The President, Mrs McAleese, will tonight attend the opening gala performance of the Irish-American Arts Festival in the Kennedy Centre, Washington, the first public engagement of her five-day visit to the US.
President Clinton may join Mrs McAleese and her husband at tonight's performance, the White House has indicated but not officially confirmed.
During her visit, Mrs McAleese will also visit Baltimore and Philadelphia and receive several awards. She is being accompanied by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera.
Tomorrow, the President will attend the opening of the "Ireland: Politics, Culture and Identity" conference at the Kennedy Centre. She will also deliver a keynote address there.
On Monday, she will be granted honorary citizenship of Baltimore by the new Irish-American mayor, Mr Martin O'Malley. Later that evening she will be presented with the Flax Trust award at the Belfast charity's annual Washington dinner. The President is a former board member of the Trust which works for community development in the area of Belfast where she grew up.
On Tuesday the President will meet the Majority Leader of the US Senate, Trent Lott, before going to Philadelphia where she will receive the Brehon of the Year award from the Brehon Law Society of leading Irish-American lawyers.
On Wednesday, she addresses the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia and attends a lunch hosted by the Federation of Irish Societies. She will also meet Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Mayor John Street of Philadelphia before leaving for New York to return to Ireland.