Former US President George H.W. Bush prematurely announced Nelson Mandela’s death on Sunday morning.
The mix-up happened when George H.W. Bush’s spokesman Jim McGrath misread a Washington Post news flash.
“The 41 stmnt sent this morning was the result of my mis-reading the header on the WaPo news flash. Stupid mistake by me. Apologies to all,” Jim McGrath tweeted Sunday morning.
The original statement read: “Barbara and I mourn the passing of one of the greatest believers in freedom we have had the privilege to know. As President, I watched in wonder as Nelson Mandela had the remarkable capacity to forgive his jailers following 26 years of wrongful imprisonment – setting a powerful example of redemption and grace for us all. He was a man of tremendous moral courage, who changed the course of history in his country. Barbara and I had great respect for President Mandela, and send our condolences to his family and countrymen.”
The South African presidency corrected the statement, saying former President Nelson Mandela is still alive.
Former President George H.W. Bush announced Nelson Mandela’s death after his spokesman misread news flash
“It is clearly incorrect. We see it as an error on his side” and aren’t going to “make a big deal about it” presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said.
Nelson Mandela was discharged from the hospital Sunday after initially being admitted in June for a lung infection. He is still in critical condition.
South Africa’s first black president was taken by ambulance to his home in Johannesburg which has been set up to provide intensive care.
In a statement, the South African government said: “Madiba’s condition remains critical and is at times unstable.
“Nevertheless, his team of doctors are convinced that he will receive the same level of intensive care at his Houghton home that he received in Pretoria.”
George H.W. Bush, 89, is also dealing with health problems of his own.
He was unable to attend the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial last Wednesday because his old age has confined him to a wheelchair.
Jim McGrath told the LA Times that he is “unable to participate in events like this anymore due to his mobility situation”.
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Former President George H. W. Bush’s condition has improved, allowing him to be moved out after nearly a week in intensive care, his spokesman has said.
George H. W. Bush, 88, will continue treatment at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, where he was admitted on 23 November suffering from bronchitis.
“The Bushes thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes,” family spokesman Jim McGrath said.
George H. W. Bush is the oldest living former president and a World War II veteran.
He was admitted to intensive care on December 23 with a fever.
Former President George H. W. Bush’s condition has improved, allowing him to be moved out after nearly a week in intensive care
But on Saturday, Jim McGrath said the former president’s condition had improved.
“So he has been moved today from the intensive care unit to a regular patient room at The Methodist Hospital to continue his recovery,” he said.
George H. W. Bush was Ronald Reagan’s vice-president for two terms, from 1981 to 1989, when he became the 41st US president. He was defeated by Democrat Bill Clinton when he stood for re-election in 1992.
His son George W. Bush served as 43rd president in 2001-09.
Former US President George H.W. Bush has spent Christmas with his wife Barabara and other family members in a Houston hospital after developing a fever and weakness following a monthlong, bronchitis-like cough, his spokesman said Monday.
A hospital spokesman had said George H.W. Bush, 88, would be released in time to spend the holiday at home, but that changed after he developed a fever.
“He’s had a few setbacks. Late last week, he had a few low-energy days followed by a low-grade fever,” Jim McGrath, George H.W. Bush’s spokesman in Houston, told The Associated Press.
“Doctors still say they are cautiously optimistic, but every time they get over one thing, another thing pops up.”
Jim McGrath said the cough that initially brought George H.W. Bush to the hospital on November 23 is now evident only about once a day, and the fever appears to be under control, although doctors are still working to get the right balance in Bush’s medications. No discharge date has been set.
“Given his current condition, doctors just want to hang on to him,” Jim McGrath said, adding that he didn’t know what had caused the fever.
Former US President George H.W. Bush has spent Christmas with his wife Barabara and other family members in a Houston hospital
George H.W. Bush’s wife, Barbara, his son, Neil, and Neil’s wife, Maria, are expected to visit on Christmas, Jim McGrath said.
Since he was hospitalized, George H.W. Bush has been visited by many of his children and grandchildren, including former President George W. Bush, who came twice, and former Florida Gov Jeb Bush, Jim McGrath said. With 37 members in the immediate family, George H.W. Bush has received many emails and phone calls, Jim McGrath said.
George H. W. Bush, the nation’s 41st president, and his wife, Barbara, live in Houston during the winter and spend their summers in a home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The former president was a naval aviator in World War II – at one point the youngest in the Navy – and was shot down over the Pacific. He achieved notoriety in retirement for skydiving on at least three of his birthdays since leaving the White House in 1992.
Being in the hospital for such a long time has not been easy for George H. W. Bush, who is accustomed to being active, Jim McGrath said. But the president has said he’s determined “not to get grumpy about it”.
“He’s just the most relentlessly positive person and he does enjoy joking with the nurses.”
