Bush Snr gives speech after fainting episode

Former President George Bush Snr was in good spirits as he gave a speech last night, a day after being overcome by the sweltering desert heat and staying overnight at a Southern California hospital.

Bush walked with a cane onstage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and joked with the crowd before beginning a lecture on values.

Bush, 82, became dizzy and dehydrated during a Sunday afternoon golf game, according to Elizabeth Wholihan, a spokeswoman for Eisenhower Medical Centre in Rancho Mirage. He stayed overnight at the desert hospital and was released early yesterday.

Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush were visiting Lee Annenberg, widow of late Ambassador Walter Annenberg.

Bush chief of staff Jean Becker said Bush fainted while playing golf with friends in 94-degree Fahrenheit (34-degree Celsius) heat.

“He’s fine, he really is fine,” Becker said. “He became dehydrated, and he had a fainting spell. He came to right away, but as a precaution, they took him to the hospital and then – much to his dismay – as a precaution, they held him overnight.”

President George Bush was informed of his father’s condition on Sunday night, before leaving Bogota, Colombia, for Guatemala City as part of a Latin America trip. He talked to his father by phone from Air Force One.

“His father assured him he was OK,” presidential spokesman Tony Snow said yesterday.