Presenting what is perhaps the best political press release ever

Ah, 1994. What a year that was.

Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.

The world economy was booming.

Friends had just started.

And in the US, three-term senator for Alabama Howell Heflin horrified reporters by pulling out a pair of white knickers from his pocket in the Capitol cafeteria and blowing his nose:

Veteran Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty tweeted a photo of a fax she'd found while clearing out her office on Monday.

The statement, sent by Heflin's office 21 years ago, read as follows:

I mistakenly picked up a pair of my wife's white panties and put them in my pocket while I was rushing out the door to go to work.

Rather than take a chance on being embarrassed again, I'm going to start buying coloured handkerchiefs.

C-Span reporter Howard Mortman replied to Tumulty with a screenshot of Heflin speaking on the Senate floor the day after the press release, white pocket square clearly visible:

While we commend Heflin's efforts in getting ahead of the story, we're pretty sure those pants would have launched a thousand memes in 2015.

What a slightly different time to be alive.

More: American politicians are using the ¯\(ツ)/¯ sign when words just won't do

More: Meanwhile, in America, this politician sacrificed a goat and drank its blood