Putting aside partisan politics, the two US presidential candidates are to appear together on September 11, the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his Republican rival John McCain have planned a visit to New York Thursday, their campaigns announced Saturday.
In a rare joint statement, the two candidates said: "All of us came together on 9/11 - not as Democrats or Republicans but as Americans. In smoke-filled corridors and on the steps of the Capitol; at blood banks and at vigils - we were united as one American family."
On the 9/11 anniversary they promised to "put aside politics and come together to renew that unity, to honour the memory of each and every American who died, and to grieve with the families and friends who lost loved ones."