U.'s Hinckley Institute now a political institution

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

It all started "that fall when we placed, I recall, four interns with four candidates for Salt Lake City Commission," Williams said. "And we were on our way."

Hinckley became involved, oddly enough, after learning that practicing politicians were not welcomed on the U. campus, noted Williams.

"We had to get special permission from the Board of Regents to allow the then-young senator from Massachusetts, Jack Kennedy, to speak at the U. during the 1960 presidential campaign. They just didn't want politicians speaking on campus."

Hinckley and others wanted that changed. "They wanted living politicians to come and talk; they wanted to teach students to respect politics, to be good politicians" through an internship program, Williams said. Forty years later, Hinckley family members are still involved in institute operations.

The Hinckley Institute has always been housed in a few, cramped rooms on the second floor of Orson Spencer Hall, across the hall from the U.'s political science department.

The next-door "caucus room" is where students, media, faculty and the public can meet once a week or so during the academic year to hear talks or debates on the events and issues of the day.

R.J. Snow, then a U. official, now a professor at Brigham Young University, succeeded Williams as director in 1975. And then-Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson actually resigned his office to become director in 1985. Wilson retired in 2003 (after taking a leave to run for governor in 1988), and a two-year search for a permanent new director found Kirk L. Jowers, a former Hinckley intern himself, appointed earlier this year.

The Hinckley Institute caucus room — room 255 OSH — has been remodeled in honor of the institute's 40th year. Seating has been expanded to hold 105, the ceiling raised and heating replaced, removing the need to crank open the windows as the room overheated during a crowded candidate debate on a cold October day.

Any number of famous politicians, writers and thinkers have appeared there. Despite differing views, there has never been any fisticuffs, but Williams remembers a debate between Israeli and Palestinian supporters over how to settle the Mideast crises "got very heated, and darn it, we didn't settle the problem, either."