UNITED NATIONS: Five Years After

The U.N. this week celebrated its fifth birthday. Most fitting anniversary present came from the member nations through their delegates in the Assembly. By an overwhelming majority in the Political and Security Committee, the delegates voted for the U.S.-sponsored resolution to give the veto-free Assembly power over a U.N. police force (TIME, Oct. 23). Henceforth, if action against aggression is stalled in the veto-bound Security Council, the Assembly can meet within 24 hours to set U.N. armed forces into motion.

In five years, the U.N. had grown up in a way denied to the old League of Nations through 25 ineffectual years.