Can leaders shape identity and legitimize new social orders? I address this question by studying the role of Mustafa Kemal "Atatürk", the founder of modern Turkey, in spreading a new national identity. During the first years of the creation of the Turkish nation-state, Kemal made a massive campaign effort to rally citizens around his nation-building program and the new state ideology. Using a generalized difference-in-differences design, which exploits time and geographic variation in Kemal’s visits to localities, I test whether exposure to Kemal affects citizens’ take-up of the Turkish identity, as proxied by the adoption of first names in "Pure Turkish", the new language created by the state to homogenize the population. I find that people living in visited districts are more likely to give their children new "Pure Turkish" first names after a visit. I then investigate the mechanisms. I first show that Kemal was more efficient in rallying people compared to Ismet Inonu, his Prime Minister, suggesting that he had an idiosyncratic effect. Second, results are driven by places where he met with local elites and which had former Ottoman nationalistic support, which suggets that his effect is due to a coordination and cooptation of local elite. Third, I find that places visited by Kemal are more likely to receive state resources and open local associations tightly linked to the ruling party and which had a similar propaganda role. Overall, the findings are consistent with the Weberian view that charismatic authority can legitimize new social orders.