A veteran of the Sino-Japanese (1894–95) and Russo-Japanese (1904–05) wars, Suzuki was promoted to the rank of admiral in 1923 and became chief of the Naval General Staff two years later. He was appointed grand chamberlain (jijūchō) in 1929, but he resigned this post after narrowly surviving the young officers' revolt in 1936.

Suzuki became prime minister upon the resignation of Koiso Kuniaki on April 5, 1945, four days after U.S. forces had landed on Okinawa. Though adamant and unyielding in public, Suzuki secretly asked the Soviets to help negotiate peace between the United States and Japan and was rebuffed by them. In early August the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. On August 14 Suzuki's cabinet decided to accept the Allies' call for unconditional surrender. He resigned shortly after the surrender.