Gabriel Heatter, the nationally recognized radio broadcaster, provided the forum for the the first national exposure received by Alcoholics Anonymous, April 25, 1939. Heatter's nightly "We The People" radio broadcast was a tremendously popular program listened to by millions of people nationwide. Heatter was known for his trademark line, "Ah, there's good news tonight!" Little did he know how good that news was to become to suffering alcoholics worldwide.

Morgan R., the AA member who spoke on the program, was a former ad man. The broadcast was expected to launch sales of the newly published book, Alcoholics Anonymous. The story of Morgan's three day "captivity" to prevent him from drinking before the broadcast, and the resulting two Big Book sales are described in Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age on pages 174-175.

"WE THE PEOPLE"

HEATTER:
The man beside me now has had one of the most gripping and dramatic experiences I've ever heard. I'm not going to tell you his name. And when you hear what he has to say I think you'll understand why. But after checking the facts the Listeners Committee of "We The People" decided to grant him time because they feel that if one person is helped by hearing his story, then WE THE PEOPLE will have done a real service. Alright, sir.

ANONYMOUS GUEST:
Six months ago I got out of an insane asylum. I'd been sent there because I was drinking myself to death. But the doctors said they could do nothing for me. And only four years ago I was making 20,000 dollars a year. I was married to a swell girl and had a young son. But I worked hard and like lots of my friends - I used to drink to relax. Only they knew when to stop. I didn't. And pretty soon - I drank myself out of my job. I promised my wife I'd straighten out. But I couldn't. Finally she took the baby and left me.

The next year was like a nightmare. I was penniless. I went out on the streets - panhandled money for liquor. Every time I sobered up - I swore not to touch another drop. But if I went a few hours without a drink - I'd begin to cry like a baby, and tremble all over. One day after I left the asylum I met a friend of mine. He took me to the home of one of his friends. A bunch of men were sitting around, smoking cigars, telling jokes - having a great time. But I noticed they weren't drinking. When Tom told me they'd all been in the same boat as I was - I couldn't believe him. But he said, "See that fellow? He's a doctor. Drank himself out of his practice. Then he straightened out. Now he's head of a big hospital." Another big strapping fellow was a grocery clerk. Another the vice president of a big corporation. They got together five years ago. Called themselves Alcoholics Anonymous. And they'd worked out a method of recovery. One of their most important secrets was - helping the other fellow. Once they began to follow it the method proved successful and helped others get on their feet - they found they could stay away from liquor.

Gradually - those men helped me back to life. I stopped drinking. Found courage to face life once again. Today I've got a job - and I'm going to climb back to success. Recently we wrote a book called "Alcoholics Anonymous". It tells precisely how we all came back from a living death. Working on that book made me realize how much other people had suffered - how they'd gone through the same thing I did. That's why I wanted to come on this program. I wanted to tell people who are going through that torment - if they sincerely want to, they can come back. Take their place in society once again!

(APPLAUSE)
(MUSIC)

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This broadcast was made at a time when A.A. and the BigBook effort was $10000 in debt, with only $500 left in the bank...

Morgan Ryan, the good-looking Irishman who had taken the book to the Catholic Committee on Publication, had been a good ad man. He said that he knew Gabriel Heatter. "Gabriel is putting on these 3 minute heart to heart programs on the radio. I'll get an interview with him and maybe he'll interview me on the radio about all this."

And the REST OF THE STORY is history in "AA History And How The Big Book Was Put Together" - A Talk By Bill Wilson - Fort Worth, Texas - 1954

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Index of AA History Pages on Barefoot's Domain

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As in so many things, especially with we alcoholics, our History is our Greatest Asset!.. We each arrived at the doors of AA with an intensive and lengthy "History of Things That Do Not Work" .. Today, In AA and In Recovery, Our History has added an intensive and lengthy "History of Things That DO Work!!" and We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it!!

ABC Page 60 from the Big Book

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On the Web August 30, 2001 in the Spirit of Cooperation

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