States of Confusion

After two seasons, we have a lot to reflect on! We wanted you to hear the voices of the team, who have been working mostly behind the scenes for the past two seasons, and hear about their experiences working on Consolation Prize. Here, we have the honor to transmit to you our final report on our show about consuls. Show notes available at consolationprize.rrchnm.org.

In our final episode of Consolation Prize, we return to 1844 Hawai'i, where we look at another case involving vice consul William Hooper. In his efforts to gain power for the United States, Hooper may have made the lives of actual Americans more difficult. Hear how Hooper got involved in a legal case about a sexual assault, to the detriment of the accused, but to the ultimate benefit of the United States. This episode was produced by Abby Mullen and Kris Stinson. Show notes available at consolationprize.rrchnm.org.

In this episode of Consolation Prize, we meet two Americans in 1860s Thailand. Reverend Dan Beach Bradley was a Christian missionary and a newspaper publisher, and Captain James Madison Hood was the US consul to the Kingdom of Siam. These two men could not be more different from one another, but they both craved power in their own ways. In their quest for political power and moral superiority, they got involved in an international diplomatic kerfuffle of epic proportions in the Kingdom of Siam. This episode was produced by Abby Mullen, Deepthi Murali, and Kris Stinson. Shownotes available at consolationprize.rrchnm.org.

In this mini episode of Consolation Prize, we complete our tour of the world by going to the last continent where the United States had consuls: Australia. Alexander George Webster was a consul in Hobart, a port city on the island of Tasmania, but he also served on the Tasmanian Fisheries Commission, a group that was very concerned with making sure that Tasmanian rivers were stocked full of fish. In this episode, we see how Webster used his position as consul to move salmon halfway around the world, from the rivers of California to the rivers of Tasmania. This episode was produced by Abby Mullen and Kris Stinson. Show notes available at consolationprize.rrchnm.org.

In this episode of Consolation Prize, we investigate the role of consuls in dealing with wartime disasters and the toll they took on them. Consul Wesley Frost was stationed in Queenstown, Ireland during the early years of World War I. As part of his responsibilities, Frost assisted survivors from more than 80 German submarine attacks including the SS Lusitania, which at the time resulted in the greatest loss of civilian lives. Frost’s response to these attacks helped establish the processes the United States Department of State still uses today in crises involving civilians. Consolation Prize is hosted by Abby Mullen. This episode was produced by Jeanette Patrick. Show notes, including full transcript, available at consolationprize.rrchnm.org.

Irena Wiley was a diplomat's wife. But she was also an artist who used her art to reflect the humanity of the many people she encountered all around the world. Bill Adair is an artist who purchased Wiley's pieces at a junk auction nearly 35 years after she died. This special episode of Consolation Prize is their story--how Wiley's work brought the humanity of devastated people to the fore, and how Bill's work has brought Wiley's work to the fore. Consolation Prize is a podcast of R2 Studios at George Mason University. This episode was produced by Abby Mullen and Frankie Bjork. Show notes are available at consolationprize.rrchnm.org; for more about Irena Wiley's work and life, visit irenawiley.com.

We explore the long and complicated relationship between the United States and the Papal States, the political-religious home of the Roman Catholic Church. The Papal States were ruled by the Pope from his seat in the Vatican until the city fell in 1870 and became the capital of a new nation called "Italy." In this episode, we follow the careers of consuls William Stillman and Edwin Cushman who served in the 1860s. Stillman and Cushman had the hard task of representing the United States during an era of intense conflict for both their home nation and the location of their consulate. For as the war in Italy between the Pope and the Italians escalated, so did the fight across the Atlantic ocean that became the American Civil War. As we focus in on Stillman and Cushman's experiences, we see how supposedly internal conflicts involve people and governments around the world.

In this episode of Consolation Prize, we are exploring a consul’s involvement in a coup and a revolution. When the United States decided to construct a canal in Panama, the president of Nicaragua José Zelaya became upset. He believed the canal would be in his nation. Once it was clear it would not be, Zelaya began to turn his country away from the US. In response, the United States engineered a rebellion against Zelaya, and a president more favorable to American aims was installed. Not all Nicaraguans were happy with the new US-backed government and some rebelled. President Adolfo Díaz called on the United States to protect his government. Consul James Weldon Johnson, better known today for his work with the NAACP and as a songwriter, delayed this counter-rebellion long enough for more than 2,000 US Marines to land. But afterwards, Johnson began to reconsider his role in American nation-building in Latin America. This episode was produced by Jeanette Patrick and Abby Mullen. Show notes, including full transcript, available at consolationprize.rrchnm.org. Become a member of R2 Studios and support audio like this. Learn more at r2studios.org.

In this special bonus episode, we talk with a scholar who studies the history of the US consular service. We answer your questions like, What is a consul? What do they do? What makes them so interesting? Why should we care about consuls?  

In this bonus holiday episode, a re-release from 2020, we explore the consular life of Joel Roberts Poinsett, everyone’s favorite holiday historical figure. Before he went to Mexico, where he “discovered” the flower that now bears his name, Poinsett went all over the world, including to South American as a consul. While he was there, he got involved in quite a lot of activities that didn’t really fit the consular program.