Hashim (Bay Khalid) al-Atassi (1875 - Dec. 5, 1960), a prominent Syrian nationalist, statesman and President of Syria (1936-1939, 1950-1951, 1954), was born in Homs to a large, landowning and politically active family. He was educated in Istanbul and began his political career in the Ottoman province of Beirut. In 1920, after the World War I defeat of the Turks, he chaired the Syrian Congress that declared independence as a constitutional monarchy, under Faisal I. He became prime minister during this short-lived period, for French occupation soon followed under the terms of the Sykes-Picot Agreement and a League of Nations Mandate (Alo see: San Remo conference). As one of the nationalist leaders opposing French rule, he was elected president of the Constituent Assembly, which, because of its adherence to the 1920 proclamation, was dissolved by the French high commissioner in May 1930, and Atassi was imprisoned by the French for several months at Arwad Island. He later chaired the National Bloc political coalition and in that capacity, in 1936, he headed a Syrian delegation to Paris that negotiated a Franco-Syrian treaty providing for Syrian independence.

A Parliament was elected and on December 21, he was chosen as president of the republic, the first head of state of the modern state of Syria. However, by the end of 1938 it became clear that the French government had no intention of ratifying the treaty; Atassi resigned on July 7, 1939 as the French continued to prevaricate against full Syrian independence and the withdrawal of French troops. His resignation was also influenced by the French decision to cede the Syrian province of Alexandretta (current day Iskenderun in Hatay Province) to Turkey, enraging Syrian nationalists. Several years of instability and French military rule followed. In 1943, a National Bloc comrade of Atassi, Shukri al-Kuwatli, became president, until replaced by the military regime of Husni az-Zaim in 1949. The 40s overall were dominated by the politics and machinations of World War II and its aftermath. Syria was occupied by British and Free French troops which did not leave until 1946. Thereafter, with the French finally gone and Syrian independence fully established, stability still proved illusive for the young republic.

On August 15, 1949, after a series of military coups d'etat, Atassi was called upon to form a provisional government and to hold elections for a Constituent Assembly. Under that provisional government, a new electoral law was adopted, and women voted for the first time in the election of November 15-16, 1949. In December 1950 the Assembly, under a new constitution, elected Atassi president, but another coup led by Brig. Gen. Adib ash-Shishakli followed, and Atassi resigned and Parliament was dissolved on December 2, 1951. In 1953 he arranged a meeting of political leaders in Homs to declare opposition to Shishakli's plans for changing the constitution. During this time Atassi presided over the only opposition newspaper in the country. In 1954, Shishakli put him under house arrest. When Shishakli's regime was overthrown by an Army revolt in February 1954, Atassi was recalled to complete his presidential term. After overseeing the elections of 1955, which resulted in the election once again of his colleague Kuwatli, elderly and infirm, Atassi retired from public life. He died in his ancestral home in Homs in 1960.

It is noteworthy to mention that two members of his family, Luai al-Atassi and Nouredeen al-Atassi , went on to serve as heads of state in the 1960s. Amid the confusion and violence that often formed the background of Syrian republican history, he stood out as a man of sound principles dedicated to constitutional methods of government.

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Husni az-Zaim (military rule) | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |President of Syria
1949–1951 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Fawzi as-Silu (military rule)

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Adib ash-Shishakli (military rule) | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |President of Syria
1954–1955 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Shukri al-Kuwatli