Whether having committed an iconic prank of disgusting defiance or hilarity, instigators "George Metesky and friends" better known as Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Stew Alpert and other members of the Youth International Party (Yippies) swarmed the NYSE visitors gallery on August 24, 1967 and tossed dozens of dollar bills over the railing onto the trading floor below.

Though security guards, floor clerks and stockbrokers were largely surprised (shocked!) by the appearance of fluttering greenbacks slowly sinking, the "demonstration" was witnessed by hordes of journalists and photographers.

Naturally, trading on the floor of "hi-speed greed" halted. The protesters, who had run out of bills and had begun to throw coins to a now booing crowd, were quickly hustled out. They regrouped on Wall Street where they danced, burned money -- and gave, what else, many interviews to the press.

It's debatable whether this act of guerrilla theater had any direct impact on the Dow...but it certainly caused NYSE officials to install bulletproof glass panels and metal grillwork encapsulating the entire visitors gallery.

Ironically, Jerry Rubin morphed from "Yippie" to "Yuppie" when he became a venture capitalist in the 1980s.

This Week in Wall Street History

8/17/08