George H.W. Bush home from hospital, grateful for 'superb care'
Former President Bush, the oldest living former US president, was taken to the hospital a week ago for what was described then as a precaution.
Portraits of former Presidents George W. Bush (l.) and his father, George H.W. Bush, both painted by George W. Bush, are seen in "The Art of Leadership: A President's Diplomacy" exhibit at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas, April 4. Bush has said that an essay by Winston Churchill on painting inspired him to take lessons after leaving office.
Benny Snyder/AP/File
HOUSTON
Former President George H.W. Bush was released from a Houston hospital Tuesday after a stay of about a week.
Bush left Houston's Methodist Hospital, was resting at home and is "grateful to the doctors and nurses for their superb care," said family spokesman Jim McGrath in a brief statement.
Bush, the oldest living former US president, was taken by ambulance to the hospital a week ago for what was described then as a precaution. His hospital stay included Christmas.
Bush made two public appearances last month. He was at Texas A&M University where his son, former President George W. Bush, talked about his book about his father. He also served as the coin-toss captain for the Houston Texans during a Nov. 23 game that honored the US Armed Forces.
He spent Sunday at the hospital watching the Texans game on television.
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, before serving as a US ambassador to China and CIA director.
He spent two terms as Ronald Reagan's vice president before being elected the nation's 41st 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.
Bush has skydived on at least three of his birthdays since leaving the White House. In June, he celebrated his 90th birthday by making a tandem parachute jump near his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. During the winter, Bush and his wife, Barbara, live in Houston.