Edward C. Sylvester, 81, who held high-level positions in the Johnson administration, helped guide the 1972 presidential campaign of Sen. George S. McGovern and later was staff director of the House Committee on the District of Columbia, died Feb. 12 of respiratory failure at the Washington Home, a District nursing facility. Mr. Sylvester was in the first wave of African American professionals to step into national leadership positions during the ferment of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He joined the Department of Labor under President John F. Kennedy in 1962 as deputy administrator of the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, helping formulate policies on international trade. Though he worked in policy and administration throughout his years in Washington, Mr. Sylvester was trained as an engineer in his native Detroit, where he graduated from Wayne State University. He served in the Army during World War II, rising from the rank of private to first lieutenant during service in Europe and the Pacific. From 1949 to 1957, he was a civil and structural engineer for the city of Detroit, supervising highway and water systems.