The AA Grapevine, New York · June 1947
A magazine editor borrowed a paragraph from the Big Book, and groups began reading it aloud to open their meetings.
“It was felt that it was impossible to determine what constitutes an ‘honest’ desire to stop drinking…”
In 1944 a few New York members started a monthly magazine and called it the Grapevine. It turned out the FBI already had a staff bulletin by that name, so theirs became the AA Grapevine. It caught on across the country.
In June 1947 its editor, Tom Y., printed a short paragraph saying what AA was and what it asked of its members. At first it was referred to as “the AA Definition,” the Grapevine later recalled. Much of it came from the Big Book. Tom Y. “borrowed much of the phrasing,” AA’s background paper on the Preamble says, from the Foreword to the first edition, written in 1939.
The paragraph ran in every issue after that, and later in much of AA’s literature. Groups began reading it aloud to open their meetings. As AA’s archivists put it, that is how it “came to be called the preamble.”
Its main changes came in two rounds. In 1958 a delegate to the General Service Conference, the yearly meeting of AA delegates from the United States and Canada, pointed out that the word “honest” didn’t appear in the Third Tradition, AA’s own statement of who may join. The trustees dropped the word that summer and spelled out the line about money at the same time.
In 2021, after two years of discussion in groups and a series of votes at the Conference, “men and women” became “people.” The new wording first appeared in the Grapevine’s July 2021 issue.
It’s June 1947, in New York. Tom Y., the editor of AA’s monthly magazine, the Grapevine, prints a short paragraph that says what AA is.
He borrows much of the wording from the Big Book, from the Foreword to the first edition, written in 1939. No dues or fees. The only requirement for membership, an honest desire to stop drinking.
The paragraph runs in every issue after that. Groups start reading it aloud to open their meetings, and it comes to be called the Preamble.
In 1958, AA’s delegates take a long look at one word. Who could say whether a desire to stop drinking was honest? Nobody could. The word comes out.
Today the only requirement is a desire to stop drinking. As Bill W. put it, you’re a member if you say so.
Then and now
The Big Book’s Foreword of 1939, the Preamble as the Grapevine first printed it in 1947, and the Preamble today, idea by idea.
The 1939 column is from the Big Book’s first edition. The Preamble is copyrighted by AA Grapevine, Inc., so this page quotes only the words that changed and sums up the rest in its own words.
The Foreword, 1939
“We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered…”
The Preamble, 1947
“Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women…”
The Preamble today
“…a fellowship of people…”
Since July 2021
The Foreword, 1939
“The only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking.”
The Preamble, 1947
The same sentence, word for word.
The Preamble today
“The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.”
Since 1958
The Foreword, 1939
“There are no fees or dues whatsoever.”
The Preamble, 1947
“AA has no dues or fees.”
The Preamble today
“There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions.”
Since 1958
The Foreword, 1939
“We are not allied with any particular faith, sect or denomination, nor do we oppose anyone.”
The Preamble, 1947
Names sects, denominations, politics, organizations and institutions, and keeps AA out of controversies and causes.
The Preamble today
The same today, a few small words aside.
The Foreword, 1939
“We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted.”
The Preamble, 1947
Names AA’s primary purpose: staying sober, and helping other alcoholics get sober.
The Preamble today
The same today, a few small words aside.
Two rounds in almost eighty years
Most of what Tom Y. printed in 1947 is still read aloud today. The real changes came only after members argued them out. In 1958 a word nobody could measure came out, and the line about money was spelled out. In 2021 “men and women” became “people.”
For a closer look
The rules that came before the one requirement, the argument over “men and women,” and why the Preamble belongs to a magazine.
In the early years, many groups kept their own rules about who could belong. Bill W., looking back in 1957: “There used to be so many membership rules out among the groups that if they were all enforced at once nobody—actually nobody—could have joined Alcoholics Anonymous.”
The Third Tradition put an end to that. Bill’s summary of it: “You are an A.A. member if you say so.” The short form read at meetings today asks for nothing more than a desire to stop drinking.
That was the gap the 1958 delegate saw: the Tradition said a desire, and the Preamble said an honest one. The Grapevine first printed the Preamble without the word in its September 1958 issue.
The 1939 Foreword spoke of “more than one hundred men and women.” The women were few. Bill W. remembered Florence R., who “had come among us in 1937,” and whose story was in the first edition; she later died of alcoholism. Marty M., who came in 1939, was “one of the first women to try A.A.”
Tom Y. kept the phrase in 1947. In 2021 the Conference voted to revise the opening “with gender-neutral language,” and “men and women” became “people.”
Not every member agreed. Some argued that the change drew AA into a public controversy, against the Tenth Tradition, which says AA has no opinion on outside issues. Proposals to change the wording again, one of them back to “men and women,” were sent in for the 2025 Conference. The Grapevine’s board forwarded none of them, noting that a Conference committee had gone over the question in 2024.
The Preamble belongs to the Grapevine, not to AA World Services, which publishes the Big Book. When it is reprinted, AA asks for the credit line “Copyright © The AA Grapevine, Inc. Reprinted with permission.”
So changes go through more than one body. In 1958 the question came up at the Conference, and the trustees ratified the change.
In 2021 the Grapevine’s board spent a year on the question. Because a change “would affect the groups as a whole,” it asked the Conference first, “in keeping with Tradition 4.” The Conference voted, AA’s General Service Board approved, and the Grapevine printed the new wording that July.