Clarence Snyder Utubes

Clarence Snyder, one of the first 40 members of AA came from The Oxford Group. Following are some videos (really one video that was divided because it contains so much information). These short videos were obtained by converting a 27-year-old VHS tape of a lead given by Clarence Snyder. The videos contain an extreme amount of information on how AA was formed from the Oxford Group. Clarence has been accused of being a grand stander and breaking the anonymity traditions. Clarence was my sponsor and I know that he did a number of great things in AA and never took the credit for doing them. In his last six months of life, Grace, his wife, begged him to stay home, but he continued to work to spread the word of AA. He personally felt that anonymity was something that should be guarded for someone else. He said that he was proud to be a member of AA and would shout it from the roof tops, however, he would never break someone else’s anonymity. He coined the phrase, “This is a spiritual program, not a religious program,” and never took credit for the phrase. He did state, however, that the phrase was twisted into something that it was never intended to mean, that it was aimed at the Oxford Group not religion in general. When AA was breaking away from the Oxford Group, things got pretty nasty and that is how the phrase came into being.

Click on each link to see the video—please remember these videos came from a very old VHS tape—when you are finished watching each video press the arrow in the upper left corner to return to this page.

Video Content

Clarence - 1 This video covers how the Oxford Group came into being, that it had 6 steps (which we turned into 12), and Clarence’s first family, and a trip to NY.

Clarence - 2 Tells of his first family and in-laws, how he survived in NY (very funny), Dr. Strong (Bill Wilson’s brother-in-law) at the Calvary House, where Bill Wilson attended the

Oxford Group in NY, and Dr. Robert Smith (Doctor Bob) attended the Oxford Group in Akron, Ohio and how he was getting involved with these two people. When

he returned to his home in Cleveland, his first wife put him on a bus to go to Akron because her sister had written her from NY about Dr. Bob in Akron. He says that it

was God’s hand in doing it.

Clarence - 3 Tells the story of how he met with Dr. Bob and got sober on February 11, 1938, how Dr. Bob made him get on his knees and made him pray, how they attended meetings

at the Oxford Group in Akron.

Clarence - 4 At the first Ecumenical Assembly held in Amsterdam in 1948, the motto 'ONE WORLD – ONE CHURCH' was adopted. NOTICE THE DATE. When

Clarence tells the story of Catholics versus protestants, this is how it was in 1939. The ecumenical movement came into being 10 years after AA came into being.

It tells about the problem with the Catholic Church telling Catholics that they could not go to a different religion (the Oxford Group was a Protestant Evangelic

Society), the Big Book was written in 1938 and came out in 1939, the problem that the Oxford Group said it was the Catholics tough luck, and Clarence breaks away

from the Oxford Group and has first AA meeting in Cleveland because we had the Big Book and the four absolutes: Humility, Unselfishness, Love and Purity.

Clarence wanted to make it so all religions could attend meetings. The first AA meeting was in May of 1939 in Cleveland.

Clarence - 5 Clarence talks about how it is impossible to drink if you work the program, and how he brings people through the 12 steps.

Clarence - 6 Says we should be proud to be in AA and talk about it, that anonymity is to protect other people’s anonymity, not ours.

Clarence - 7 A person in the audience asks Clarence to tell the story of the Prodigal Son and he tells the story.