As the days of mourning unfolded after Ronald Reagan’s death, James Benze couldn’t help notice that one thing, at least, hadn’t changed: Nancy Reagan’s strong hand.

“She’s one of the main forces behind the organizing of everything that’s happened this week,” said Benze, who’s working on a biography of the former first lady for University of Kansas Press. “It all is to build his legacy, to add even more luster for it. Not for personal gain — it’s the last thing she can do for him.”

Benze, a professor of government at Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania, has talked to Reagan staffers for his book, “Nancy Reagan: Acting First Lady,” which is to be published next year.

“I guess you would say the hook … is that there’s a lot of similarity between her experience as a supporting actress in Hollywood and the way she played the role of first lady,” Benze said.

“The main role of a supporting actor is to do the things necessary to allow the star to shine, to carry the load of the movie or the play,” Benze said. “To a certain extent, that’s what she saw her role as first lady as, to create the environment to allow her husband to be the star of the production, to have as great a presidency as possible. That sometimes involved being involved in personnel decisions, to surround him with the appropriate cast.”

The most notorious example of those personnel decisions, he said, was Nancy Reagan’s role in orchestrating the firing of chief-of-staff Donald Regan in 1987.

First ladies have always wielded considerable power in the White House, Benze said, but Nancy Reagan was more involved than most.

“Certainly, you’d be hard-pressed to find a first lady that had as much influence over her husband’s schedule,” Benze said. “Most of his schedule went through the first lady. She was very concerned about him being overworked and traveling too much. She also had a key political eye and knew which events would be helpful for him to attend.”

Nancy Reagan also influenced her husband to moderate the “evil empire” rhetoric as the Soviet Union began to liberalize during the late 1980s.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan stands near the coffin of her husband, former President Ronald Reagan, while Maj. Gen. Galen B. Jackman, commanding general of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, clasps her hand.

“I don’t want to say she’s responsible for the successes the administration had with respect to the Soviet Union. She created opportunities for that to occur,” Benze said. “She charmed a couple of Soviet ambassadors, for example.”

The Reagans were famous for forming a strong bond with one another but almost no one else, he said.

“One of the things that’s really interesting about him: For a person who was known as the Great Communicator, he had really few close friends,” Benze said. “Most of them were formed really early in his Hollywood career. Most of his life revolved around Nancy, and most of Nancy’s life revolved around her husband.”