James Edward Ruffin (July 24, 1893 – April 9, 1977) was a U.S. Representative from Missouri.
Born on a farm near Covington, Tennessee, Ruffin moved to Aurora, Missouri with his parents.
He taught school at Nickerson (Kansas) College in 1917, before being commissioned a first lieutenant on November 27, 1917.
He served in the Fifty-third Regiment, Pioneer Infantry, overseas with the First and Thirty-fifth Divisions, and was discharged on June 3, 1919.
Ruffin was appointed special assistant to the United States Attorney General on May 9, 1935.