Was there ever a time in American history when humanities PhDs were more sought after than STEM PhDs?
While there may have been a time when the number of humanities doctorates outnumbered those in STEM, it was before 1957, at least in the US, according to this article



The number of non STEM doctorates has been pretty constant while the number of STEM doctorate has grown since the 60s. Given the difference in growth rate, it is possible, even likely, that at some time before 1957 there were fewer STEM doctorates.