13 Times Star Trek Broke Its Own Prime Directive
3. A Piece Of The Action - Original Star Trek
By far the absolute dumbest breach of the prime directive was ironically not technically caused by any named captain.
The Enterprise lands on a planet whose culture has completely modeled itself after early 20th Century Chicago and its organized crime. Yes, the entire planet has done this apparently. All because one truly staggeringly stupid starfleet officer accidentally left behind a book about the era, and the entire planet took it as advice on how a society should be run.
For once, Kirk's need to stick his manifest destiny-ass nose into other culture's business is 100% justified, because something this astoundingly idiotic cannot be allowed to continue.
Now granted, it's a lot harder to undo this damage than it was to set it into motion, for obvious reasons, since the mob bosses that now control the planet would very much like things to stay the way they are. But through his trademark fisticuffs, and some good old fashioned Starfleet deprogramming, Kirk is able to get this planet on track to become something a bit less....dumb.