Mr. Converse was replaced by John Possehl, whose father had served as President of the International. Late in the decade, Mr. Possehl began publishing the Buckeye Engineer to keep members up to date on the rapidly changing industry.
An earlier publication, The Operating Engineers Ohio Bulletin, had appeared for several years in the 1950s.)
Among the changes announced in early issues of the publication were plans for a new training site near the Akron-Canton airport and organization of Local 18's first steward classes.
For a variety of reasons, Ohioans voted Republican in 1960 presidential election, and Richard Nixon received a larger plurality in the state than anywhere else in the country. As a result, even though he lost to John Kennedy, his coattails carried Republicans to victory in both houses of the state legislature. Two years later they also captured the Governor's chair.
Although the Governor may have been willing to help the state meet it's growing pains, the Ohio Constitution of 1851 still was in force, requiring the state's bonded indebtedness not to exceed $750,000. Constitutional amendments were needed to seek large bond issues to meet essential needs.
In 1964, a maximum of $500 million was voted for state highway construction ( Ohioans ahd voted a similar amount in 1953), creating work for many Operating Engineers. Additional work was created with the construction necessary on the state's increasing number if universities, which doubled from six to twelve between 1949 and 1970.
By 1965, construction of a freeway, I-71, to connect Cleveland in northeast with Cincinnati in the southwest was pretty well completed, and Local 18 Operating Engineers had another good job under their belts.
