In optics, particularly in the area of cameras, the Germans ruled. The Swiss did and do make the finest mechanical watches. There was no US wine industry. The luxury ocean liner was still largely a European phenomenon. The finest guns were made in Belgium and Italy (many still are).

The Germans led the world in precision machine tools. The best gold jewelry was made in Italy. In fact, the Italians made the largest number of refrigerators in the world into the 70’s.

The history of US industrial production seems to that of making serviceable items affordably. We made the Model T, not the Silver Ghost. We built Levittown, not castles. We made lots of steel for all those cars, that rusted through in three years.

We certainly dominated the world's industrial production, there's no doubt about that, but I'm not too sure about exceptional quality.