"I was just going to teach high school in Foshan in Guangdong, and was in Hong Kong in May of ‘89," he said. "And as the events were unfolding, several of us went in. And I still remember the train station in Hong Kong." He went on: "There was a large number of, especially European, I think, very angry that we would still go after what had happened, but it was my belief at that time that the diplomacy was going to happen on many levels."

That anecdote has since been repeated, without scrutiny, by the New York Times, CBS News, and National Public Radio, among others. In reality, local news reports show that Walz was at home in Nebraska in May and June of 1989, as protests convulsed China and the government’s response turned the world’s attention to its gross human rights violations. He wouldn’t depart for China until August.