What were the real ingredients that made United States Steel a success?

I think the most important things that contributed to the success of US is its investment on human capital, its commitment to democracy, individual freedom and concentration on material prosperity. The cold war with USSR also made it to be ever vigilant and compete with the communist world.

The Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Brown, Stanford... the list goes on. These are the institutions where the finest minds are trained to steer the country in the right direction.

Democracy in its true spirit is practiced in US. In democratic society people enjoy individual freedom and this freedom brings out the infinite creative potential among the people.

In their endeavor to attain material prosperity they promoted R&D in a big way and as a result they triggered technology explosion which changed the life style of the people in a drastic way.

Its cold war with USSR (competition) also to some extent, contributed to its success. When Yuri Gagarin was sent to space US took it as a challenge and had put Neil Armstrong on the Moon.