Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich often invoke the name of late President Ronald Reagan in their campaign speeches, but his son, conservative columnist Michael Reagan, said the revered leader would have been "appalled" at the tone of this year's campaign rhetoric.
"I think he would look at all the years he put in, the things he accomplished, and worry about seeing all those things turned upside down," Reagan told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "He really cared about this country, and he didn't like the name
-calling, he didn't like the personal attacks."
What's more, the elder Reagan did not agree with having just one group of supporters behind a candidate, said his son, who supports Kasich for the GOP nomination. He said he wrote on Twitter recently that if "Ronald Reagan was anything like Donald Trump, Nancy Reagan would never have married him."
He said he thinks his father is so fondly remembered because he had a good heart, and that's what the country needs now.
Reagan, who was on the program to speak about his new book,
"Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan," said that perhaps the most important lesson he learned wasn't political.
"We all get so busy sometimes we forget we have family at home . . . we forget to tell them we love them. That can hurt a child. " Reagan said, remembering his years with a father who never forgot he had two children, Michael and Maureen, from his first marriage.