Paderewski during his tournée around Germany

Ignacy Jan Paderewski is revered by ten million Polish - Americans and by many other U.S. citizens who are music lovers and students of international affairs. The histories of three Poles are taught in schools, remembered and regularly celebrated throughout the United States. The first of these is Thaddeus Kosciuszko, who was credited by George Washington as turning the tide of the American Revolution at the Battle of Saratoga and for building the battlements upon which my alma mater, the United States Military Academy at West Point, now stands. The second is Casimir Pulaski, who is the father of the United States Cavalry, and who gave his life fighting for the United States at the Battle of Savannah. The third is Ignacy Jan Paderewski, eminent composer, pianist, patriot, statesman, and philanthropist.

Paderewski gave his first American piano recital at the debut of New York's Carnegie Hall in 1891. He was an overnight success, equaling Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Presley in popularity and concert proceeds. For more than four decades, his popularity continued as he played in concert halls throughout the United States. Although he practiced the piano six hours a day, he spent an additional six hours studying international relations. During World War I, he met President Woodrow Wilson, who admired him as a musician and statesman. Paderewski wrote the 13th of Wilson's famous 14 Points which formed the basis for the Treaty of Versailles, calling for the rebirth of a free and democratic Poland. As is well known, he became the first premier of reborn Poland but resigned several years later to return to the concert stage.

In 1939, when the Nazis invaded Poland, Paderewski appealed to another one of his admirers, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to prepare for the war he knew the United States would inevitably enter. Paderewski died in New York City on June 29, 1941, six months before the United States entered World War II. The day before he died, he told his sister that he wanted to follow Chopin's example of interring his heart where his love was, in this case, the United States. President Roosevelt ordered Paderewski's body interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Knowing Paderewski had willed that his heart remain in the United States, Roosevelt ordered that the remains be placed there temporarily until Poland would be free. President Roosevelt's order was finally carried out by President George Herbert Walker Bush, who returned Paderewski's body to Poland in 1992. Paderewski's heart, however, remains enshrined at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, PA.

I first learned about Paderewski at the age of six from my maternal grandmother. She, like my father, was born in Poland. A former governess, she taught her children and grandchildren to be proud of Polish history and preeminence in the arts. Too poor to attend Paderewski's concerts, she played his phonograph records over and over. Two weeks after graduating from West Point, I attended Paderewski's funeral. Five thousand people lined the streets at St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear Cardinal Spellman's eulogy. When I learned of President Roosevelt's order to inter Paderewski temporarily at Arlington National Cemetary, I vowed to do all I could to one day return his remains to Poland. In 1961, while serving as a Brigadier General in Vietnam, President John F. Kennedy ordered me home to attend a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. He had read an article by Paul Hume, Ignacy Jan Paderewski's biographer, which stated that very few people knew where Paderewski's remains were. President Kennedy decided to erect a plaque at the base of the Mast of the Battleship Maine to mark the location where Paderewski's remains lay in state. He gave a stirring talk saying that great artists are free spirits, and therefore embody the ideal of democracy.

In 1981, I served as Chief Strategic Arms Negotiator for President Ronald Reagan. I prevailed upon him to honor Paderewski on the 40th anniversary of his death. President Reagan, in his talk at Arlington National Cemetery, referred to President Kennedy's remarks and repeated President Roosevelt's vow to one day return Paderewski's remains to a free Poland. I was pleasantly surprised at President Reagan's knowledge of Polish history and of Paderewski's philosophy. He admired Ignacy Jan Paderewski for promoting freedom and democracy through education and the arts. He told me it was a pity that so many famous Poles had names which did not identify them as being Polish - for example, Copernicus, Chopin, Curie, and even John Paul II. In 1985, President Reagan sent me behind the Iron Curtain to brief Warsaw Pact leaders and the Pope on our arms control policies. After briefing General Jaruzelski, I asked him if I could meet with dissidents Lech Walesa and Bronislaw Geremek, with whom I had attended the Woodrow Wilson Institute. The General said, "I take note of that," which I took as his tacit approval. This led to other meetings with dissidents in Czechoslovakia and Hungary, which I repeated annually for the next three years. At my first visit with Walesa, I told him President Reagan greatly admired and supported his leadership of Solidarity. I also told him about the President's high esteem for Paderewski. Walesa said that if he were ever in a position to do so, he would help return Paderewski's remains to Poland. After becoming President, Lech Walesa kept his promise. President George H. W. Bush put me in charge of planning the return of Ignacy Jan Paderewski's remains. President Bush subsequently came to Warsaw and formally transferred the remains to President Walesa on June 29, 1992, the 51st anniversary of Ignacy Jan Paderewski's death.

The name of Ignacy Jan Paderewski means a great deal to Polish - Americans and other American citizens. Many school children read Paul Hume's biography of Paderewski: "The Lion of Poland". A number of institutions of higher learning teach Paderewski's philosophy of promoting democracy and freedom through education and the arts. American educators hope that his name will soon be widely returned to Polish textbooks after four decades of suppression by the Communists. Paderewski's compositions are frequently played at U.S. concert halls, and by the Paderewski Symphony Orchestra in Chicago. He is remembered at annual festivals at his former ranch in Paso Robles, California. Paderewski memorabilia can be found in a number of museums throughout the United States, especially at the Polish Museum in Chicago. The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. has an outstanding collection of Paderewski memorabilia and manuscripts, including 5000 letters written to him by Polish school children thanking him for sending food to starving Poland after World War I. Paderewski gave all of his concert proceeds to charities, mostly to widows and orphans of Polish soldiers. He also gave a sizeable donation to the American Legion to establish its fund for widows and orphans. Numerous patriotic events are held throughout the United States to commemorate Paderewski's sponsorship of the Polish Legion in World War I. Paderewski was also a great believer in women's rights and financed a chicken farm in Poland where battered women could earn a dignified living. A statue of Ignacy Jan Paderewski currently stands in the courtyard of the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C., pending a permanent location.

Paderewski's legacy is still alive in the relationship between the United States and Poland. The United States was in the forefront of Poland's accession to NATO and the European Union. The United States considers Poland its strongest ally on the continent of Europe, and is proud that Poland was the first country to follow its lead in declaring war on terrorism. The United States is grateful to Poland for its sizeable military contribution in Iraq. Poland not only makes great sacrifices, but exercises leadership over the forces of other allies in Iraq. Americans are fond of repeating the conclusion of Poland's national anthem: "Poland will remain free so long as we live".

Edward Rowny
Washington D.C.