James Clayton Dobson is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family (FOTF), which he led until 2003. 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.