Former President George H.W. Bush hospitalized

Former President George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized in Houston since the day after Thanksgiving to be treated for a lung ailment, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Bush, who served as president from 1989 to 1993 and was vice president under Ronald Reagan for two terms, has battled a "lingering cough that has drawn concern," the Chronicle reports today.

"President Bush is in the hospital," his chief of staff told a reporter. "We have kept this quiet out of respect for him."

She said Bush, 88, has bronchitis. His condition is not considered life-threatening. Doctors originally feared that the cough would evolve into pneumonia.

His son, former President George W. Bush, visited him at Houston's Methodist Hospital on Sunday.