The sharp 1962 U.S. stock-market fall linked to Cold War tensions was nicknamed the Kennedy Slide.
The decline ran from late 1961 into June 1962 and was intensified by worries about economic growth, corporate profits, and international tensions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply, with the steepest single-session drop occurring on May 28, 1962. The market reached a low on June 26.
The name connects the episode with President John F. Kennedy, but it does not mean that one presidential decision caused the entire decline. The market was also reacting to a broader slowdown and a long period of uncertainty.
The Kennedy Slide is sometimes confused with the 1962 “flash crash” terminology used for that era. It was a sustained bear-market episode, not the modern computerized flash-crash phenomenon associated with rapid intraday reversals.