Dave R. at the Tri State – 1970

About This Speaker Tape

Tri State - 1970

A Vanderbilt Law graduate and former government official Dave R. describes a life of high-status wreckage—from the 'commingling of assets' in the American Legion and the 'fraudulent breach of trust' that nearly cost him his license. He paints a picture of a man who viewed the world as a giant conspiracy against him only to realize he was the one in the bear trap. After a series of jail stays and a final desperate prayer in a locked office he found a way out through a Knoxville meeting in 1949. He reflects on the irony of being elected president of the Bar Association just two years after the lawyers tried to disbar him and the slow process of winning back the trust of his daughters who once preferred he stay away.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction by Willard P. including a joke about lawyers in heaven.
• 4:50 Dave R. shares his sobriety date: September 22, 1949.
• 7:15 Dave discusses his lack of a 'sociable drinking' phase and his early academic success at Vanderbilt.
• 12:40 The 'commingling of assets' and the American Legion dues scandal.
• 16:10 The 'family conference' with his brother and the attempt to restart his life in Maryville.
• 21:30 The 'conspiracy' of the local lawyers and the threat of disbarment.
• 26:40 The cycle of jail stays and the 'bottomless pit' feeling in his office.
• 29:10 The three-word prayer of surrender and his first AA meeting in Knoxville.
• 33:20 Reconciliation with his daughters and the 'grand style' wedding of his youngest.
• 36:10 The irony of being elected president of the Bar Association.