September 28, 1950: Indonesia Takes Seat Number 60 at the United Nations

Today in 1950 · Thursday, September 28, 1950

Indonesian President Sukarno with UN official Ralph Bunche during a visit to the United States

Indonesian President Sukarno with UN official Ralph Bunche during a visit to the United States · U.S. Information Agency photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On this day in 1950, the General Assembly admitted Indonesia to the United Nations as its 60th member state — by acclamation, under Resolution 491 (V). Two days earlier the Security Council had recommended admission through Resolution 86, with ten votes in favor and Nationalist China abstaining; the original documents rest in the UN Digital Library.

The speed of the arc was the story. Less than a year had passed since the Netherlands transferred sovereignty in December 1949 after four years of armed and diplomatic struggle; barely six weeks had passed since Indonesia dissolved its Dutch-designed federal structure and reconstituted itself as a unitary republic on the anniversary of its 1945 proclamation — an event this series covered on August 17.

For the UN, then five years old and consumed by the Korean War it was nominally fighting, the admission was a glimpse of its future: a membership that would grow from 60 toward two hundred as the colonial world dismantled itself, seat by seat. Indonesia — today the world's fourth most populous nation — walked in while the organization was still young enough to count its members in double digits.

Also on this day

  • In Korea, UN forces consolidated control of Seoul as remnants of the North Korean army fled north.
  • Preparations began for the formal ceremony returning the capital to President Syngman Rhee.
  • Born this day: film director John Sayles.

🎵 On the radio that week: America’s No. 1 song was “Goodnight Irene” by Gordon Jenkins and The Weavers (Billboard best sellers) — a folk song adapted by Lead Belly, who died broke in December 1949 — one year before it became the biggest hit of 1950. That sound never really left — we recreate 1950s doo-wop and slow-dance ballads every week: read the stories behind our songs or listen on the lovesong1950s channel.
🎬 At the movies: The box office belonged to “My Blue Heaven” — which also introduced a newcomer named Mitzi Gaynor — with “Sunset Boulevard” at No. 2.
⚾ In sports: Philadelphia's free-fall cut a 7.5-game lead to a single game over Brooklyn entering the final day, while the idle Yankees clinched the pennant when Cleveland routed Detroit 12-2.

Sources: UN in Indonesia: about · UN Digital Library: Security Council Resolution 86 (PDF) · UN Digital Library: GA Resolution 491 (V) · Wikipedia: September 1950 · Billboard best-seller charts, 1950 (issue scans) · Variety National Boxoffice Survey, 1950 (Lantern scans) · Retrosheet 1950 game logs and box scores. Every fact above is drawn from the records linked here — no dramatization, no invented details.

More from this series: Today in 1950 — the daily archive · every post from September 2026

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