To this very day, Ignacy Paderewski lives in the common memory of Americans both as an artist earning astronomical revenues and as a celebrity who enjoyed a popularity that nowadays can match only that of a pop culture or sports superstar (for his earnings he is still noted in the Guinness World Records).  He is also present in the memory of Americans as a politician who once had an enormous influence on several consecutive presidents of the United States; they all treated Paderewski with an extraordinary reverence….
It was under his influence that President Wilson became inspired to read Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Trilogy*, and for forty years every American president considered Ignacy Paderewski one of the most esteemed guests of the White House. These days there is not a single Pole who possesses political power of equal or even comparable magnitude to that held by Paderewski.  In the eyes of the American public, he symbolized both great artistry and true moral authority, for whom resurrecting his country from the ashes and reinstating its rightful place on the maps of Europe after more than a century of political nonexistence became an idée fix.
 
Because he succeeded entirely in his fight for a free and independent Poland, Paderewski gained an unconditional respect from the American people, one attributed only to individuals of great success in fighting for the good of a nation.  Paderewski is one of only a handful of Poles and Europeans that function permanently in the American cultural sphere.  The placement of his remains [until 1992**] in the vault of the Mast of the USS Maine Monument in Arlington National Cemetery, the sacred American necropolis, is a privilege that has been granted to only two or three foreigners*** and the best symbol of true and profound respect. However, that is only a burial symbol.  The live memory, perhaps even Paderewski’s legend, forever inspires the creation of something new and of great value.

During tens of my meetings and discussions in the USA, Poland, Japan, France, China, Italy, Russia, and Holland, Paderewski comes alive as a joining force, an intercultural keystone that fuses together the principles of American civilization with the everlasting traditions of Europe.  I use the term ‘civilization’ perhaps not according to the generally accepted definition, but as an expression encompassing broad areas of the humanities. There are not many individuals in European culture who have attained an equivalent prominence on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Paderewski was one of them.

                                                                              Translation by Christopher Onzol

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* Henryk Sienkiewicz - Polish journalist and 1905 Nobel Prize-winning novelist; The Trilogy is a series of three novels talking about famous events in Polish history, weaving fact and fiction. The first novel, titled With Fire and Sword, chronicles the 17th century Cossack revolt known as the Chmielnicki Uprising. The second book, The Deluge, describes the Swedish invasion of Poland known as The Deluge. The final novel, Fire in the Steppe (in Polish Pan Wołodyjowski, but also translated into English as Sir Michael or Colonel Wolodyjowski), follows wars between Poland and the Ottoman Empire in the late 17th century.

**On June 26, 1992, Paderewski's remains were moved from the USS Maine Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery to lie in state for public viewing at Fort Myer Memorial Chapel. After a one-hour memorial service on June 27, 1992, the remains were carried through the cemetery to the main gate on a horse-drawn caisson accompanied by a U.S. military honor guard. The delegation accompanied the return of the remains on a flight from Andrews Air Force Base to Warsaw.
The ceremonies in Poland, coordinated with his Eminence Cardinal Josef Glemp, the Primate of Poland, included a welcoming ceremony at Warsaw Airport and a procession to the Royal Castle where Paderewski's remains lay in state for public viewing. Paderewski's remains were transferred to Poznan for additional ceremonies through July 3, 1992. The remains were then returned to the Church of Holy Cross in Warsaw on July 4. On July 5, the funeral procession ended at St. John Cathedral. After a requiem mass, Paderewski's remains were placed in a crypt at the Cathedral.
Although his remains are interred in Poland, his heart is encased in a bronze sculpture in the Shrine of the Czestochowa in the predominantly Polish-American community of Doylestown, Pa. Following Paderewski's wishes, his heart will be interred forever in the United States.
Quoted from: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/historical_information/jan_paderewski.html

*** That actually pertains to those foreigners only who never served in the armed forces of the United States or any nations allied with the United States. At the Arlington Cemetery there are entombed 63 foreigner military servicemen and a large number of foreigner-born but naturalized American military servicemen/women.