On this day, 74 years ago, June 7, 1951 (May 3, 1951 in the lunar calendar), two missing British diplomats were believed to be spies. June 7, 1951. Two British diplomats missing since May 25 will be arrested as Soviet spies. Donald Duart McLean and Guy Francis Demouncy Burgess were employees of the British Foreign Office until June 1. On June 1, British officials suspended the two of them for a week without leave. The two men are believed to have gone to France, and French sponsors are investigating the matter. The two men held important positions and had previously worked at the British Embassy in Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson said that if they were indeed "Soviet sympathizers," it was a "quite serious incident." According to Senator Irwin Brewster, McLean did understand the entire contents of the secret exchanges between Britain and the United States on the North Atlantic Treaty, the Korean War and the Peace Treaty with Japan.