U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he intends to rename Denali, North America’s highest peak, back to Mount McKinley, honoring the 25th U.S. president, William McKinley, who was assassinated in 1901.
In 2015, former President Barack Obama officially renamed the mountain Denali, a name used by Alaska natives, ending a long-standing debate. The peak had been known as Mount McKinley since 1917.
Trump, speaking to supporters in Phoenix, expressed his belief that McKinley, who was a great president, deserved the honor. He added that his administration would restore the name Mount McKinley.
The mountain, which rises more than 20,000 feet, was named after McKinley in 1896 by a gold prospector who admired the president’s support of the gold standard.
The U.S. Department of the Interior, under Obama’s directive, noted that McKinley had never visited the mountain nor had any significant connection to Alaska. Denali, meaning “the High One” in the local Athabascan language, had been recognized as the peak’s name by the state of Alaska since 1975.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, criticized Trump’s plan, asserting that Denali is the only name worthy of the mountain. McKinley, a former Ohio governor and president, is remembered for leading the U.S. through the Spanish-American War and implementing protective tariffs to support American industry.
