The 1962 U.S. stock-market crash associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis was called the Kennedy Slide.
The decline occurred during the administration of President John F. Kennedy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply in the spring of 1962, with the worst single session on 28 May, when it dropped 5.7%. The event became known as the Kennedy Slide or the Flash Crash of 1962.
The Cuban Missile Crisis happened later, in October 1962, so it was not the direct cause of the spring crash. Investors were already worried about economic growth, corporate earnings, and the market’s high valuations after a long postwar rise. The crisis therefore provides an important chronology check.
The Dow’s low for the episode came in June 1962. The market later recovered, and the crash is distinct from the 1963 assassination of Kennedy and from the bear market associated with the 1970s oil shocks.