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The idea developed that the intelligentsia -- the experts, technicians, specialists, and theorists -- could produce a better world, a very flattering idea to intellectuals. A lot of this goes back to the Enlightenment. The example of how technology transformed the world in the 19th century gave added momentum to the idea. The Progressives of the late 19th and early 20th century brought this idea into US politics, and Wilson and FDR put it in the mainstream.

With the expansion of the universities after WWII a class emerged that was wholly defined as "intellectuals" or "academics" in opposition to the older, established middle class or the commercial/managerial class. Postwar academics cut many of their ties with their commercial or professional peers or relatives to become a class of their own. Since then, the increased influence of the media and educational institutions have simply accelerated developments. And the liberal or progressive attitudes of the professoriat have spread through the college-educated professions.

If you get enough people who are really devoted to something and confident in their pursuit of some common goal, they'll eventually come to regard what they want as essential and try to reorganize society to achieve their purpose. And once you get enough people in such a group, the original aim may well fade or fall away, leaving only a faction committed to expanding its own position and influence over the wider public.