Obama's Plans for Poland State Funeral Make a Rare Presidential Trip

Unless a massive cloud of volcanic ash further shuts down the skies over Europe, President Obama flies to Poland Saturday night for the funeral of President Lech Kaczynski.

Usually, the deaths of foreign dignitaries are a job for vice presidents. "You die, we fly" came to be known as the VP's motto when President Reagan would dispatch George H. W. Bush to represent the U.S. government at state funerals abroad.

Mr. Obama's determination to attend the service in Krakow reflects his level of admiration for Kaczynski, who along with his wife Maria, perished last Saturday along with 94 others when their aircraft went down in heavy fog on approach to Smolensk, Russia. They were leading a delegation to a memorial for Polish army officers executed by Soviets in 1940 in the Katyn forest.

"President Kaczynski was a distinguished statesman who played a key role in the Solidarity movement," Mr. Obama said in a statement the day the polish leader died. "He was widely admired in the United States as a leader dedicated to advancing freedom and human dignity."

Going to the funeral gives Mr. Obama a chance to be seen as a concerned ally of Poland. It's also a sign of respect that may score diplomatic points with other world leaders attending the funeral.

It's rare but not unprecedented for U.S. presidents to attend the funerals of foreign leaders, even when the deceased's country once launched a sneak attack on America.

In 1989, just a month after his inauguration, President George H. W. Bush flew to Tokyo to attend the state funeral of Japan's Emperor Hirohito. Under his reign, Japan went to war against the United States. Mr. Bush had served as a Navy pilot and in 1944 was shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire. He decided to put aside the enmity of the past and underscore the present-day relationship between the U.S. and its former enemy.

"Time moves on," Mr. Bush said in explaining his decision to attend the Hirohito funeral. "There is a very good lesson for civilized countries in all of this."

Six years later, President Clinton flew to Jerusalem to attend the funeral of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

"The United States is standing with Israel, standing for the cause of peace," Mr. Clinton said on the way to the ceremony for Rabin, assassinated by a right-wing Israeli opposed to Rabin's peace efforts.

In 2005, President George W. Bush led the U.S. delegation to the funeral mass in Vatican City for Pope John Paul II.

Mr. Bush called it an honor to represent the U.S. "at a ceremony honoring a truly great man who is and will always be a great historical figure." The president invited his two immediate predecessors to accompany him to funeral as well: his dad and Mr. Clinton.

Since taking office, Mr. Obama has attended two funerals. He joined mourners in Boston last summer at the funeral for Sen. Ted Kennedy. In January, he went to Wilmington, Del., to be at the funeral service for Vice President Joe Biden's mother, Catherine.

Mr. Obama has also attended three memorial services:

-- On Sept. 9, 2009, he spoke at a remembrance in New York for legendary CBS News Anchorman Walter Cronkite.

-- On Nov. 10, 2009, he attended a memorial service at Fort Hood for the 13 military personnel slain in a shooting spree allegedly at the hands of an Army psychiatrist.

-- On Feb. 5, Mr. Obama went to CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., for a tribute to seven agency operatives killed in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber with ties to the Taliban. Unlike all the others, that service was closed to press coverage.