Robert Holbrook Smith
Robert Holbrook Smith (also known as "Dr. Bob" ; * August 8, 1879 in St. Johnsbury , Vermont , USA ; † November 16, 1950 ) was an American doctor and with William Griffith Wilson founder of the Alcoholics Anonymous movement .
Smith was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, USA. After his medical studies and his doctorate (1910) he worked in Akron ( Ohio ) as a general practitioner. From the encounter with the alcoholic stockbroker William Griffith Wilson , also from Vermont - like Smith at the time a supporter of the Oxford Group - a friendship developed that led to a permanent abstinence between both of them until their death. June 10, 1935, when Smith drank his last glass of alcohol, is considered by Alcoholics Anonymous to be the birth of the movement.
Smith and Wilson met regularly with other alcoholics who also tried to abstain using a series of simple religious ideas. Together with some of these alcoholics, who were also abstinent, Wilson and Smith wrote the 1939 book entitled Alcoholics Anonymous (also known as the Big Book or Blue Book ), which gave the movement its name. The book explains the Twelve Steps as the core of the AA ideology, including the anonymous autobiographies of Smith and Wilson.
It was only after an article appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1941 about the regular meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous that the movement became very popular. New groups formed all over the United States. It is estimated that to date the movement has grown to over 100,000 groups with more than 2 million members in 150 countries worldwide. The stated primary purpose of the AA groups is to maintain abstinence and to help alcoholics who are still suffering to live contentedly without alcohol.
As the movement grew, Smith, despite his great popularity, refused to assume greater authority and insisted that the movement should be guided not by individuals but by spiritual principles . This principle of anonymity became the basis of the so-called Twelve Traditions .
In 1989, Smith's life with James Garner was described as “Dr. Bob "and James Woods as " Bill W " in the lead role.
See also
literature
- The Blue Book, USA 1939
- Alcoholics Anonymous German Language (Ed.): Dr. Bob and the good oldtimers. A biography with memories of the first AA in Midwest Munich in 1992
- Alcoholics Anonymous German Language (Ed.): AA becomes of age. A brief outline of the history of AA , Munich 1990
- Alcoholics Anonymous World Services (Ed.): Pass It On. The story of Bill Wilson and how the AA message reached the world , AAWS, New York 1984, ISBN 0-916856-12-7
Web links
- Literature by and about Robert Holbrook Smith in the catalog of the German National Library
- Smith's last address, July 30, 1950, Cleveland, Ohio
- Official homepage of Alcoholics Anonymous in German-speaking countries
- Unofficial website on the history of AA, English
- Detailed list of the first members of AA, English
- The Orange Papers , a critical review of the history of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Oxford Group movement
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smith, Robert Holbrook |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dr. Bob (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American doctor and a co-founder of the Alcoholics Anonymous self-help movement |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 8, 1879 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Johnsbury , Vermont , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 16, 1950 |