1973: The New York Times surveys six of Wall Street's leading sages, asking whether "a sustained uptrend may be in the offing." The views of Robert Johnson, former chief economist at Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis, are typical: "I believe it's unlikely the market will decline much further. Fundamentally, the economy is strong. The pace of the boom is already beginning to slow down — and that will be good news for the market." Johnson forecasts that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will go as high as 1050 to 1075 "over the next six months." He turns out to be off by a mere nine years, as the Dow does not close above that level until December, 1982.

Terry Robards, "End to Slide in Stock Market Is Forecast by Analysts," The New York Times, June 11, 1973

1930: Trying to rebuild public confidence in the market, New York Stock Exchange President Richard Whitney has the press witness him making a bid (with his own money) of $160 a share for a 60,000-share block of U.S. Steel stock. "Shortly thereafter" the stock sinks below $150, on its way to $21 in the market bottom of 1932.

Barrie A. Wigmore, The Crash and Its Aftermath: A History of Securities Markets in the United States, 1929-1933 (Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, and London, 1985), pp. 141, 562.