Summoned at Midnight

February 1, 2019

Pulitzer Prize-winning Serrano (Last of the Blue and Gray), formerly with the Los Angeles Times, writes about the last executions at Fort Leavenworth, KS, military base between 1955 and 1961. The author begins with the story of John Bennett, a young black man convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl while stationed in Austria. The trial was presided over by older white men who quickly sentenced Bennett to death. The narrative continues to cover the history of the base, along with the many prisoner deaths there, and the environment's effect on both prisoners and guards. Serrano also examines the racism of President Dwight Eisenhower and authorities, as all the white men sentenced to death were pardoned, while black prisoners received no mercy. The book concludes with Bennett's ultimate fate: either be saved by President Kennedy or hanged at midnight. Serrano's research is impeccable, as he uses official military records along with interviews with many involved as well as letters from their families. VERDICT An engaging and highly recommended true story for those interested in racial discrimination, especially in the military, and criminal justice issues.--Jason L. Steagall, formerly with Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2019
Disconcerting exposé of a little-recalled era of death penalty discrimination in the U.S. military.Serrano (Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery that Outlived the Civil War, 2013, etc.), a Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, unearths a disheartening tale of unequal justice during the period between World War II and the major events of the civil rights movement regarding soldiers who received the ultimate sanction for committing rape or murder. Yet once on the military's death row at Fort Leavenworth prison, their fates obeyed the color line: "All on death row, white and black, clearly recognized that in the late 1950s, none were treated alike....Eight white soldiers spared, eight black soldiers hanged." Serrano focuses on the crime and punishment of John Bennett, an uneducated black soldier from impoverished Jim Crow roots, who drunkenly assaulted a young Austrian girl; although she survived, a court-martial swiftly sentenced him to death. After several years, as the backing for capital punishment appeared to wane, he was last on death row, fueling support for commutation of his sentence, as had been done for white soldiers who had committed similar crimes. Over six years of legal battles, his case attracted prominent supporters like psychiatrist Karl Menninger and prison doctors who argued his lifelong epilepsy might've influenced the crime. Still, the military's position remained that Bennett's death "was necessary." Because the arc of Bennett's sad legacy is straightforward, the author builds the narrative in engaging digressions, covering the development of Leavenworth, Dwight Eisenhower's frosty relationship with desegregation, and the lawyers and activists who mounted a lonely crusade on behalf of the condemned black soldiers. Serrano paces his slim account for maximum suspense, but Bennett's execution feels increasingly foreordained, particularly when the putatively liberal John F. Kennedy declines to second-guess his predecessor. The author's scrupulous research ably captures a shameful time during the military's halting journey toward integration.A compact, engrossing historical meditation with clear relevance to current controversies over race and punishment.

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