The 1962 U.S. stock-market decline linked to President Kennedy’s steel-price dispute was called the Kennedy Slide.
From December 1961 to June 1962, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 27%. The sharpest turmoil followed a confrontation in April 1962, when major steel companies raised prices despite an earlier agreement; Kennedy publicly attacked the increase, and investors feared stronger government intervention in business.
The episode also reflected slowing economic growth, tighter monetary conditions, and high valuations in popular growth shares. It ended without a depression, and the market recovered during the following years as corporate earnings improved.
The Kennedy Slide is sometimes confused with the later 1973–74 bear market or the 1970s “Nifty Fifty” decline. Its nickname refers specifically to the 1962 sell-off and the political controversy over steel pricing, not to a separate exchange or currency crisis.