The Clinton 1997 Inaugural
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The Inaugural Fireworks

On one of the coldest nights of the winter, the Saturday before the swearing-in ceremony, a spectacular display of inaugural fireworks covered Washington.

Launched from 10 different locations throughout the city, fireworks had never before been fired from so many Washington locations simultaneously.

Vantage points in both the city and across the Potomac River in Virginia provided these spectacular photographs.

How Cold Was It ?

Audio

Photographers Jeff Tinsley, Richard Strauss, Beth Laakso and Dane Penland describe how the cold weather affected their work.
(RealAudio 1:58 / 231k)


Fireworks - Seven Bursts
Click on the photo to get a large (982 x 480 pixel, 122k) version of this image

Simultaneous bursts from seven of the ten fireworks locations, as seen from the top of the Freedom Forum Building across the Potomac River in Virginia.
(Smithsonian Photo by Jeff Tinsley)




Fireworks and Capitol


Lighting the sky over the U.S. Capitol, and outlining the Smithsonian Castle, fireworks launched from near RFK Stadium burst in the night. (Smithsonian Photo by Dane A. Penland)




Fireworks From New Airport Tower

Bursts from three of the fireworks locations as seen from the new tower at Washington National Airport (Smithsonian Photo by Alan Hart)




Fireworks From Arlington
Click on the photo to get a large (1150 x 480 pixel, 198k) version of this image

More spectacular bursts over the Potomac River and Washington.
(Smithsonian Photo by Beth Laakso)



Animated Fireworks

Seven photographs were used to create this animated GIF.

Animated Fireworks GIF


Audio

Photographer Alan Hart describes this view from the new tower still under construction at Washington National Airport.
(RealAudio 0:56 / 110k)


VideoView From a Helicopter

Helicopter View
Click on the image above for a selection of Quicktime videos taken during the
fireworks program from the unique view in a United States Park Police helicopter.
(Smithsonian Photo by Tami A. Heilemann)

These digital image files created from Photo CDs scanned courtesy Digix Imaging
Photographed with PJM Ektapress MultiSpeed Color Negative Film courtesy Eastman Kodak
Image processing on Macintosh 9500's courtesy Apple Computer

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Copyright 1997 Smithsonian Institution