Major change in American public policy must be carefully planned, and leadership from key posts within the federal government is essential to accomplish a goal as controversial as equal housing opportunity. After 1968, that leadership would not come from Lyndon Johnson, who declined to run for reelection because of the unpopularity of the Vietnam War. Enforcement of the Fair Housing Act was therefore left to a new president, Republican Richard Nixon, and his secretary of Housing and Urban Development, George Romney. Nixon had defeated Ronald Reagan in the Republican primaries of 1968 and Hubert Humphrey in the presidential election. Acting without specific guidelines from Nixon on civil rights policy, Romney, the former president of American Motors and Republican governor of Michigan, would provide the leadership needed to significantly promote fair housing in the United States.

George Romney was a leading Republican rival of Richard Nixon in the late sixties, as were Ronald Reagan and Nelson Rockefeller. Romney had already proven himself a supporter of fair housing before joining the Nixon team by championing a strict fair housing law in Michigan and advocating open housing. He served as the secretary of HUD for four years and is remembered not only for enforcing the Fair Housing Act but also for his innovative plans to racially and economically integrate the suburbs.