George H.W. Bush Hospitalized

Former President George H.W. Bush remained hospitalized in Houston on Wednesday after experiencing shortness of breath, a family spokesman said.

The 90-year-old Bush was taken Tuesday evening by ambulance to Houston Methodist Hospital as a precaution, spokesman Jim McGrath said. In an email Wednesday, he said “all is well” but that there was “no new news to report.”

President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, has been notified about Bush’s hospital admission.

“President Obama and the first lady send their good wishes to the former president and the entire Bush family during this holiday season,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.

Bush made two public appearances last month. He attended an event at Texas A&M University with his son, former President George W. Bush, and appeared at a sports game that honored the U.S. Armed Forces.

The elder Bush was a naval aviator in World War II — at one point the youngest in the Navy — and was shot down over the Pacific.

Bush, the nation’s 41st president, served two terms as Ronald Reagan’s vice president before being elected president in 1988. After one term, highlighted by the success of the 1991 Gulf War in Kuwait, he lost to Democrat Bill Clinton amid voters’ concerns about the economy.

This article appeared in print on page 3 of the December 25th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.