People (Births)

• 1936 – James Dobson, American evangelist, psychologist, and author, founded Focus on the Family.

James Dobson

James Clayton Dobson Jr. (born 21 April 1936) is 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. Although never an ordained minister, he was called “the nation’s most influential evangelical leader” by The New York Times while Slate portrayed him as a successor to evangelical leaders Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

As part of his former role in the organisation, he produced the daily radio programme Focus on the Family, which the organisation 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. Focus on the Family was also carried by about sixty US television stations daily. Dobson also founded the Family Research Council in 1981. He is no longer affiliated with Focus on the Family. Dobson founded Family Talk as a non-profit organisation in 2010 and launched a new radio broadcast, Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson, that began on 03 May 2010, on over 300 stations nationwide.