James Dobson

James Clayton Dobson Jr. (April 21, 1936 – August 21, 2025) was an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist and founder of Focus on the Family (FotF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s, he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesmen for conservative social positions in American public life. As part of his former role in the organization he produced the daily radio program Focus on the Family, which the organization has said was broadcast in more than a dozen languages and on over 7,000 stations worldwide, and reportedly heard daily by more than 220 million people in 164 countries. After Dobson's rise to prominence through promoting corporal punishment of disobedient children in the 1970s, he became a founder of purity culture in the 1990s. He promoted his ideas via his various Focus on the Family affiliated organizations and more.