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

Ladies and gentlemen:

As I am a guest in this house--the Manns are not back yet--I do want to just say a word of greeting to all of you. I first of all would like to introduce to you Mrs. Kennedy, who has journeyed with me to Mexico City. And also I would like to have you meet the Majority Leader of the Senate and Mrs. Mansfield, who came with us, too.

Now, we want to express our very warm regards to you. How many of you here today are Mexican citizens, and how many United States? How many United States? Hold up your hands. And how many citizens of Mexico? Well, I want to say how happy I am to find here at the American Embassy citizens of both of our countries. I hope those of you who are of Mexican extraction feel in working for the United States Government here at this Embassy that you are also serving the highest ideals and interests of your own country of Mexico. The object of the foreign policy of the United States in the larger sense is similar to that of Mexico. That is, we want peace for our people and an opportunity for them to develop, and also we wish freedom not only for our own people but for others. So that I think you will feel quite comfortable, I hope, working here as citizens of Mexico, here with all of us for the advancement of our common interests in this hemisphere and around the world.

And I want also to express particular thanks to those of you who are citizens of the United States. It is not easy to go from post to post. This happens to be an agreeable post. But you all know that the day will come, as it inevitably must, when you will draw--I will not mention the country's name, but some country where life is not so agreeable. And yet you will go as foreign Service Officers, as those associated with the United States Information Service, and all the others, the AID agency, and all the rest, and serve our country and serve its great interest.

So we are very indebted to you. I don't know whether the people of our country realize what it means, particularly those of you who have families, to pick yourselves up every 2 or 3 years and go to another post. But you are willing to do it, and we are all indebted to you. So we are very glad to see you, and I think that the warmth of the reception we have had here in Mexico. City is due in no small measure to the day in and day out work that all of you do. So we are very glad to see you, and we appreciate your coming to say hello to us.