Remarks to the Staff at the American Embassy in Mexico City.

Secretary and Mrs. Rusk, Ambassador and Mrs. Freeman, my friends, ladies and gentlemen:

I drove down the street with great pride as my eyes looked upon this beautiful building put here by the talented hands of architects from my State. And as I walked into this building, I looked back over my memories in government and thought that never in my 35 years in public service in Washington had our country been more fortunate in its selection of a Secretary of State than it is now with Dean Rusk.

He is guiding our relations with other nations with a skill and an understanding and a compassion that is unequaled, in my judgment, in my lifetime. He has built around him one hundred or more of the ablest Ambassadors that any administration has ever assembled to serve the interests of our Nation. It gives me great pride to pay just tribute to the work being done by Ambassador and Mrs. Freeman here in Mexico. But what really gives me the greatest pride and the greatest pleasure is to come here and look into the smiling faces that stand around me in this beautiful building, and see the folks that take care of the daily chores and that reflect such great credit on the country they serve. No nation ever had more competent or more loyal or more dedicated public employees than the United States of America, and no department ever had more of those kinds of employees than the Department of State.

So I want to say to each of you at your desk, at the tasks that engage you, that your President is proud of the work you do, is grateful to you for the loyalty that you give and the sacrifices that you make, and the credit that you reflect upon your country.

I observed the other day a statement my father made to me when I was a little boy and he was talking about public service. He said, "To understand people, you must know them and to properly speak for them and represent them, you must love them." For that reason he always leaned over backward to be democratic. There was no little farmer from the humblest village in the land that he didn't want to know, because he got more from the farmer than he gave.

I think that each of you who carry on with your work, serving our national interest each day, could profit by remembering that statement: To know the people of Mexico you must understand them, and to represent and carry out our program and our purpose with them you must love them.

I have been coming across this border all my life. I have been working with the people of Mexico ever since I was a child. My first playmate was a little Mexican boy. We raced our horses together, when we were both just learning to ride. I remember he told me he didn't want to run a race with me, because his horse wasn't as fat as mine and therefore couldn't run as fast.

I said, "Well, I will just solve that problem. We will make him as fat." So we got a big bucket and got in the oat bin and we fed that horse nearly all afternoon. Then we filled him full of water and then we took him out and ran the race. Then the horse died.

But all my life the Mexican people have been my friends and my playmates, my closest associates and my most trusted allies, and my most loyal supporters. They have been intimidated, they have been criticized, they have been browbeaten, sometimes they have been hauled into court for voting for me, but they have always been there.

I brought my bride to Mexico City on our honeymoon. I have come back here at every opportunity. So, we are very thankful we were given the chance to come here again and show the people of this nation the great respect and friendship we have for them, and to say to those of you who serve my administration and your country so well that I am mighty grateful and proud of you.