Some etymologists trace the phrase 'The Third Degree' back to Freemasonry, but by the early 20th century, the term had become firmly associated with something entirely different: harsh police interrogation, or more accurately, torture.

Discover the story of the polygraph, the controversial device that transformed modern police work, seized headlines and was extolled as an infallible crime-fighting tool. A tale of good intentions, twisted morals and unintended consequences.

Discover the story of the polygraph, the controversial device that transformed modern police work, seized headlines and was extolled as an infallible crime-fighting tool. A tale of good intentions, twisted morals and unintended consequences.

Watch a preview of Part Two of Taken Hostage.

On April 24, 1980, after 172 days of captivity, a U.S. Armed Forces operation attempted to rescue the hostages. Colonel James Q. Roberts recalls the details of the failed Iran Hostage rescue mission.

Who's who of the Iran Hostage Crisis.

Watch a preview of Part One of Taken Hostage.

The secret plan by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) to overthrow the then-democratically-elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.

Revisit the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, through stories of those whose ordeal riveted the world.

Watch the opening sequence of film, Taken Hostage from American Experience.

President Jimmy Carter confronted one of the most significant challenges of his presidency during the Iran hostage crisis.

Mohammad Reza Pahlav, the last Shah of Iran consolidated power after a CIA-backed coup in 1953 overthrew Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.

Barry Rosen was the press attaché at the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis. He first visited Iran in 1967 on a two-year Peace Corps mission and fell in love with the country and pursued graduate studies in Iranian language and culture.

Hilary Brown was the first female foreign correspondent at ABC News. Her coverage included first-hand reports on the fall of Saigon, the Rwandan genocide, and the Iranian Revolution.

From Jimmy Carter's "Crisis of Confidence" speech to the Hostage Crisis, here's a look at each year from 1970 to 1979.

As rumor spread of bubonic plague in San Francisco, newspapers couldn't agree if it was a nationwide threat or a plot to destroy the economy. Sound familiar?

Watch a preview of Plague at the Golden Gate.

Ng Poon Chew was a writer, a publisher and an advocate for Chinese American civil rights. He established the first Chinese language daily newspaper in America, the Chung Sai Yat Po. This newspaper was a vital resource for the Chinese community during the plague outbreak in San Francisco.

On May 28, 1900, San Francisco policemen formed a perimeter around Chinatown, and set about building an eight-foot high wall around the district using cement blocks and barbed wire. Officials diagnosed bubonic plague in the neighborhood and wanted to quarantine the nearly 20,000 residents. As tensions flared, an influential group of merchants known as the Chinese Six Companies sprang into action.

In 1900, the first case of bubonic plague to ever be confirmed in North America was diagnosed in San Francisco. Scientists did not understand how the disease was transmitted but had long theorized that rats played a role.