctor Bob told him that they had happened upon something that might enabled them all to stay sober. That was the first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, which has millions of members in dozens of countries all around the world. All three of those men stayed sober for the rest of their lives.