Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill Naming a Federal Office Building in Detroit in Memory of Senator Patrick V. McNamara.

I AM GLAD to be among Pat McNamara's friends as I sign this bill giving his name to the new Federal Office Building in Detroit.

I don't know just what Federal programs will be administered from that building, when it is completed. But if those programs have to do with the economic security of our people--or the education of our young-or better lives for older Americans, they will be housed in the right place.

Pat McNamara worked and fought for the $1.60 minimum wage. He was one of the earliest and strongest advocates of Federal aid to education. He sponsored the bill that created the Administration on Aging.

This man embodied the best of the American labor movement. He knew what it was to work with his hands. He was a veteran in the fight for decent working conditions and adequate compensation. But he wasn't satisfied just to work for his brothers in organized labor. He knew that all America had to grow and improve if union families were to have a good life in our land. So he carried his concern into 'politics--into the United States Senate--and put his ideas about social justice into law and practice.

It is right that the new Federal Office Building in Detroit--where the people's programs will be administered for the people-should bear his name. May every man and women who works there live up to his standard of public service.