He was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence.

During this time he worked as his father's Private Secretary, while later served as a Puisne Justice of Supreme Court of Ceylon and in July 1929, he joined three others in forming a dining club they called The Honorable Society of Pushcannons, which was later renamed as the Priya Sangamaya.

[14] During World War II, Jayewardene, along with other nationalists, contacted the Japanese and discussed a rebellion to drive the British from the island.

[15] After joining the United National Party on its formation in 1946 as a founder member, he was reelected from the Kelaniya electorate in the 1st parliamentary election and was appointed by D. S. Senanayake as the Minister of Finance in the island's first Cabinet in 1947.

Initiating post-independence reforms, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Central Bank of Ceylon under the guidance of the American economist John Exter.

In 1951 Jayewardene was a member of the committee to select a National Anthem for Sri Lanka headed by Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne.

His 1953 proposal to cut the subsidies on which many poor people depended for survival provoked fierce opposition and the 1953 Hartal campaign and had to be called off.

Having lost his seat in parliament, Jayewardene pushed the party to accommodate nationalism and endorse the Sinhala Only Act, which was bitterly opposed by the island's minorities.

's official organ the Siyarata subsequently ran several anti-Tamil articles, including a poem, containing an exhortation to kill Tamils in almost every line.

Jayewardene became the vice-president and chief organizer of the United National Party, which achieved a narrow win in the March 1960 parliamentary election, forming a government under Dudley Senanayake.

No government had given serious thought to the development of the tourism industry as an economically viable venture until the United National Party came to power in 1965 and the subject came under the purview of J. R. Jayewardene.

This was necessary to bring dynamism and cohesiveness into an industry, shunned by leaders in the past, and ignored by investors who were inhibited by the lack of incentive to invest in projects which were uncertain of a satisfactory return.

[19][20] In the general election of 1970, the UNP suffered a major defeat, when the SLFP and its newly formed coalition of leftist parties won almost 2/3 of the parliamentary seats.

He gave the SLFP government his fullest support during the 1971 JVP Insurrection (even though his son was arrested by the police without charges) and in 1972 when the new constitution was enacted proclaiming Ceylon a republic.

The UNP won a staggering five-sixths of the seats in parliament—a total that was magnified by the first-past-the-post system, and one of the most lopsided victories ever recorded for a democratic election.

He had likely SLFP presidential nominee Sirimavo Bandaranaike stripped of her civic rights and barred from running for office for six years, based on her decision in 1976 to extend the term of parliament.

He also passed a constitutional amendment barring from Parliament any MP who supported separatism; this effectively eliminated the main opposition party, the Tamil United Liberation Front.

To facilitate export-oriented enterprises and to administer Export Processing Zones the Greater Colombo Economic Commission was established.

The Accelerated Mahaweli Programme built new reservoirs and large hydropower projects such as the Kotmale, Victoria, Randenigala, Rantembe and Ulhitiya.

The concession was regarded by the militants as too little and too late, and violent attacks continued, culminating in the ambush of Four Four Bravo which led to the Black July riots.

By 1987, the LTTE had emerged as the dominant of the Tamil militant groups and had a free hand over the Jaffna Peninsula, limiting government activities in that region.

Jayewardene had to halt the offensive after pressure from India pushed for a negotiated solution to the conflict after executing Operation Poomalai.

The provincial councils suggested by India did not have powers to control revenue, policing, or government-sponsored Sinhala settlements in Tamil provinces.

Young, deprived Sinhalese soon rose in a revolt, organized by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which was eventually put down by the government by 1989.

Jayewardene left office and retired from politics in 1989 after the conclusion of his second term as president at the age of 82;[22] after his successor Ranasinghe Premadasa was formally inaugurated on 2 January 1989.

By opening up the country for extensive foreign investments, lifting price controls and promoting private enterprise (which had taken a heavy hit because of the policies of the preceding administration), Jayewardene ensured that the island maintained healthy growth despite the civil war.

William K. Steven of The New York Times observes, "President Jayawardene's economic policies were credited with transforming the economy from one of scarcity to one of abundance.

[25] Jayewardene said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, 11 July 1983, "Really, if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy"[26][27][28][29] about the widespread anti-Tamil sentiments among the Sinhalese at that time.