The sharp 1962 U.S. stock-market decline associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis is called the Kennedy Slide.
The decline occurred during the final months of President John F. Kennedy’s administration. The market had already weakened after reaching a high earlier in 1962, and investor concerns included slower economic growth, tighter monetary conditions and geopolitical uncertainty. The Cuban Missile Crisis added to fears about a possible confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The episode is named for Kennedy, but the label does not mean that one presidential decision directly caused every market loss. Stock prices reflect many expectations at once, including corporate earnings, interest rates and international risk.
The Kennedy Slide is remembered as a major mid-century market decline rather than as a single-day crash on the scale of Black Monday in 1987. Its name can also be confused with the Kennedy administration’s dispute with the steel industry, which was a separate political and economic event.