By 1934 alcoholic Bill Wilson had ruined a promising Wall Street career with his constant drunkenness. He was introduced to the idea of a spiritual cure by old drinking buddy Ebby Thatcher who had become a member of a Christian movement called the Oxford Group. Wilson was treated by Dr. William Silkworth who promoted a disease concept of alcoholism. While in the hospital, Wilson underwent a spiritual experience which convinced him of the existence of a healing higher power and he was able to stop drinking. On a 1935 business trip to Akron, Ohio, Wilson felt the urge to drink again and in an effort to stay sober, he sought another alcoholic to help. Wilson was introduced to Dr. Bob Smith, and Smith also found sobriety through spiritual means.

Wilson and Smith co-founded AA with a word of mouth program to help alcoholics. By 1937 they determined that they had helped 40 alcoholics get sober, and two years later, with the first 100 members, Wilson expanded the program by writing a book entitled Alcoholics Anonymous which the organization also adopted as its name. The book described a twelve-step program involving admission of powerlessness, moral inventory, and asking for help from a higher power. In 1941 book sales and membership increased after radio interviews and favorable articles in national magazines, particularly by Jack Alexander in The Saturday Evening Post. By 1946, as membership grew, confusion and disputes within groups over practices, finances, and publicity led Wilson to write the guidelines for noncoercive group management that eventually became known as the Twelve Traditions. AA came of age at the 1955 St. Louis convention when Wilson turned over the stewardship of AA to the General Service Board.  In this era AA also began its international expansion, and by 2001 the number of members worldwide was estimated at two million.

My own experience in Addiction Recovery led me to Alcoholics Anonymous even though I was primarily a user of other illicit Drugs.  This is not to belittle or in any way undermine the program of Narcotics Anonymous!  I do also attend NA, but my primary support is through AA.  There seem to be more older members at AA meetings and they tend to be smaller and more intimate.  My age has a lot to do with my preference, as I was 45 years old when I entered Recovery, at the V.A. Hospital, Fresno, CA.  The program introduced us to AA first, as it is the original 12 Step program, and the VA program was all about basics.  It is also a fact that there are generally more AA meetings, and they are easier to find in a place that one is not particularly familiar with.  I worked on the road a lot back then and found it necessary to attend a meeting every day, tired or not!