Ronald Reagan was the U.S. president when the 1987 Black Monday stock-market crash occurred.
Reagan was serving his second presidential term when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6% on October 19, 1987. The decline was part of a worldwide market shock rather than an isolated event confined to the United States. International exchanges had already fallen sharply, and markets in other countries continued to experience severe losses.
The administration faced the crash during a period of concern about trade deficits, interest rates, currency movements, and high stock valuations. Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan responded by stating that the central bank stood ready to provide liquidity to the financial system. Exchanges also developed stronger trading safeguards after the crash, including circuit breakers designed to pause trading during extreme declines. George H. W. Bush succeeded Reagan as president in January 1989, so he was not in office on Black Monday itself.