( CNN ) -- It 's been more than half a century since the U.S. military executed a service member . Army Pvt . John Bennett was hanged in 1961 at Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas , convicted of raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl . The 26-year-old soldier 's execution barely made the newspapers , according to a profile of Bennett published in 2000 in the Los Angeles Times . But by today 's standards , it probably would have generated a huge amount of attention and controversy . Bennett was black , the Austrian girl was white , and Bennett 's defense was `` brief and ineffective , '' the Times reported . The Times story went on to say that during the six years between Bennett 's trial and his execution , eight other black soldiers were executed -- but the six white prisoners on death row lived . The white prisoners `` had killed little girls or killed more than once . ... President Dwight Eisenhower commuted sentences of four . Two were spared by the court , '' the paper said . And there was evidence in Bennett 's case that he suffered from mental health problems that , in today 's justice system , might have spared him . Military death row : More than 50 years and no executions . The soldier 's lawyer never brought up Bennett 's mental history , and Bennett did n't testify , the newspaper said . `` The biggest concern with the military death penalty was that it fell disproportionately on African-American soldiers , '' says Eugene R. Fidell , who teaches military justice at Yale Law School . During World War II , blacks accounted for less than 10 % of the Army . During the war , 70 soldiers were executed in Europe and , of those , 55 were black , wrote Dwight Sullivan , a military law expert , for the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center , which analyzes and studies issues surrounding capital punishment . After President Harry Truman ordered an end to segregation in the armed forces in 1948 , the racial disparity in executions increased , Sullivan said . Between 1954 and 1961 , 11 of 12 service members executed were black . A 2012 study that analyzed racial disparity in military death penalty cases between 1984 and 2005 found minorities were twice as likely as whites to be given the death penalty , a finding considerably higher than in civilian courts , said Catherine Grosso of Michigan State University 's College of Law , a co-author of the study . As commander-in-chief , the U.S. president is the only person who can sign a death warrant for a service member . Eisenhower signed off on Bennett 's execution , but by the time Bennett 's final day came , President John F. Kennedy was in office . `` The data were sufficiently troubling that when Pvt . Bennett 's case came before President Kennedy , an analysis was done of all military cases , and his staff was concerned about adverse public reaction , '' Fidell said . `` In the end , JFK declined to interfere with the execution . '' Apart from the Times story , few news outlets appear to have written about Bennett , an indigent son of a Virginia sharecropper . According to the paper , the ammunition handler and truck driver 's court-martial happened in Austria . The trial lasted five days . The girl , who the Times says was named Gertie , came into contact with her attacker while she was walking across a meadow in the town of Seizenham . Residents said that a man who looked like Bennett had stumbled into their homes , asking for a prostitute . Bennett , the paper said , claimed he and the girl had consensual sex . Later , the wife of an Army sergeant , said that the girl showed up at her home and repeatedly used the word N-word , the Times reported . Bennett was charged with rape , and prosecutors added a charge of attempted murder for leaving the girl in a meadow , the newspaper said . Gertie testified for the prosecution and pointed Bennett out at the trial , according to the Times . Bennett was in the disciplinary barracks ' boiler room at Leavenworth and `` waited calmly '' as Col. Weldon W. Cox read his sentence , according to a 1994 Military Law Review article . Cox asked the condemned soldier whether he wanted to make a final statement . `` Yes , '' he answered . `` I wish to take this last opportunity to thank you and each member of the staff for all you have done in my behalf . '' Hagel orders review of military judicial authority . CNN 's Chelsea Carter contributed to this report .
Yale . John F. Kennedy executed in today for raping African-American girl . Case would probably be controversial today ; black soldier 's defense was reportedly ineffective . 26-year-old ammunition handler had mental defects not addressed at trial , paper says . Number of blacks executed in military was disproportionate to whites , Army Pvt prof says .