Max Winkler talks about how he got started in the CIA, primarily through working on a program dedicated to eradicating the spread of foot and mouth disease in Mexico in the 1940s and 1950s. Mr. Winkler describes his adventures and exploits, spending much of the interview discussing his role in training Cuban nationals to overthrow Castro during the disastrous Bay of Pigs in Cuba in the early 1960s. He details how Fidel Castro took control of Cuba and instituted communism, due in large part to Hugo Chavez, whom Mr. Winkler interviewed. Along with describing the trainees, Winkler recalls how the CIA treated number of imprisoned defectors. Mr. Winkler also shares how the U.S. worked with President Ydigoras of Guatemala during this period. Eventually, Mr. Winkler and his wife (also a CIA agent) left the Foreign Service and moved to New Braunfels. Mr. Winkler administered LBJ's Head Start Program in Central Texas, the first in the U.S., before becoming principal of Seele Elementary.
