Dr. Bob’s Nightmare, the Co-Founder’s Own Story from the Big Book – Dr. B.

About This Speaker Tape

A reading of Dr. Bob's Nightmare from the second edition of the Big Book (page 171), the personal story of Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Dr. Bob recounts how Bill W. arrived in Akron in 1935 on a failed business trip, tempted to drink in the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel, and through a chain of phone calls reached Henrietta, who connected him with Anne and eventually Dr. Bob himself.

Bob had promised Anne only fifteen minutes with this stranger, but they talked from 5 PM until 11:15 PM — because Bill had something real. Dr. Bob had been associated with the Oxford Group for two and a half years, doing everything they recommended: reading scripture, attending meetings, praying, affiliating with a church.

But he got drunk virtually every night. The one thing they never told him was the element Bill brought — the instruction to be helpful to someone else. Service was the missing piece.

After one more slip at a medical convention in Atlantic City, Bill gave him a hooker of scotch and a beer, and June 10, 1935 became Dr. Bob's last drink. He describes the early days of AA: daily meetings in living rooms, the Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, everyone painfully broke.

He shares his ongoing struggle with the thought that he could probably knock off a couple of drinks after fifteen years — and how service to the boys in the hospital ward at St. Thomas is what keeps that thought at bay. He closes with the four absolutes — honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love — and insists that happiness and peace of mind are available to anyone who practices the spiritual laws.

Topics

Timestamps

• 00:00 Bill W. arrives in Akron — tempted to drink at the Mayflower Hotel
• 05:00 Chain of phone calls leads to Henrietta and then to Dr. Bob
• 08:00 Fifteen minutes becomes six hours — Bill had something real
• 12:00 Immediate sobriety then one more slip at Atlantic City
• 15:00 June 10, 1935 — the last drink
• 18:00 Two and a half years in the Oxford Group — everything except service
• 22:00 The missing piece — being helpful to others
• 26:00 Early AA — daily meetings, everyone broke, groping in the dark
• 30:00 Sauerkraut and cold tomatoes — early experiments in treatment
• 34:00 The 12 steps crystallized from kitchen table discussions
• 38:00 Thirteen and a half years sober — still thinks scotch would taste good
• 42:00 Service to the hospital ward keeps the dangerous thinking at bay
• 46:00 The four absolutes — honesty, purity, unselfishness, love
• 50:00 Happiness and peace of mind — what we are all after
• 54:00 Final Cleveland address — keep it simple, love and service