This article reports the vicissitudes of the agencies and personnel in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) authorized to enforce school desegregation as stipulated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The shifts in responsibilities and the efforts to consolidate enforcement into one office were the result of Congressional actions and appropriations. The conflicts within HEW and between it and Congress are related, with special attention given to the activities of Peter Libassi, special HEW assistant for civil rights, to the attitud s and roles of Southern Congressmen, and to the status of desegregation in the Southern and border states. Under the leadership of Libassi the approach to urban school desegregation will probably be on a case-by-case basis. HEW is now required to uniformly enforce desegregation guidelines in both the North and the South, and Libassi is attempting to survey the de facto segregation situation in the North before he begins enforcement there. Also discussed in this article are the organization, staffing, and operational aspects of nine regional enforcement offices. (NH)