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American Scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events.

Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented,

but everything is based on historical research.

It's February of 1903 at San Francisco City Hall.

Inside a packed hearing room, 34-year-old federal Dr. Rupert Blue stands before a fractious meeting of local landlords.

Dr. Blue is in charge of the Marine Hospital Service in San Francisco. He and his predecessors in the job have faced years of hostility from newspapers and politicians, but Blue

has finally secured the backing of city and state authorities for a sanitation campaign to eliminate

bubonic plague from the city once and for all. He's proposed a huge demolition scheme in

Chinatown to sweep the cramped and unhygienic streets that provide ideal conditions for the

disease to spread. But landlords in Chinatown are seeking a legal injunction to stop the plan.

So if Blue is to move forward, he must win them over.

He tries to raise his voice above the chatter.

Gentlemen, if I may please, just a moment of your time.

Thank you.

Now, I understand these measures might sound radical.

They sound crackpot is what they sound.

Blue peers through the crowd. A pink-faced landlord at the back of the hall is jabbing a finger at him. You're asking us to tear down

property we spent years building. And for what? Sir, if you don't mind waiting until the end,

...