Where did the idea of "prime directive" come from, Star Trek writers alone? or did they copy the thought?

Question

I watched it as a teenager. The obvious would be the Vietnam War but in reality was there as smaller more personal issue going on for the writers? Or was there some person "off site" but in the news that was proporting this stance? It is the only really original part of Star Trek. The other parts of most of the story lines could have and probably were copied from old westerns popular just prior to this time. (it is well known that some of the writers and producers even, worked on both types of projects) Please tell if yours is just an opinion or your are quoting a source (even if it is vague like - "I read somewhere" I would like to track down how this idea came to be. Who should get credit for it?

My, MY ! What interesting Answers. Initially I was thinking more someone like Hippocrates. (and I wish I had a direct quote or theory from him, not just documents on him as a topic).
But the addition of more books on the subject (in direct line with the space type interest) seems intriqueing. Perhaps research on these will provide more detail links into the past and better documentation as to where that author came up with the idea/.

Remember everybody although you can not answer the same question twice you may "edit" your own post and add details or thoughts

Answer 1

I went on line and found this:

It appears that the non-interference concept originated with Vulcans and predated the formation of the Federation in 2161 but did not exist on pre-Federation Earth. In the Enterprise episode "Civilization," Tucker notes that the prohibition is a Vulcan policy, not human. The Prime Directive was not actually written into law until some years after the formation of the Federation — in the original series episode "A Piece of the Action", an early Federation ship[1], the Horizon, visits a primitive planet and leaves behind several items which alter the planet's culture significantly (most notably the book Chicago Mobs Of The Twenties, which the inhabitants quickly seized upon as a blueprint for their entire society).

In real life, the creation of the Prime Directive is generally credited to Gene L. Coon, although there is some contention as to whether science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, who wrote of the Prime Directive in an unused script for the original series, actually came up with it first. (In fact, the Prime Directive appears fully-formed as much as two decades earlier in Robert A. Heinlein's 1948 novel Space Cadet, which describes a military organization very similar to Star Trek's Starfleet). The Prime Directive closely mirrors the zoo hypothesis explanation for the Fermi paradox.

Answer 2

Eeek, I just found this interesting explanation on www.memory-alpha.org (the star trek wiki)... its a bit long and drawn out, but there are plenty of references to episodes where the prime directive is either quoted or broken.

Answer 3

I know it was from the Original series, because they only brought it up when they were about to break it. (Just watch the series.) I really believe it was Gene Roddenberry's idea.