We did not have large freight charges to pass on to the customer. National Adhesives, the biggest company in the industry, was very focused on making money. They maintained their prices at a high level, even when their share of the market dropped, in order to make more money. That was a blessing for little companies like Fuller." In 1968, Fuller became a publicly traded company. By 1970, it had become an adhesives industry leader, with 27 plants and offices in the U.S. and ten in foreign countries. The goal Andersen had set decades before of doubling its sales volume every five years was still being met. In 1970, Fuller reached about $48 million in sales. Andersen retired as president and chief executive officer in 1974, at age 65, turning the company over to his eldest son, Tony. Dairy farm In 1953, 12 years after becoming president of the H. B. Fuller Company, Andersen entered the dairy business, buying a farm held by his wife's family on Deer Lake, near St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. It was the start of 35 years in the dairy business, with about 200 head of cattle. The herd was slowly converted to registered Holsteins. In 1984, Deer Lake Farm received the National Holstein Association's Progressive Breeder Award. Additional land was acquired in the 1950s, and environmental restoration projects were undertaken on the expanded farm. After Andersen moved out of the dairy business in 1988, 80 acres of land surrounding one of the ponds were placed in a land preserve to honor the memories of his wife's parents. ECM Publishers In 1974, Andersen began a new career as a newspaper publisher and writer. He acquired two newspapers to form the Princeton Union-Eagle, which eventually became part of ECM Publishers, which published a number of weekly local newspapers and shoppers. Andersen wrote editorials for the ECM papers, many of which are gathered in Views from the Publisher's Desk (1997). His newspaper work gave him "more personal satisfaction than almost anything else I have done". His editorial goal was to make his readers think without telling them what to think. The Andersen family sold ECM to Adams Publishing Group in 2016. Politics A progressive Republican, Andersen served in the Minnesota legislature from 1949 to 1958. Among the many causes he championed were educational programs for exceptional children, recognition of alcoholism as a health problem, the Metropolitan Planning Commission