The authors analyze bills, congressional records, agency reports, and newspaper articles to trace the evolution of Project Head Start, by far the nation's largest federal early childhood program, beginning with the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Their analysis is organized around the policy goals embedded in the program and the governance structures and policy instruments designed to achieve those goals. Findings reveal that the life of Head Start has been marked by periods of policy expansion and relative stasis. Expansion has occurred most notably in the policy instruments through which services have been delivered while stasis has characterized program governance. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure and 4 notes.)