An original member of the Free Officers Movement which overthrew the monarchy in Egypt in the 1952 Revolution, Boghdadi later served as Gamal Abdel Nasser's vice president.

The French author Jean Lacouture called Boghdadi "a robust manager" who only lacked "stature comparable to Nasser's.

During the 1952 revolution led by the Free Officers, Boghdadi commanded jet fighter units to circle around Cairo to prevent possible outside interference in the coup against King Farouk.

[4] After the Free Officers assumed power, Gamal Abdel Nasser—the principal leader of the coup and the new Prime Minister of Egypt—made Boghdadi chairman of a special court established to try members of the monarchy, sentencing former general Hussein Sirri Amer and a Wafd Party leader Fouad Serageddin, among others, to long-term prison sentences.

[8] After the Suez War, he was appointed general administrator for the reconstruction of the canal area and according to author Said Aburish, "performed admirably.

"[9] He was also made minister of communications and, along with Zakaria Mohieddine and Amer, was placed on a committee that screened the candidates of the newly established 350-member National Assembly.

[11] Boghdadi accompanied Nasser on his trip to Damascus on 24 February 1958, after the unification of Syria and Egypt to form the United Arab Republic (UAR).

[2] In response to his resignation, Nasser put Boghdadi's brother Saad under house arrest and prevented his brother-in-law from travelling to the United Kingdom to complete his doctorate.

Due to Boghdadi's previous resignation concerning the close relationship to the USSR, he asked Nasser about the nature of the new Egypt-Soviet informal alliance (which came about as a result of Egypt's decisive loss in the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel).