prohibition

The phrase "single-issue campaigns, the decline of civil discourse and smear campaigns against presidential candidates" sounds like something you might hear on cable news these days, but that's how Ken Burns set the scene for his newest documentary 'Prohibition.'

Burns stopped by 'Good Day New York' (weekdays, 9AM ET on Fox) to preview the three-part documentary, which chronicles the rise and fall of the 18th Amendment.

The documentary filmmaker described American pre-prohibition drinking habits as an around-the-clock boozefest. "People had booze at breakfast ... the President of the United States John Adams would take a ladle-ful of hard cider," he said. In response, the Temperance Movement was born, which relied on the "insane idea that if you got rid of drink ... everything would be alright."

On February 6 at 9 p.m., the National Geographic Channel will air Moonshine, a one-hour documentary about the history of moonshine and how the outlawed liquor led to one of the most popular sports franchises of all time, NASCAR.

The special will feature the last interview ever conducted with racing legend and NASCAR announcer Benny Parsons, who passed away last month. Also featured in the documentary is Junior Johnson, who almost faced jail time for transporting moonshine when he was younger.

When prohibition struck in the '20s, skilled drivers were recruited to transport moonshine, a corn-based concoction introduced to the South by Scots-Irish immigrants. What was once a way to evade the law soon evolved into the sport of stock car racing, and later into the phenomenon known as NASCAR. Let that be a lesson to anyone currently breaking the law: your unlawful exploits just might be the next big thing in sports.

You can watch a preview clip of Moonshine here.