On Anonymity among A.A.'s an excerpt from "Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers Page 264, paragraph 2
This is A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature
Copyright ©1980 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. ISBN 0-916856-07-0
"As far as anonymity was concerned, we knew who we were. It wasn't only A.A., but our social life. All of our lives seemed to be spent together. We took people home with us to dry out. The Cleveland group had the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all the members." said Warren. "In fact, I remember Dr. Bob saying, 'If I got up and gave my name as Dr. Bob S., people who needed help would have a hard time getting in touch with me.'"
Warren recalled, "He [Dr. Bob] said there were two ways to break the anonymity Tradition: (1) by giving your name at the public level of press or radio; (2) by being so anonymous that you can't be reached by other drunks."
In an article in the February 1960 Grapevine, D.S. of San Mateo, California wrote that Dr. Bob commented on the Eleventh Tradition as follows:
"Since our Tradition on anonymity designates the exact level where the line should be held, it must be obvious to everyone who can read and understand the English language that to maintain anonymity at any other level is definitely a violation of this Tradition.
"The A.A. who hides his identity from his fellow A.A. by using only a given name violates the Tradition just as much as the A.A. who permits his name to appear in the press in connection with matters pertaining to A.A.
"The former is maintaining his anonymity above the level of press, radio and films, and the latter is maintaining his anonymity below the level of press, radio and films-whereas the Tradition states that we should maintain our anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."
Ernie G. of Toledo, commenting on what he saw to be an increase of anonymity within A.A. today as compared with the old days said, "I made a lead over to Jackson [Michigan] one night, and everybody's coming up to me and saying, 'I'm Joe,' 'I'm Pete.' Then one of the guys said, 'Safe journey home. If you get into any trouble, give me a buzz.' Later I said to the fellow who was with me, 'You know, suppose we did get into trouble on the way home. How would we tell anyone in A.A.? We don't know anyone's last name.' They get so doggone carried away with this anonymity that it gets to be a joke. I had a book [evidently, one of the small address books compiled by the early members or their wives] with the first hundred names – first and last – telephone numbers, and where they lived."
Dr. Bob's views on anonymity remained clear in the recollections of Akron's Joe P. (the Dartmouth grad). Though it was not the custom in the mid-1940's to give A.A. talks to anyone except drunks, Joe noted, a few members formed and unofficial public information committee that started to speak to Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs throughout the state.
"Of course, we first had to get permission from Bob. He said you were not supposed to break your anonymity in the newspapers or on the radio, but he didn't think we would get anyplace if people didn't know we belonged to A.A. He had the firm conviction that you should let yourself be known as an A.A. member in the community, and he was always sure to tell you about it every time you met him."
The great regard that most local A.A.'s had for Dr. Bob's thinking and for the man himself was formally expressed in the fall of 1941. Clarence S. and other Cleveland members planned a Doc Smith Day…900 A.A.'s and family members turned out.
So what's this business about "no last names"?