Assault rifles were designed from the outset with a full-auto option, it wasn't something that was added later and the earliest designs date from 1913 with the most well know early example being the German StG44 from the 1940s while the German FG42 was a close parallel but suffered from being chambered for a full-power round.
In the case of the Federov Avtomat of 1913 and the StG44, both rifles included a full-auto selector due to the thinking of the designers, not because it was asked for by the military brass.
The philosophy behind the assault rifle being that it was meant to replace the standard rifle as well as the sub-machinegun with either single or auto fire being used depending on the role it was taking over (i.e. the rifle role or the SMG role). It owes its existence to the belief that it would replace both the rifle and the SMG (which it obviously has in most cases)
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