Donald Maclean

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Person.png Donald Maclean   SpartacusRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(spook)
Donald Maclean (spy).jpg
BornDonald Duart Maclean
25 May 1913
Marylebone, London, England
Died6 March 1983 (Age 69)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge/Trinity Hall, Gresham's School
Member ofCambridge Five
British diplomat who conveyed government secrets to the Soviet Union

Donald Duart Maclean was a British diplomat who conveyed government secrets to the Soviet Union, as part of the Cambridge Five.

As an undergraduate, Maclean openly proclaimed his left-wing views, and was recruited into the Soviet intelligence service, then known as the NKVD. He entered the Civil Service and in 1938, he was made Third Secretary at the Paris embassy. He then worked in London and was sent to Washington, D.C. from 1944 to 1948, achieving promotion to First Secretary. He was posted to Egypt and then was appointed head of the American Department in the Foreign Office.

The Soviets helped Maclean to defect to Moscow in 1951. In Moscow, Maclean worked as a specialist on British policy and relations between the Soviet Union and NATO. He died there on 6 March 1983.[1]



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