国际英语资讯:Backgrounder: U.S. presidential inauguration ceremony_时事

国际英语资讯:Backgrounder: U.S. presidential inauguration ceremony

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States is holding the quadrennial presidential inauguration ceremony on Friday, as Donald Trump will be sworn in as the country's 45th president.

The ceremony has been through dramatic changes in form and process since it was started from George Washington's presidency, but remained one of the most significant political events in the country, where all presidents-elect were required to make an oath following the Constitution with the Chief Justice and the whole nation as witnesses.

When Washington was sworn in as the first U.S. president in 1789, the ceremony took place on April 30 in New York, which used to be the country's capital. As it took as long as four months to count the presidential votes at that time, the inauguration date had been set on March 4 for most of the country's history. It was not until 1937 that the inauguration day was finally moved ahead to Jan. 20.

In 1801, the U.S. federal capital was relocated at Washington, D.C., so did the inauguration ceremony. In 1981, Ronald Reagan had his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, which has since replaced East Portico as the stage for the ceremony. All the presidential swearing-ins were held outdoors except twice that happened to William Howard Taft in 1909 and Reagan in 1985, when the weather was so cold that public health and security were at risk.

According to the fixed process, the vice president-elect takes the oath of office first on the Capitol's West Front, and the military band plays four ruffles and flourishes and "Hail, Columbia" following the oath.