The now-legendary political science professor J.D. Williams was painting his garage on a Saturday in July 1965 when he received a phone call.

A University of Utah dean was asking if Williams would come to lunch at the old Fort Douglas Country Club to meet Robert H. Hinckley Sr. and a few U. big shots. Williams went, met Hinckley for the first time, was much impressed, and was asked to be the director of a whole new program — the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.

Forty years later, the Hinckley Institute is known around the country for its lecture series, teacher workshops and especially its intern program.

"Bob Hinckley always said: 'Every student a politician' ," recalled Williams, 79, who served as institute director for 10 years and retired as a U. political science professor in 1992. "We always tried to teach respect for politics and how to be a good politician."

And in many ways, the institute, which celebrated its 40th anniversary Friday, succeeded.

More than 4,000 students have been Hinckley interns, with dozens having gone on to win their own public offices or become key players in local, state and national governments. As part of its hands-on teaching, the institute now offers a minor in campaign management.

Currently, the most famous intern alum is Karl Rove, President Bush's deputy chief of staff and the man credited with Bush's political successes. Williams, a die-hard liberal Democrat, jokes that Rove, a Republican, may not be the institute's greatest success story.

But in reality people with all kinds of political philosophies and backgrounds have found a home at the institute — which continues to this day as a place where the candidates for major office in Utah appear to discuss their ideas.

Hinckley interns have traveled the world working in government. Each January dozens work for Utah's 104 part-time legislators during the 45-day general session. And nearly two dozen later returned to the state Capitol as elected representatives themselves.

Those include former Utah House Speaker Rob Bishop, now congressman from Utah's 1st Congressional District. "After my internship with the then-Utah House majority leader in 1973, I knew I wanted to be in the Utah House," Bishop said. "The institute focused me, heightened my desire" to get into politics.

Hinckley was a visionary, Williams said. He had careers as a Dodge dealership owner, as director of relief for a Utah governor, then a top Commerce Department official for President Franklin Roosevelt before becoming one of the original investors in the ABC-TV broadcast network in 1946.

Hinckley gave the U. $125,000 (which was matched by a nonprofit foundation) to start the institute in 1965.