Father Ed Dowling Speaking at the 1955 AA International Convention, St. Louis, MO

Father Ed Dowling Speaking at the 1955 AA International Convention, St. Louis, MO

The 1955 AA International Convention is considered A.A.’s “coming of age.” The Fellowship accepted the service structure and the General Service Conference that Bill W. had been promoting. The 3,500 attending this Convention were read a telegram from President Eisenhower offering his good wishes.

A press release from the Convention Committee reads: “A dramatic feature of the meeting will occur at Sunday afternoon’s closing session when Bill W., the surviving co-founder, will ask the movement to endorse a plan whereby he and other ‘elder statesmen’ of the society can yield their responsibilities to a representative body which has been functioning under a temporary charter for the past five years. This group, known as the General Service Conference of A.A., now includes 76 delegates from A.A. areas in the U.S. and Canada.”