that time was after a war when most of the world had been bombed into ashes. It took 6 to 10 years to see german industry return and it was the mid 50s when Demming went to Japan. Too many people alive in the 60s thought we where great because we shipped overseas not because the world was buying our heavy industrial products to try and rebuild.
I had another period in mind, in particular the time when the Constitution was being written and Hamilton and Jay were writing their biweekly columns, about 1787.