President Donald Trump vowed Monday to succumb the name of Alaska’s 20,310-foot Denali, the tallest peak in North America, to Mount McKinley, reigniting a long-running dispute.
“We will restore the name of a tremendous leader, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs, ” Trump said Monday after he was sworn into office at the U. S. Capitol.
Trump also said he planned alter the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and signaled he did mark executive orders to implement the modifications during his first time in business.
Trump described McKinley, the 25th leader, as “a healthy businessman” and hailed the former chairman for “making our country quite rich through taxes and through skills. ” McKinley, a Republican, likewise expanded U. S. place in the midst of the Spanish-American conflict.
A miner dubbed the top Mount McKinley in 1896 as a gift to William McKinley upon his election as a candidate for president— and the name stuck. But, debate has dogged the title for years.
In 2015, then-President Barack Obama redesignated the mountain Denali, a title long championed by Alaskans, which roughly translates to “the fantastic one ” in Koyukon Athabascan, a African Northern language.
The commitment to name Denali was opposed by economic groups and Northern officials, including Republican U. S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
“There is only one title capable of North America’s tallest hills: Denali — the Great One, ” Murkowski wrote on X after Trump referenced the program in a statement last quarter.
“Nope! It is Denali! ”, Alaska position Sen. Scott Kawaski, a Democrat , wrote alongside a picture of the snow-capped rock on Bluesky next month.
The Sierra Club, a conservation business, said renaming the top “goes against the wishes of Alaska Natives, Alaska’s elected officers, and centuries of tradition. ”
“The Koyukon people have known this hill as ‘Denali’ for ages, and even the state’s elected representatives oppose this effort to rename it, ” Athan Manuel, the chairman of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, said in a statement. “It’s evident that Donald Trump is more interested in society war feats than addressing the concerns of the American people. ”
U. S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. , a fervent Trump supporter, said last week that she would lead her team to draft regulations for the rebranding that would make it effective on national maps and operational plan, CBS New reported.
The debate over the mountain’s brand dates back more than 100 times — before the establishment of regional area where the mountain rises , according to the National Park Service.
A group drafting legislation to create a garden to defend animals disagreed on the label. One hunter-naturalist involved pushed for the area to be called “Mount Denali National Park ” in 1916, referencing a title bestowed to the hills by local people.
The federal government ultimately anointed the towering peak in the Alaska Range “Mount McKinley” in 1917, honoring the president who held office from 1897 to his assassination in 1901. The park became Mount McKinley National Park.
The debate reemerged in 1975, when the state of Alaska called for the mountain to be called Denali. While the change was blocked for decades, the park in 1980 was renamed Denali National Park and Preserve.
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