[2] After his education, Qudsi returned to Syria in 1935 and joined the National Bloc, the leading anti-French independence movement, and became one of its prominent members in Aleppo.

Qudsi created a coalition of Aleppine intellectuals around himself and Rushdi al-Kikhya, another lawyer who shared in his views, and the two men nominated themselves for Parliament in 1943, winning with ease.

The People's Party founders were mainly notables from Aleppo who aimed at creating union between Syria and Iraq, maintaining a democratic government, and advocating stronger ties with the West.

He became highly critical of Za’im when the latter closed Syria's border with Jordan and Iraq and threatened to go to war with both countries, accusing them of being agents of Great Britain in the Middle East.

On 14 August 1949, he supported a coup that toppled and killed Za’im, launched by General Sami al-Hinnawi, an old friend of the People's Party and an ally of the Hashemite royals in Baghdad.

He formulated an agreement that called for federal union, preserving independent governments in Damascus and Baghdad while coordinating military, economic, social, cultural, and political affairs between the two states.

To advance union talks, al-Atassi, who had recently been elected president of the republic, called on Qudsi to form a government on 24 December 1949.

Shortly afterwards, on 28 November, Adib al-Shishakli seized power in Damascus and arrested the entire People's Party leadership, accusing them of wanting to topple Syria's republican regime and replace it with a monarchical one that was loyal to Britain and Iraq.

He called on Syria to join the Baghdad Pact, an Anglo-American treaty to contain Communism, and pro-Nasser newspapers accused him of working as an agent for the Hashemites.

He voted against the Syrian-Egyptian union and when the two countries merged to form the United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958, he resigned from public life altogether and retired to Aleppo.

As president, he worked to restore Syria's friendship with the anti-Nasser regimes in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon, and build bridges with the United States and Great Britain.

[4] To promote Syria's relations with Washington, Qudsi appointed Omar Abu-Riche, a renowned poet from Aleppo who like him, was an AUB graduate, as ambassador in the years 1961–1963.

He began a massive economic reform program, restoring factories that had been nationalized by Nasser when he headed the UAR, and dismissing all pro-Nasser officials from office.

Bitter from his experience with the officers since the Shishakli era, Dawalibi began curbing their influence in all state affairs and centralizing matters in the hands of Qudsi and the government.

A counter coup broke out on 2 April, headed by Chief of Staff Abd al-Karim Zahr al-Din, who ordered all troops to stand by President Qudsi.

When that failed, however, they filed a complaint to the Arab League, accusing him of wanting to destabilize Syria through interfering in its domestic affairs and calling on the army to rebel against the government.