FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                             2001-94


  SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO
          SPONSOR DISCUSSION OF 1963 SPECIAL STUDY
                              
     Washington, DC, September 19, 2001 – Today the
Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission
Historical Society, announced a roundtable discussion on the
1963 “Special Study of the Securities Markets.”
Participants will include senior members of the Special
Study staff, as well as others who were directly involved
with the project.  The roundtable discussion will take place
on Thursday, October 4, 2001, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the
William O. Douglas Open Meeting Room at the SEC headquarters
building, 450 Fifth Street, NW, and will be open to members
of the Society, SEC staff, the press and invited guests.

     Participants in the roundtable will include Milton
Cohen, the Director of the Special Study, Robert Birnbaum,
Arthur Fleischer, Jr., Norman Poser, Sheldon Rappaport,
Eugene Rotberg, Arthur Rothkopf, Ralph Saul, Fred Siesel,
David Silver and Stanley Sporkin.  Irving Pollack, a former
Commissioner and the first Director of the Division of
Enforcement, and Brandon Becker, formerly a Director of the
Commission’s Division of Market Regulation, will serve as
moderators.

     In 1961, the Commission was authorized by Congress to
“make a study and investigation of the adequacy, for the
protection of investors, of the rules of … exchanges and
national securities associations.”  The resulting Special
Study served as a springboard for many of the significant
changes in the nation’s securities markets that followed.
     
     The roundtable will be audio- and videotaped for
transcription and dissemination by the Securities and
Exchange Commission Historical Society.  The Society,
founded in 1999, works to preserve the history of the SEC,
sponsors research and educational programs regarding the
Commission, and strives to enhance understanding of the
development of the U.S. and world capital markets.
     
     
     
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