The aim of the current study is to identify the opinions of pre-service social studies teachers about Atatürk as a founding and transformational leader. The sample of the study comprises 180 pre-service teachers in the social studies teaching department of an education faculty in a public university. The data have been collected through an open-ended questionnaire prepared by the researchers. Content analysis has been used for the data analysis; the findings have been presented in tables through the frequency technique which is used for quantifying qualitative data, and percentage distributions have been given. Moreover, direct quotations from the opinions of the participants have been included so that quantitative data could be interpreted in a more meaningful way. The findings of the study show that the viewpoints of the pre-service teachers about Atatürk as a founding and transformational leader mostly gather around Atatürk as the founder of Turkish Republic, a foresighted leader and a transformational leader.