Simi Valley, California (CNN) If you've ever wondered why there are so many landmarks named after Ronald Reagan, look no further than a bearded, bespectacled man from Washington known for hating tax increases and taking an annual pilgrimage to Burning Man.

Less than a decade after his presidency ended, Reagan aides made a concerted effort to convince local governments and private associations to name places after their boss across the nation. Led by lobbyist and anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, the Reagan Legacy Project was founded in the 1997 with the goal of naming something substantial after the nation's fortieth president in every state and, eventually, make the Gipper's mark in each of the nation's 3,144 counties.

Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Ronald Wilson Reagan's career included stints as a lifeguard, a radio sportscaster, an actor, leader of the Screen Actors Guild labor union, governor of California and finally as the 40th President of the United States. Click through these photos to see glimpses of a multifaceted life. For more, watch CNN Films' "The Reagan Show," now available on CNNgo. Hide Caption 1 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Born in 1911 in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan (second row, left) posed in this 1919 photo with his third grade classmates. Hide Caption 2 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reagan served as a lifeguard in his youth, eventually saving 77 swimmers over seven summers in Dixon, Illinois, according to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Hide Caption 3 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career When this photo was taken in 1929, Reagan played football at Eureka College. He also was a member of the school swimming and track teams. Hide Caption 4 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career After starting out as a radio sports broadcaster, Reagan worked his way into the acting profession. Here, he sits with actress Margaret Lindsay in the Warner Brothers Studio commissary in 1935. Hide Caption 5 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reagan married actress Nancy Davis in 1952. "I think my life really began when I met Nancy," Reagan once said. Hide Caption 6 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reagan -- seen in this 1935 portrait -- enjoyed horseback riding. Hide Caption 7 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career As a younger man, Reagan was a Democrat. Seen here at a Screen Actors Guild event, Reagan served as president of the labor union from 1947 to 1952. In the 1950s, he began to identify more with Republican political candidates -- voting for Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, according to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. By 1960, Reagan said he was no longer a Democrat and in 1962, he registered as a Republican. Hide Caption 8 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career After serving as governor of California in the 1960s, Reagan launched an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1979. Hide Caption 9 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reagan makes a speech during the Republican presidential primary in New York in March 1980. Behind him are campaign posters with one of his most famous slogans: "Let's make America great again." Hide Caption 10 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career A 1980 campaign button features Reagan and his running mate, George H. W. Bush. Hide Caption 11 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Outgoing President Jimmy Carter, left, sits with president-elect Reagan in the back of a limousine en route to Reagan's inauguration on January 20, 1981. Hide Caption 12 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reagan and the first lady wave immediately following his swearing in. Hide Caption 13 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley fired six shots at Reagan as he exited a Washington hotel with his entourage. Police officer Thomas Delahanty (foreground) and Press Secretary James Brady (behind) lay wounded on the ground. Reagan was hit by one of the bullets and was hospitalized for 12 days. He fully recovered. Hide Caption 14 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reagan met with Pope John Paul II on September 10, 1987 in the Vizcaya, a lavish mansion on Biscayne Bay, in Miami. Hide Caption 15 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reagan had a warm working relationship with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, seen together here in 1989. Hide Caption 16 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career In November 1985, during the height of the Cold War, Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met for the first time at the villa Fleur D'Eau at Versoix near Geneva. Hide Caption 17 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career In 1987, at a ceremony commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin, Reagan delivered his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate, near the Berlin Wall, commanding Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" Two years later, the wall came down. Hide Caption 18 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reporters grilled Reagan during the height of the Iran-Contra scandal. It was discovered that the administration had used profits from secret US arms sales to Iran to help Contra rebels fighting the Soviet-backed government in Nicaragua. Hide Caption 19 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reagan and the first lady take a horseback ride at their Rancho del Cielo vacation home in Santa Barbara, California, circa 1982. Hide Caption 20 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career Reagan addresses the Republican National Convention in 1984. Hide Caption 21 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career In November 1994 Reagan announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He then faded from public view and was rarely seen outside his home. In 2000, the Reagans celebrated the former president's 89th birthday and released this photo. Hide Caption 22 of 23 Photos: Ronald Reagan's life and career After President Reagan's death from Alzheimer's on June 5, 2004, the former president laid in state inside the Capitol rotunda. During an emotional moment shortly before Reagan's state funeral ceremony, the first lady paused to kiss her husband's flag-draped casket. Hide Caption 23 of 23

"The big goal is to generate 100,000 conversations where parents talk to their kids, neighbors talk to each other as they fly into Reagan airport, and the kid says, "Who is Reagan?" Norquist, who has become famous in recent years for the anti-tax hike pledge he encourages Republicans to sign, told CNN in an interview. "You do need to remind people. Americans, understandably, spend very little time looking backwards."

Norquist's first major coup was to convince Congress to change the name of Washington's National Airport to "Reagan National Airport," a victory that riled Democrats. Since then, he has worked to convince state legislatures to recognize Reagan's February birthday, and he encourages them to name parks, post offices, roads and other places after his old boss.

From something as small as a terrace at the Los Angeles Country Club, to a New Hampshire mountain, nothing is too small or large for Norquist to make a push.

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