Floor of the New York Stock Exchange

Photograph shows stock brokers working at the New York Stock Exchange trading floor on September 26, 1963. Photographer Thomas O'Halloran. Source: U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress.

At the time, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the President of the United States, the USA was escalating its involvement in the Vietnam War and, in August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

The New York Times reported that "The stock market went up and down yesterday [Wednesday, September 25, 1963] in a rollercoaster fashion. At the end of the ride there was a moderate loss on average. However, many recent favorites took large losses". Trading was third heaviest in 1963 (the others were on Sept. 6 and 11), averaging a 2.6% drop.

More: New York in the 1960s ►