Last modified on October 29, 2021, at 11:17

Governors of Tennessee

A list of governors from the state of Tennessee.[1]

Notes

  1. http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.8fd3d12ab65b304f8a278110501010a0?submit=Submit&State=TN
  2. Caruthers was never inaugurated, as Andrew Johnson was appointed military governor by President Lincoln.
  3. Peay signed the bill prohibiting he teaching of evolution in school, leading to the Scopes trial

Further reading

  • Crawford, Charles W., ed. Governors of Tennessee. Vol. 1, 1790-1835. Memphis, Tenn.: Memphis State U. Press, 1979. 213 pp.
  • Wills, Ridley, II. Tennessee Governors at Home. Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Pr., 1999. 176 pp.


Name Party Years
John Sevier Democratic Republican 1796-1801, 1803-1809
Archibald Roane Democratic Republican 1801-1803
Willie Blount Democratic Republican 1809-1815
Joseph McMinn Democratic Republican 1815-1821
William Carroll Democratic Republican/Democrat 1821-1827, 1829-1835
Sam Houston Democratic Republican 1827-1829
William Hall Democrat 1829
Newton Cannon Whig 1835-1839
James Knox Polk Democrat 1839-1841
James Chamberlain Jones Whig 1841-1845
Aaron Venable Brown Democrat 1845-1847
Neill Smith Brown Whig/Know-Nothing 1847-1849
William Trousdale Democrat 1849-1851
William Bowen Campbell Whig 1851-1853
Andrew Johnson Democrat 1853-1857, 1862-1865
Isham Green Harris Democrat 1857-1862
Robert Looney Caruthers[2] Democrat 1863
Edward Hazzard East Democrat/Opposition Party 1865
William Gannaway Brownlow Whig/Know-Nothing 1865-1869
DeWitt Clinton Sender Republican/Whig 1869-1871
John Calvin Brown Democrat/Whig 1871-1875
James Davis Porter Democrat 1875-1879
Albert Smith Marks Democrat 1879-1881
Alvin Hawkins Republican/Whig 1881-1883
William Brimage Bate Democrat 1883-1887
Robert Love Taylor Democrat 1887-1891, 1897-1899
John Price Buchanon Farm/Labor 1891-1893
Peter Turney Democrat 1893-1897
Benton McMillin Democrat 1899-1903
James Beriah Frazier Democrat 1903-1905
John Isaac Cox Democrat 1905-1907
Malcolm Rice Patterson Democrat 1907-1911
Ben Walter Hooper Democrat 1911-1915
Thomas Clarke Rye Democrat 1915-1919
Albert Houston Roberts Democrat 1919-1921
Alfred Alexander Taylor Republican 1921-1923
Austin Peay III[3] Democrat 1923-1927
Henry Hollis Horton Democrat 1927-1933
Harry Hill McAlister Democrat 1933-1937
Gordon Browning Democrat 1937-1939, 1949-1953
William Prentice Cooper Democrat 1939-1945
Jim Nance McCord Democrat 1945-1949
Frank Goad Clement Democrat 1953-1959, 1963-1967
Earl Buford Ellington Democrat 1959-1963, 1967-1971
Bryant Winfield Culberson Dunn Republican 1971-1975
Ray Blanton Democrat 1975-1979
Lamar Alexander Republican 1979-1987
Ned Ray McWherter Democrat 1987-1995
Don Sundquist Republican 1995-2003
Phil Bredesen Democrat 2003-2011
Bill Haslam Republican 2011–2019
William Byron "Bill" Lee Republican 2019-present