 However, Democrats have received some support in coal mining areas (dating from the Great Depression).Also, in the years since World War II, the government-founded city of Oak Ridge, with its active labor unions and a population largely derived from outside the region, has been a source of potential Democratic votes.This balance showed signs of changing beginning in the late 1950s, when rural and working-class whites began splitting their tickets in national elections to support Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Governors Winfield Dunn and Lamar Alexander, Ronald Reagan, and two Chattanoogans, U.S. Representative LaMar Baker and Senator Bill Brock.