Having received his primary education from his parents, he thereafter finished the Jelgava Gymnasium and from 1902 studied law at the Tartu University, from where he graduated in 1907.

After his unsuccessful attempt during the Latvian presidential elections in 1927, Kviesis ran again in 1930 after Gustavs Zemgals refused to be a candidate for a second term.

On 15 May 1934, Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis organized a coup d’etat, of which the President, his fellow party member, had no prior knowledge.

After Ulmanis had informed the President at 1 a.m. on 16 May that the Saeima had been dissolved and the Constitution suspended, Kvesis made no protest and continued to exercise his duties until the expiration of his term, albeit without any real power.

He dutifully signed all laws passed by Ulmanis’ authoritarian government, the only remarkable event of his second term being the solemn opening of the Freedom Monument in Riga on 18 November 1935.

On 19 March 1936, Kviesis promulgated a law which stipulated that Ulmanis would become president upon the expiration of Kvesis' term, thus unconstitutionally combining the two offices.