In this special episode of Family Talk, Dr. James Dobson steps away from his usual role as interviewer to share his own captivating stories. Discover how his connections with influential figures and dedication to family advocacy have shaped his ministry and personal life. Marvel at tales from the White House, including state dinners and engagements with presidents and royalty, as Dr. Dobson recounts these pivotal moments with honesty and heartfelt reflection.
Welcome everyone to Family Talk. It’s a ministry of the James Dobson Family Institute supported by listeners just like you. I’m Dr. James Dobson and I’m thrilled that you’ve joined us.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, welcome back to Family Talk, the broadcast division of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. I’m Roger Marsh, and today we’re continuing our special behind-the-scenes look at Dr. Dobson’s remarkable life and ministry. And I am sitting in the guest host seat to interview the man himself. Now, if you were listening to the last edition of Family Talk… You heard Dr. Dobson share some fascinating stories about his early years. You know, Dr. Dobson rarely shares these personal stories during his regular broadcasts as he’s typically focusing on his guests. But today, you’re going to hear firsthand accounts of events ranging from state dinners at the White House to private moments with world leaders. Now, if you missed part one of the broadcast, I encourage you to listen in on our website at drjamesdobson.org forward slash family talk. Let’s continue our special conversation with Dr. Dobson right here on the Family Talk broadcast. Doctor, thank you for taking this time to share these stories with us. You know, so often you’re the one doing the interviewing of someone, but now you’re giving me this incredible opportunity to ask you questions about things you’ve maybe never shared before. And nothing’s off limits at this point. Is that correct? It is correct.
SPEAKER 02 :
I have not shared them because I’m not sure anybody cares. Oh, no.
SPEAKER 01 :
Oh, we do.
SPEAKER 02 :
It has just been an interesting life.
SPEAKER 01 :
1979, Focus on the Family film series takes off. 1980, Ronald Reagan is elected president. There’s a connection there.
SPEAKER 02 :
Ronald Reagan, of course, was elected president in November of 1980. And January the 20th, 1981, he was inaugurated. And to my surprise, I received an invitation to come to the inauguration and to the inaugural ball. And they sent me 10 tickets so I could bring four couples or eight other people together. and Shirley and me. And so we were thrilled beyond belief. I believed in Ronald Reagan, and I still do. I think he was an absolutely great president. And so we were standing there on the west side of the Capitol building, where the mall extends to Abraham Lincoln. You know that mall. Well, we were about a half a block from where The president laid his hand on 2 Chronicles 14, which reads, If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. How we need a president now. Mm-hmm. who will honor that scripture. But I was standing there, and my heart was filled with pride. It was called the new beginning. Those signs were all over Washington. Now, I had come to Washington to catch a glimpse of the president, and I did at the inauguration. But our hope was to see him somewhere else during that day. And the inaugural ball was that night. And there were nine inaugural balls, and we were at the ninth one. So it was after midnight when he showed up. We were at the Smithsonian Museum, and we were waiting. And it was jammed. You could not move. in that museum. And it was thrilling. And it was cold, very cold. And we were all wearing heavy formal overcoats. And when we arrived there, we checked them. And we were there for three hours, I guess, or four before Ronald Reagan came. And about midnight, I said to one of my friends that had come with me, you know, when the president comes, everybody’s going to try to get their coats and we’re going to be stuck here forever. Let’s go get our coats now. And as we picked them up, we had them over our arms and a door swung open. And in came the Secret Service. They opened the door. He was standing there. I was three feet away from him. And as soon as that occurred, they announced that he and Nancy were coming to the platform. And the president said a few words and then he danced with Nancy. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him. I didn’t even shake his hand because he turned left instead of right. But I want to tell you the interesting thing. Okay. Three years later, I had been invited by that president to come to the Oval Office and to the Cabinet Room and sit beside him with the jelly beans between us and advise him on how to strengthen the American family. And I came in there, was with him for a couple of hours along with other people who were there. After… I had been there. They asked me to write what I said to him because there were four recommendations that I made to the president on that day. And he issued executive orders creating all four. And that was the beginning of my friendship with Ronald Reagan and with other projects that I had. I worked with him for five years. And I think the Lord had a plan somewhere in there. But I was there off and on for five years. I’ll tell you one other thing about Ronald Reagan. This is a very warm memory for me. The very last day Ronald Reagan met with his staff after his second term, he brought them all together. And it was a highly emotional thing. You can imagine. Everybody was in tears. I was there. I had been invited there to talk about the fight against pornography. And the president had been working with us on that. And so I was sitting there quietly watching that final moment between the president and his staff. And they loved that man. We all did. And then he was gone. I had a dream shortly after that that was very symbolic. I dreamt that I was invited to the White House like I had been so many times. And I went through the North Gate. And I got there. And there was nobody there. The gate was open. And the guards were all gone. And I walked in and I walked across the front lawn to the portico and the front door. And the door was standing open. And I walked in and looked around and nobody was there. And I went up the stairs to the residence area and the president had moved out. He was not there. That was the end of the dream. Wow. You understand? I was dreaming about the fact that this Cinderella experience and this wonderful president was over. It’s done. And he’s gone.
SPEAKER 01 :
And we definitely saw a culture change in the United States after Reagan.
SPEAKER 02 :
No question about it. I have also worked with Herbert Walker Bush. I sat with him alone in the Oval Office. I had a chance to work with George W. Bush in a less intimate way, but I did some work with them too. But the time with Reagan – was something I cannot describe. But I get emotional about it today.
SPEAKER 01 :
It still has an impact 30 plus years later. What a powerful memory I can see. You’re glowing right now just remembering those times. Were there others? Other powerful memories during that time for you?
SPEAKER 02 :
There were a lot of them. But one that I would share with you was a state dinner that Shirley and I were invited to. And I don’t know if you know what those are. When a dignitary is coming into town, they have a state dinner and they invite people that they want to honor. And Shirley and I were included in that. Only one, but it was quite a night. And it came to the night of the state dinner. And Shirley and I looked at each other and said, you know what? You don’t take a cab to the White House. You go in a limousine. We never even thought about that. So I picked up the phone. I called my assistant, Dee Otte, in California. And I said, you’ve got to get me a limousine. And Dee didn’t know one limousine from another. And she got one that was about a block and a half long. I’m not kidding you. This thing was unbelievable. It’s like an aircraft carrier, right? I couldn’t even see Shirley from the other side of it. And we drove up to the front portico. And one of the Secret Service men that I had become great friends with was standing there looking out the portico when our limousine drove by. And he was thinking, who in the world is that?
SPEAKER 01 :
In this boat.
SPEAKER 02 :
So we get out of this limousine and – A Marine captain wearing white gloves, dressed to the nines, comes over and surely takes his arm. And I’m dragging along behind. And we go into the White House. And you curl around and then there is a long hall. I’m sure you’ve seen it on television, which is right parallel with the Rose Garden. Yes. And so they’re bringing us all in. And the hall has a little jog in it. And the photographers were all gathered right there to take pictures of the celebrities as they came by. And so Sylvester Stallone was right in front of us. And they introduced him, Sylvester Stallone. And the lights blinked. And it was just like everybody, you know, pop, pop, pop. Everything occurred at once. And then Michael J. Fox was next. And they took pictures of him. And they came to us. And the Marine turns to us and says, and your name, please. And we said, Dr. and Mrs. James Dobson. And he said, Dr. and Mrs. James Dobson. And there was silence.
SPEAKER 01 :
There was not one flash bulb.
SPEAKER 02 :
I was not who they had in mind. And it was really very sweet. We laughed over that. There was, I think, one disposable camera down at the end where somebody took one picture. But Raquel – Welch was wearing a white dress. It was something to behold. I don’t mean to be gross here, but everybody in the White House was watching Raquel Welch. And she went on through the evening and danced with Ronald Reagan. And it was something to behold. And somebody about a month ago gave me a photograph of her and Ronald Reagan wearing that white. Did I mention it was a white dress?
SPEAKER 01 :
It was a white dress, yes. I think we’re very clear on that now, sir.
SPEAKER 02 :
It was another Cinderella costume. evening for us, and we loved it. Now, I don’t talk about it. I haven’t told that on the air, but for us, it was a highlight.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, you’re on the hot seat. We’ve turned the tables here today, Dr. Dobson, so of course the guest is going to answer some questions like that. Boy, the 80s were quite a decade in the Dobson household and with your ministry, too. I mean, at the start of the 80s with the film series and at one point having seven of the top ten best-selling books in America. What a way to kick that decade off and culminating with your work in the Reagan White House in the late 1980s. And then the new era, George Herbert Walker Bush coming in, inaugurated in 1989 and kind of ushering in the 1990s. You had a good relationship with Bush 41, as they call him.
SPEAKER 02 :
I did, and what a gracious man. I met him at the White House when he was vice president, and we had about an hour together, and that was May of 1988. That’s significant because my mother died one month later, and he wrote me. a personal note of consolation. When I had my heart attack, I was in the hospital. This was in 1990. And we didn’t reveal who I was because we didn’t want anybody coming in there. I really needed rest and I needed to recuperate. So the hospital did not know my name until George Herbert Walker Bush called to see if I was there. Wow. And then they were saying, who is this masked man here? Yeah. But let me tell you one quick story. This is a cute story. I went to the Oval Office to meet with George Bush 41. And Millie was the name of their dog.
SPEAKER 01 :
The first dog. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
In fact, Barbara Bush wrote a book about Millie. And Millie was a spaniel. And so I got there that day and Millie was in the Oval Office and she was lying over by the window. And the president came over and talked to her and she wouldn’t get up. And she just rolled her eyes up at him. And I said, what’s wrong with her? And he said, she’s pouting. I said, why is she pouting? And he said, well, the grandkids are here. And she gets very jealous when the grandkids come. So she won’t look up at you, and she’ll lie there all day long. So that was Millie. She just was very possessive of the Bush family.
SPEAKER 01 :
And it doesn’t matter if you’re the president of the United States or not. When there’s a dog that’s pouting, that dog’s going to have a good pout.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, because those grandkids shouldn’t be there. Right.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, Dr. Dobson, we could spend several weeks talking about the famous celebrities that you have met and people who’ve sought you out. And I’m sure that have surprised you in terms of saying, wow, I didn’t realize like Ronald Reagan’s invitation to his inauguration. You did have an encounter, as it were, with Prince Charles.
SPEAKER 02 :
There were aspects of that meeting that I will really need to keep confidential because I feel like that was the understanding when we were together. But the essence of it is that I was given an invitation to fly to London and to go to Prince Charles’ estate in the Cotswolds. And it was really a fascinating experience there. He is a much more gracious man than people realize he is. You think of him as obscure and British and stuffy, but he couldn’t have been warmer to us, invited Shirley and me. And we came up the night before and we spent the night in a hotel across the street from his huge estate. And the next morning we were ushered in to the estate. And I would describe the decor of that building as shabby chic. Do you know those words?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, I do.
SPEAKER 02 :
Shabby chic means deliberately chic. Old looking. Sure, sure. And I’d never seen that before. We walked down the hall toward his living room. There were bookshelves there that were overloaded and were bowed in the middle, that kind of thing. We went into the living room and he met us there. There was a newspaper on the couch, and the couch was a little frayed. There’s things like that that kind of surprise you. You’d think a prince next in line for royalty for the throne, and that’s not the feel. Of the building, although it was gigantic. We sat down and talked for about an hour. And we talked basically about global warming, which is not a favorite topic of mine.
SPEAKER 01 :
I was going to say.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think that’s why I’d been invited there. Talked about the environmental factors and so on. And he had a farm across the street from this big estate. All of their farming is done without gasoline. As much as possible, it’s done with old equipment and things like that. They’re trying to preserve the environment. He really takes that seriously. And so we talked about that subject. And then a reference to God came up. I don’t remember exactly how, but I think Shirley probably introduced it into the conversation. And that gave us an opportunity to talk about our faith. And he then said something that just amazed me. And people who’ve heard it since then can hardly believe it happened. But he said, I have a private chapel in the garden. Would you like to see it? And nobody goes into that chapel. In fact, the woman who for 20 years has taken care of the garden asked us what was in it because she’s never been in it. And he built it out of materials that are on the estate. If you look at my book, Legacy, The Greatest Gift, you will see a photograph taken of Shirley and me and Prince Charles in front of that chapel. Lovely. Because it’s there. But anyway, he said, would you like to see it? And we said, of course. So he brought us out into this garden, which is gorgeous. It’s so manicured. And into the opening of the chapel there. and took us inside. It is small. It is a place where he goes to contemplate and to pray and to think. And it has Byzantine art in it and a cross and a little bench where he kneels before the cross. And it’s obviously extremely meaningful. And he brought you in there. He brought us in there. And we were also with the Bishop of Liverpool in the Anglican Church. And he had something to do with my being there. And so we stood and talked about the things in the chapel. And then he did something that also is never done.
SPEAKER 01 :
Prince Charles did this.
SPEAKER 02 :
He did, and this was a surprise to both the bishop and me because Prince Charles turned to the bishop and asked him to pray. Commoners like us never pray with a member of the monarchy. That’s just not done. But he prayed a wonderful evangelistic prayer. It was really a beautiful prayer. And then I did something that I still can’t believe I did. This was one of a kind.
SPEAKER 01 :
I can’t wait to hear this.
SPEAKER 02 :
I said, Your Highness, may I pray for you? And he said, I would like it if you would do that. Oh, wow. And then I prayed with Prince Charles. Beautiful. And it was a precious moment. Yes. And outside… The Navy, representatives from the Navy, including two or three helicopters, were out there waiting for him. He was 45 minutes late to review the British Navy. And he stayed with us for 45 extra minutes out there. He showed us around the grounds. He showed us the wedding gift that they had been given by the Army when he and Diana married and the other things. His wife, Camilla, was having surgery, so she was not there. But we spent a good part of a half day there, and it was just a very special time.
SPEAKER 01 :
You and Prince Charles.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
Just praying in his private chapel.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, and we corresponded afterward. I’ve now lost touch with him, but I will always appreciate the fact that I had an opportunity to be there. A lot of people don’t consider him one of their favorite people because he leans sometimes in a Muslim direction. Not that he is Muslim, but doing what he can for mosques and things like that. All I saw was a very gracious man who has a meaningful faith and is dead serious about the environment more than I happen to be.
SPEAKER 01 :
But you can have a great appreciation for it. Yeah, he knows what he believes. Well, what great stories we’ve heard these past couple of programs here on the Family Talk broadcast. I’m Roger Marsh, and you just heard the conclusion of my two-part conversation with our own Dr. James Dobson. As we turned the tables on Dr. and gave me the amazing opportunity to act on your behalf as a listener to hear Dr. share these rarely told stories from his life. By the way, if you missed the first part of this conversation, both parts one and two are now available at drjamesdobson.org forward slash Family Talk. And you can also hear that audio on the Family Talk app as well. Well, the stories we’ve heard today from Dr. Dobson remind us there’s really no limit to the impact that we can make for God’s kingdom when we stand firm in our convictions. Through his decades of ministry, Dr. Dobson has consistently championed biblical truth about marriage and family. And this far-reaching impact continues today through programs like Family Talk, which is only made possible through the generous support of friends like you. Your tax-deductible donation of any amount will help us continue to reach America by with the unchanging truth about faith, family, and God’s design for marriage and children. You can make a secure donation, by the way, online at drjamesdobson.org. And when you make your donation today, we will thank you by sending you a copy of the Building a Family Legacy bundle. It includes six of Dr. Dobson’s most essential books on topics like marriage, parenting, and leaving a spiritual heritage. These trusted resources provide the practical wisdom you need. Don’t miss the opportunity to invest in your family’s future. Ask for your copy of the Building a Family Legacy bundle. It features books like Bringing Up Boys, Bringing Up Girls, Your Legacy, and more. You can give a gift online to receive yours when you go to drjamesdobson.org. You can also make your request known over the phone when you call 877-732-6825. And to request your Building a Family Legacy bundle through the U.S. Postal Service, remember our ministry mailing address is Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, Post Office Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the zip code 80949. Well, I’m Roger Marsh, and on behalf of Dr. Dobson and all of us here at the JDFI, thanks so much for listening today. I pray that you have a blessed rest of your day and invite you to join us again next time right here for another edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.
