[10] On 11 December 1918 King Ferdinand I signed the Law regarding the Union of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana, the Satmar, and Maramureș with the Old Kingdom of Romania, decreeing that:[11] The lands named in the resolution of the Alba-Iulia National Assembly of the 18th of November 1918 are and remain forever united with the Kingdom of Romania.Resolution 903 of the Council of Ministers on 18 August 1949 had marked 23 August as the national holiday.

The decision combated in some amount sympathy with the tradition of Romanian monarchy, associated with 10 May, but also disappointed the anti-communist opposition, who wished for the national holiday to be moved to 22 December.

The choice of 1 December, though not explicitly declared in the law, referred to the unification of the provinces of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș with Romania in 1918.

[13] The first 1 December national holiday saw the largest celebrations in Alba Iulia, the location in which the proclamation of the union of Transylvania with Romania was signed.

They were marked by significant political polarization: Corneliu Coposu, then the leader of the anticommunist opposition, was interrupted several times during a speech by boos from the crowd.

is then performed by the Massed Bands of the Bucharest Garrison, made partly from musicians of the 30th Guards Brigade and a combined military and civilian choir as a 21-gun salute is fired in the background.

Following this, in the Kiseleff Road parade, the president lays a wreath at the Arcul de Triumf before heading back to the grandstand.