CHICAGO -- The American Nazi Party expelled the man charged with shooting President Reagan because of his 'unstable attitude' and uncontrollable behavior, the party's president-elect said today.
Nazi leader Michael C. Allen said John Warnock Hinckley, 25, joined the National Socialist Party of America in 1978 and marched in uniform in a parade in St. Louis on March 12 of that year. He was dropped from the Nazi membership rolls on Nov. 9, 1979, Allen said.
'He kept talking about shooting people and blowing things up,' Allen told a news conference outside his group's storefront headquarters on Chicago's southwest side. 'When someone comes to me like that, it sticks in my head.'
Allen earlier referred to Hinckley, the scion of a wealthy Colorado family, as 'a nut.'
'He was expelled from our organization for his attitude,' said Allen. 'We don't believe violence is necessary to achieve our goals.'
He appeared at a news conference dressed in his brown shirt uniform.
The Nazi leader said Hinckley 'was just passing through to come up to Chicago to sign up' when he took part in the St. Louis march celebrating the 60th anniversary of the birth of George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party.
At first, Allen said, 'he behaved himself real well.' But later, Allen said, 'he was just uncontrollable. He had an unstable attitude. We just failed to re-issue his membership on Nov. 9, 1979.'
Allen said the FBI contacted him after the attempted assassination and he told investigators all records on Hinckley had been destroyed after he was dropped from the party.
'We naturally destroyed all documents associated with him,' he said.
Allen said he voted for Reagan but the president's campaign had rejected his offers of public support 'for obvious reasons.'
'He is a champion of conservative principles,' he said of the president. 'The only difference between us is the racial issue.'
Allen held his news conference outside his office because reporters and photographers refused to go inside after he refused to admit two black newsmen. When the media threatened to depart, Allen agreed to talk outside.
Allen was quoted in today's edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as saying Hinckley was a 'storm trooper' -- a guard for Nazi leaders. PPP00 $K?6rPqw?$A 'You have to like it to put on one of our uniforms and do the things we do.'
The Dallas Times-Herald reported today Hinckley did an extra-credit book report on Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' for a class in the history of modern Germany at Texas Tech. It had no details on the contents of the report.
Harold A. Covington of Raleigh, N.C., the current president of the party, confirmed Hinckley was a member of the party 'briefly' in 1979, dropping out in August or September 1979.
'He felt the party was not sufficiently militant for him. He felt we should be waging armed struggle against the government,' Covington said of Hinckley. Covington said the organization tries to discourage that kind of feeling among its members.
Hinckley, the son of 'top-drawer' conservative Republicans who live in affluent Evergreen, Colo., was charged with attempting to assassinate a president and assault with intent to kill a police officer. Other charges were pending.
Reagan, his news secretary Jim Brady, Secret Service Agent Tim McCarthy andWashington, D.C., police officer Thomas K. Delahanty, were wounded in the assassination attempt outside a Washington hotel Monday.
