Jim Nance McCord (March 17, 1879 – September 2, 1968) was an American journalist and politician who served as the 40th governor of Tennessee from 1945 to 1949, and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1943 to 1945.

Prior to state and national service, McCord served as Mayor of Lewisburg, Tennessee, from 1916 to 1942, and was publisher and editor of the Marshall Gazette.

[1] As governor, McCord greatly increased funding for education, instituted a state sales tax, and enacted right-to-work legislation.

[4][5] In 1910, he began a long newspaper career as editor and publisher of the Gazette after purchasing a stake in the paper from his father-in-law.

[1] McCord had a lifelong interest in livestock breeding, focusing mainly on Jersey cattle and Tennessee Walking Horses.

[1] In 1944, McCord sought his party's nomination for governor in the race to succeed the incumbent, Prentice Cooper, who was term-limited.

[6] With the support of powerful Memphis political boss, E. H. Crump, McCord won the primary by a lopsided margin over Nashville attorney Rex Manning and Knoxville law professor John R. Neal, and defeated the Republican candidate, Greeneville attorney John Wesley Kilgo, in the general election, 275,746 votes to 158,742.

[6] During his first term, McCord obtained significant appropriations for education, including $4 million for monthly raises for teachers and principals, and funding to provide tuition assistance for returning World War II veterans.

[9] In 1958, at the age of 79, McCord ran for governor as an independent against the Democratic nominee, Buford Ellington, his former campaign manager and fellow Clement cabinet official.

At the time of his death, he was the third oldest governor in Tennessee history, behind John I. Cox and Tom Rye, both of whom lived to age 90.

His father, Thomas, fought for the Confederacy under General Nathan B. Forrest during the Civil War, and suffered a wound that required the amputation of part of his leg.