What was the name of the 1962 U.S. stock-market decline that ended a long postwar bull market?

The 1962 U.S. stock-market decline that ended a long postwar bull market was the Kennedy Slide of 1962.

The decline ran from December 1961 into June 1962 and hit major U.S. shares after years of strong gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 27% from its peak to its June low. The market’s weakness reflected concerns about economic growth, corporate earnings, and valuations.

The name connects the episode with President John F. Kennedy, whose administration was in office during the decline. The crash was serious for investors, but it did not develop into a depression or a prolonged collapse on the scale of 1929.

The Kennedy Slide is sometimes confused with the “flash crash” terminology used for much later events. It was a months-long bear-market decline, not a single-minute plunge caused by modern automated trading systems.