The goal of the 'old public administration was more modest than that of planning: the efficient management of programs mandated by the political process. Its advocates sought to separate the management function from what they saw as the corruption of politics. The words of Woodrow Wilson provide an unequivocal statement of the basic premise of the old public administration: administration lies outside the proper sphere of politics. Administrative questions are not political questions. Although politics sets the tasks for administration, it should not be suffered to manipulate its office. The ideal is a skillful and loyal civil service free from political interference and dedicated to the implementation and efficient administration of politically mandated programs according to sound principles of management. In other words, the science of management was insulated from the art of politics.