This article analyzes Woodrow Wilson's political rhetoric during the years 1909 to early 1912. It illustrates how Wilson integrated his thought on public administration with his views on democratic politics. These years reflect the transition in Wilson's life from his academic career to his political career. His public speeches and addresses during this period indicate that he held a much more sophisticated view of the role of public administration in mass democracy than is typically attributed to him in the current literature of the field. Wilson offers important insight on the proper criteria for administrative reform in the American system. His central concern was how to orient the behavior of public officials toward the public interest rather than private interests. Organizational and administrative arrangements should be used to clearly fix responsibility, and make the corresponding duties personally attractive to each officeholder. Though Wilson at times seemed to offer flawed and sometimes inconsistent solutions, he nevertheless asked the right questions—questions we can and should be asking today about our attempts to reform public administration yet again.