When Did Scammy Patent Medicines Become A Republican Thing?

The United States has a storied history of medical charlatanism. In the 1890s, a Pennsylvania newspaper reporter turned publisher turned patent medicine mountebank named James Monroe “Money” Munyon peddled “a Munyon Pill for Every Ill,” promising to cure rheumatism, neuralgia, “female problems,” and dyspepsia. Other quacksalvers and confidence men sold Kickapoo Indian Sagwa, Snake Oil, Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root, Hamlin’s Wizard Oil, and other excellent remedies. Many of these people ran into legal...