James Dobson, the Focus on the Family founder who turned “family values” into a household phrase and political rallying cry, died Thursday morning at age 89. The James Dobson Family Institute announced his death in an early morning email that said he had died “peacefully, following a brief illness.”
JDFI has created a memorial page featuring photos of Dobson, including three with Republican presidents: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Dobson also endorsed Donald Trump, served on President Trump’s evangelical advisory board and supported Trump’s false claims of a rigged 2020 election.
Dobson was a child psychologist at the University of Southern California School of Medicine when he found fame with his first of dozens of bestselling books, 1970’s Dare to Discipline, which prescribed spanking and other forms of discipline as a way for Christian parents to assert authority over their kids and reign in youthful rebellion across the country.
James Dobson giving a “family values” talk. (Photo: Focus on the Family)
On weekends he gave talks on family that became the film series called “Focus on the Family,” which was seen by 80 million people, mainly screened in churches. In 1977, he founded Focus, an influential mass media ministry known for its award-winning radio broadcasts, magazines and books. Since its founding, Focus has generated nearly $4 billion in revenue. In 2010, Dobson left Focus and founded the much smaller JDFI.
At its height, Focus reached an audience of millions who embraced Dobson’s teaching on “family values.” At the same time, he founded three powerful activist organizations designed to apply Dobson’s values to the entire country through legislation, a plan Dobson called the Crusade for Righteousness.
Focus founded Family Research Council in 1981. Based in Washington, D.C., it lobbies for Republican candidates and conservative policies through a network of 40,000 “patriot pastors.” FRC was a partner in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation blueprint for the second Trump administration.
By the late 1980s, Focus founded Family Policy Alliance, which is based on Focus’ Colorado Springs campus and networks with Focus-aligned policy councils in 40 states. This network helped pass legislation that bans transgender medical care and sports participation in two dozen states.
In 1994, Dobson and other conservative Christian leaders founded Alliance Defense Fund, now Alliance Defending Freedom, a powerful, $100 million-plus nonprofit that drafted the Mississippi law that led to overturning Roe v. Wade and defended Christian “cake artist” Jack Philipps, who refused to design cakes for same-sex weddings.
These organizations survive Dobson and ensure the continuing political influence of his values. But despite the apparent success of his Crusade for Righteousness, he was perpetually gloomy about America.
James Dobson with President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office. (Photo: Focus on the Family)
“The country, pardon my language, is going to hell,” Dobson said in a 2022 broadcast titled “The New Black Robed Regiment.” “We’re in worse shape now than we have ever been, at least in my lifetime.” The American republic, he said, is “collapsing.”
James Dobson was born April 21, 1936, in Shreveport, La., to James and Myrtle Dobson. His father was managing a Texaco service station when he was born. Ten months later, James Sr. heard the call of God. He served the Church of the Nazarene by preaching as an itinerant evangelist and pastor of small, rural churches.
While serving as pastor of a Nazarene church in Sulfur Springs, Texas, James Sr. preached an evangelistic sermon that inspired three-and-a-half-year-old James Jr. to walk down the aisle and give his life to Jesus. Before his death, James Sr. prophesied his son’s ministry would reach millions of people.
As James Sr. traveled and preached, his teenage son grew increasingly rebellious, causing his father to give up the road and focus more on parental discipline.
An unexceptional student, Dobson attended Pasadena College, a Nazarene school that later relocated to San Diego and was renamed Point Loma Nazarene College. There he encountered an English teacher who inspired his writing ability, a psychology teacher who guided him toward the field and a student named Shirley Deere who would be his wife for 64 years.
James and Shirley Dobson both taught in California’s public schools — she taught second grade and he taught sixth. Over time, Dobson grew disillusioned with public schools and promoted Christian schools and home schooling as godly parents’ only viable options. He then earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Southern California.
Dobson grew disillusioned with secular psychology and resigned from the American Psychological Association but insisted associates and the media call him “Dr. Dobson.” He left academia to found Focus.
James Dobson
Over time, Dobson used Focus on the Family as a platform to remake the GOP into an anti-abortion party and frequently asked his radio audience to contact elected leaders in Washington. They did so, occasionally overloading Congressional switchboards.
Focus relocated from California to Colorado Springs in 1991 and Dobson immediately dove into divisive political activism by backing Amendment 2, which would overturn existing Colorado gay rights laws. After a campaign that portrayed gay people as both privileged elites and immoral perverts, the amendment narrowly passed but was overturned by the state Supreme Court, which cited its discriminatory intent. Some Springs residents responded with bumper stickers reading “Focus on your own damn family.” Focus defended itself, claiming it did not get involved in politics.
Dobson said he never would endorse or campaign for candidates but couldn’t help himself. In 2004, he took a leave of absence from Focus to campaign for John Thune and five other GOP Senate candidates, all of whom won. Thune is now the Senate GOP leader. House speaker Mike Johnson also long has been affiliated with the Focus-aligned groups Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom.
In 2016, Dobson partnered with Liberty University to create the Liberty University James C. Dobson Center for Child Development, Marriage and Family Studies.
Dobson continued to involve himself in Colorado politics. In 2024 he endorsed controversial Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams, who campaigned with an email that called for burning gay pride flags and referred to LGBTQ people as “creeps,” “degenerates,” “godless,” “groomers,” “predators,” “radicals” and “reprobates.”
Upon news of Dobson’s death, two stark reactions emerged across social media: His admirers hailed his influence and his detractors lamented his influence.
Franklin Graham tweeted: “Dr. Dobson was a staunch defender of the family and stood for morality and biblical values as much as any person in our country’s history. For nearly five decades, he was one of the most influential Christian leaders in our country who saw the importance of faith in culture.”
Matt Comer, a Christian LGBTQ advocate in Charlotte, N.C., offered a different take: “There is no way to overstate the trauma James Dobson caused for countless LGBTQ young people and adults. While he can no longer cause this pain, do not mistake his death as some end. The rabid hatred he proclaimed lives on, and it’s our responsibility to continue to counter it.”
Related articles:
Gloomy James Dobson urges ‘patriot pastors’ to lead believers into battle
Focus on the Family’s selective critique of eugenics | Analysis by Steve Rabey
This is how unhinged Focus on the Family has become | Opinion by Mark Wingfield