American scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events.

Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research.

Music It's 7.10 a.m. on September 15th, 2008 in New York City.

Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, sits on his bed in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and rubs his face.

He's only slept a few hours.

All night long, his mind has been replaying the weekend that's just gone by.

The British Bank Barclays was ready to save Lehman Brothers.

The most powerful CEOs of Wall Street came up with billions of dollars to support the deal,

but then it all fell apart.

Alson was left with the choice of either funding another Wall Street bailout with government money or letting Lehman fail. He made his choice, and in the early hours of this morning,

Lehman Brothers went bust. Now, Paulson has to deal with the fallout. But as he starts to get

ready, his cell phone rings, it's the White House

switchboard. A few moments later, Paulson is connected directly to President George W. Bush.

Morning, Hank. How are you doing? Good morning, Mr. President. It's been a long weekend, but Lehman's

bankruptcy is now official. They filed at 1.45 this morning.

Yeah, I heard. How do you think the markets will react? Well, there's no precedent for a bankruptcy

of this size, sir. But this isn't like Bear Stearns, at least. That came out of nowhere for a lot of

people. They should be more prepared this time. The Asian and European markets are open,

and they're only down slightly, so I'm

cautiously optimistic, but I really wish it hadn't come to this, though. We had a deal ready

to go. We just didn't anticipate that the British would disrupt it so late in the negotiations.

I'm sure you tried everything you could. Downing Street could have forced it over the line.

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