Maybe it was my affinity for the underdog that drew me initially to George McGovern.

But I did admire his conviction and his dedication to fundamentally progressive political principles. He believed government had a role to play in helping people in need. He was fundamentally honest, decent and caring. He also was a heroic figure.

Sen. McGovern – who died Sunday at the age of 90 – ran for president in 1972 and was buried in an electoral landslide by President Nixon. Newly discharged from the Army (two years earlier, actually), I signed on as a volunteer for his campaign in Multnomah County, Ore. I had re-enrolled in college after returning from the service. My task there was to register new voters at the school I attended. My hope was that we could lure prospective Democrats to the polls that November. The Republicans had a similar operation there and they were out in force, as we were.

I do not know how much we accomplished by ourselves in helping Sen. McGovern’s effort in Oregon’s most populous county, but I take a measure of pride in knowing that he actually polled a majority votes in Multnomah County, even as he was losing other one-time Democratic stronghold counties to the Nixon juggernaut.

Mission accomplished.

His campaign for president introduced me, even at the lowly level at which I worked, to the hard-ball aspect of that profession. I witnessed the smearing of this man by his opponents. He opposed the Vietnam War and was called cowardly by his foes. As a returning Vietnam vet, I understood his opposition, as I had no clearer understanding of the nation’s mission there when I came out of the Army than I did when I went in two years earlier. I was confused and sought to express myself by working for McGovern’s campaign.

But what galled me at the time was his campaign’s refusal to rebut directly the implication that he was afraid to fight. He knew first hand about the horror of war. He survived 35 combat missions during World War II at the controls of a U.S. Army Air Force B-24. This courageous bomber pilot knew up close the hazards – and terrible cost – of war. And yet his campaign never sought to set the record straight. He didn’t answer the scurrilous flurry of innuendo launched against him.

I think I have to come to understand why he remained silent. It is because true-blue heroes don’t talk about those things.

George McGovern was an honorable man who stood tall among those who comprised The Greatest Generation.