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In 1981, change was taking place at Tri-Continental.
 
As part of a corporate reorganization, J. & W. Seligman & Co. Incorporated succeeded the Seligman partnership that began operations in 1864, and assumed the responsibility for the investment management activities of Union Services Corporation. Since then, Seligman has been directly responsible for providing investment management and other services to Tri-Continental. This arrangement with J. & W. Seligman & Co. Incorporated remains in effect today. Meanwhile, the nation's economy was in a deep recession which curbed corporate profits and cast a shadow on the outlook for the future.
 
A reversal took place in the third quarter of 1982, and both stocks and bonds did very well. Tri-Continental reaped the benefits of its earlier positioning of the portfolio and continued to cautiously purchase more common stocks through the end of the year. The positive trend in the equity market continued into 1983 and beyond. Business activity began to slow in 1986; nonetheless, Tri-Continental's management remained optimistic about the economy, and maintained a long-term investment focus.
 
Nineteen eighty-seven, however, turned out to be more challenging than anyone had expected. The first eight months of the year saw soaring equity prices, but the market corrected a record 22.6% in one day on October 19. Fears of an economic downturn, rising interest rates, and renewed inflation dominated, while panic took hold of individual investors. As many open-end mutual funds were scrambling to sell investments to cash out fearful investors, Tri-Continental's closed-end structure allowed it to purchase common stocks at very attractive prices and to remain focused on the long-term investment objectives of its Stockholders. And, by the end of the decade, the equity markets hit new highs.