This report evaluates the status of civil rights oversight and policymaking by the White House and Office of Management on Budget (OMB) during the Nixon-Ford administrations, from 1972 to 1976. The report documents the activities of the White House, OMB, the Federal Regional Councils, and the Federal Executive Boards. Housing, school desegregation, business enterprises, and federal grants in relation to the prominent minority groups are investigated. The administration's failure to enforce Federal civil rights legislation during 1972-76 is attributed to the executive branch of government. This branch failed to provide policymakers with effective means to discover the nature of problems or to suggest ways to implement corrective action. In the belief that executive direction is indispensable to civil rights legislation, it is recommended that the President assume responsibility for Federal civil rights enforcement programs and that a cabinent-level position be created whose role would be to strengthen enforcement programs. It is also recommended that a Division of Civil Rights within the OMB be established. (KC)