Vision
For You

The story of Alcoholics Anonymous begins in the depths of the Great Depression. In 1935, two seemingly hopeless alcoholics — Bill Wilson ("Bill W."), a New York stockbroker, and Dr. Robert Smith ("Dr. Bob"), an Akron, Ohio physician — met and discovered that by talking to each other about their struggles with alcohol, they could stay sober.

Bill W. had gotten sober in late 1934 through a spiritual experience following a hospital stay and a conversation with an old drinking friend, Ebby Thacher, who had found sobriety through the Oxford Group, a Christian fellowship. Desperate to maintain his own sobriety on a business trip to Akron, Bill sought out another alcoholic to talk to — and was introduced to Dr. Bob.

Their first meeting on June 10, 1935 — the date now recognized as the founding of AA — lasted for hours. Dr. Bob had his last drink on June 10, 1935, and the two men began working with other alcoholics at Akron's City Hospital. Their early efforts were halting, but a core group formed.

By 1939, about 100 members had achieved sobriety. That year, the fellowship published its foundational text,"Alcoholics Anonymous" — now known as "The Big Book" — which laid out the philosophy and the now-famous Twelve Steps of recovery. The book gave the fellowship its name.

A landmark 1941 article in The Saturday Evening Post brought national attention, and membership skyrocketed. By 1950, AA had over 100,000 recovered alcoholics. Today, AA has an estimated 2 million members in over 180 countries, with more than 120,000 groups worldwide. It remains a decentralized, non-professional, self-supporting fellowship guided by the principle that one alcoholic helping another is the foundation of recovery.