Bauer Family (Guiding Light) - Social Issues

Social Issues

Guiding Light often incorporated relevant social issues into its storyline, some of which involved the Bauers. Examples are as follows.

The long run of the show allowed it to feature, in real time, the concept of inter-generational alcoholism, the theory that alcoholism runs in families. Bill Bauer became an alcoholic during the 1950s while dealing with the stress of providing financially for his socially ambitious wife. Ed Bauer became one during the late 1960s and continued to have occasional relapses throughout the rest of the shows run. Hope Bauer began drinking while married to Alan Spaulding, who was treating her badly. Her character was soon written out of the show after this storyline, but it was mentioned in later years that she was still struggling with the affliction, and that it was the cause of her estrangement from her son, Alan-Michael.

Bert Bauer was diagnosed with uterine cancer during the early 1960s. The actress claimed to have received thousands of letters from women who were motivated to request pap-smears from their doctors as a result of the story.

One of Rick's wives, Abigail was a deaf woman. When the real life technology of cochlear implants became available, Abigail struggled with getting one over the objections of some within the deaf community who argued that the technology was a threat to the deaf culture.

Rick married an African-American woman and produced a bi-racial child, Leah. The discrimination the family would have probably experienced in real life though, was not shown.