Great American Recovery Initiative co-chairs Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathryn Burgum discuss President Donald Trump’s launch of the program, which focuses on treating addiction, on 'Fox & Friends.'

I applaud President Donald Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order known as the Great American Recovery Initiative, but I think it should be renamed the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative, after the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. Both men suffered from severe alcoholism until a fateful day in December 1934, when Bill Wilson experienced a spiritual awakening — described as a blinding white light — after demanding that God show Himself. Bill also described the sensation of standing on a mountain with the wind of the Spirit blowing through him, and he instantly felt liberated, his obsession with alcohol gone.

This conversion experience formed the basis for Bill W.’s spiritual transformation and recovery from alcoholism, and it led to the core 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, which Bill W. co-founded in June 1935 with Dr. Robert Smith. Dr. Bob also suffered from severe alcoholism, and Bill W. helped him quit. By that June, Dr. Bob had taken his final drink. Together with Sister Ignatia, Dr. Bob helped transfer his freedom from alcohol to others, providing medical care and physical guidance to thousands of alcoholics in Akron, Ohio, and around the country.

The reason I believe President Trump’s initiative could be called the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative is because, like AA, it recognizes the importance of community, health and faith. These elements must be central........

© Fox News