“Truth is mysterious, elusive, always to be conquered,” according to Albert Camus, the 20th-century French philosopher. Lately, instead of conquering the truth, some public figures are being conquered by it.

Before the Internet, it took a real doozy to get caught, like Ronald Reagan’s false recollection of shooting film of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, which he shared with the Israeli prime minister. Reagan was actually stationed in California during the war, reviewing film shot by others.

These days, every embellishment is called out. Hillary Clinton once described landing in Bosnia amidst sniper fire, running for cover when on the ground. Conceding that she “did misspeak,” Clinton blamed her gaffe on being “a human being like everybody else.”

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert A. McDonald graduated from West Point, completed Army Ranger training and served honorably with the 82nd Airborne Division. But McDonald last week was caught misstating his record, telling a homeless veteran that, like him, he had served with the “special forces.”

Even media watchdogs are compelled to enhance their derring-do. NBC News anchor Brian Williams falsely claimed that he flew into Iraq in 2003 in a helicopter that was hit by ground fire. Apologizing profusely, Williams was suspended by NBC.

Fox News icon Bill O’Reilly’s claims of combat reporting in Argentina during the Falklands War are disputed by some of his former colleagues. They say that he was in Buenos Aires during some street riots but nothing more. Other O’Reilly claims now are being scrutinized.

Having experienced spectacular success, each of these public figures has gilded the lily, adding flourishes to lives that should be good enough. And each has become what Kris Kristofferson described in song as a “walking contradiction, partly truth, partly fiction.”

Contrast that to Forest Hills Mayor Marty O’Malley, who died last week at 73, in the midst of a life that left no doubt as to where he stood, never being anybody but himself. An old-fashioned liberal Democrat, Marty never saw a march for social justice that he did not want to join.

Marty tackled social problems, big and small, always with a smile, a wink, an arm around your shoulder and that no-apologies truthfulness that made even his opponents smile in return. He led with his chin, putting it right out there, a perennial champion for the little guy, ever the happy warrior.

Marty grew up in Greenfield, attended Central Catholic and studied economics at St. Vincent College “when it was a school for poor liberals,” as he said, and never forgot his roots. And he was a proud Vietnam War veteran who fought for peace every day.

Said Ken Gormley, a former Forest Hills mayor and now the dean of Duquesne Law School, “Marty grabbed hold of causes that he thought were good for his community and his country, and took them door-to-door.”

Until the end, Marty lived the words of George Orwell: “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

Joseph Sabino Mistick, a lawyer, law professor and political analyst, lives in Squirrel Hill (joemistick.com).

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