An excellent quality recording, Bob H. was sober 26 years since 1942 at the time of this talk and was manager of the General Service Office in New York since 1/1/1968.
In this talk, Bob compares General Service to an iceburg with GSO just the tip. He oulines the services offered at the time.
Correspondence is the bedrock of Service. GSO does NOT run AA. It is an information exchange and profitable publishing service. All the publications at the time were available in Spanish.
He mentions a new book "The AA Way of Life" that was published under that title for only a year. Since Bill W. appears to use it to suggest changes to the wording of the first 164 pages of the Big Book (compare ABSI p.210 with Big Book p.63's 3rd Step Prayer), the title was changed the next year to "As Bill Sees It." and sub-titled "The AA Way of Life".
The GSO does not establish policy or perform any acts of government. They are also responsible for the International Convention planning and execution.
GSO corresponded in 1968 with 90 delegate areas (vs 93 in 2016) and "90 odd" countries (vs 180 in 2016) .
He reads a very interesting 1943 surevy request from the Alcoholic Foundation to the groups that reveals the trustee's concerns about how to best serve the fellowship.
He addresses the assembly of GSRs, DCMs and Area 16 leaders during the business part of the Georgia State Convention in October 1968.
Later, I believe in 1969, the Convention in October and Assembly in September became separate events. Today the Area 16 Assembly occurs three times per year - the third full weekend in January, May and September.
(41 min) (9.4 MB) (id#1053)