| On the eve of World War II, agriculture and low-wage, low-skill industries dominated South Carolina's economy. In politics, legislators from the state's rural Lowcountry counties held a share of state government well out of proportion to their numbers. However, changes in the national economy during the Great Depression and rapid economic growth due to World War II spending brought a measure of prosperity to the South and the Palmetto State. During the war, state leaders created a commission to study South Carolina's governmental structure and to prepare a plan for postwar economic development. Following its recommendations, the General Assembly created a state agency to administer industrial recruitment in 1945. Gradually, over the next decade, the Development Board became more sophisticated and the state's governors became more energetic in their efforts to promote industrial development. Legislators supported efforts to improve the state's infrastructure by creating a state-owned electric power utility and a state-run ports authority. Private individuals, including the electric companies, business leaders, bankers, and journalists worked with government officials to promote the state's industrial resources and recruit industries. The types of industries that came to South Carolina, however, largely represented the state's historic reliance on law-wage, non-union labor and exploitation of its natural resources. The Development Board's recruitment efforts reflected this traditional orientation. Many new industries, such as woolen manufacturers, chemical companies, and paper producers represented slight advances over older industries, although agriculture and cotton textiles remained important to the state's economy. Though the state continued to lag behind the national average in most economic measures, changes in the outlook of the state's political and business leaders, along with a willingness to spend state funds on infrastructure and technical education, had brought new economic opportunities to South Carolina by the early 1960s. |
