President George H.W. Bush, wife accept award for supporting Jewish community

HOUSTON – Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, have supported the Jewish community in light of recent bomb threats against Jewish institutions throughout the nation.

Their son, Neil Bush, speaking on his parents' behalf as they received an award Wednesday in Houston from the Mensch International Foundation, says they understand this is "not a time for silence or ambivalence or indifference."

He says they asked him to speak out on the "depravity in our midst and continue to condemn it in clear and simple ways." Bush says society has come "too far and too many have struggled for too long and have sacrificed too much for us to go backward."

The Mensch Award honors the nation's 41st president and his wife for their service and friendship to the Jewish community.