Winston Churchill secured a medical prescription for limitless alcohol from a sympathetic American doctor during a visit to the United States during the peak of Prohibition in 1932.

A closer look

Winston Churchill secured a medical prescription for limitless alcohol from a sympathetic American doctor during a visit to the United States during the peak of Prohibition in 1932. The British statesman had recently been struck by a car in New York City and successfully argued that his delicate physical recovery absolutely required the consumption of massive quantities of high-proof spirits. Dr. Otto Pickhardt obligingly wrote an official medical note stating that his famous patient required at least two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters of alcohol naturally, mostly at mealtimes. This brilliantly corrupt piece of paperwork allowed Churchill to bypass federal law and stay permanently buzzed throughout his diplomatic tour. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that strict moral legislation has historically never applied to wealthy politicians as long as they can find a compliant physician willing to write a highly creative sick note