(Headline USA) President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to rename North America’s tallest peak, Denali in Alaska, as Mount McKinley—reviving an idea he’d floated years ago that at that time saw strong pushback from state political leaders.
Trump, who took office for a second time Monday, said he planned to “restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs. President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent.”
Trump also announced plans to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Messages left for Alaska’s three-member Republican congressional delegation and Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy weren’t immediately returned.
Alaska’s U.S. senators in 2017 vehemently opposed a prior suggestion by Trump that the name Denali be changed back to Mount McKinley.
In 2015, then-President Barack Obama changed the name to Denali to reflect the traditions of Alaska Natives and acknowledge the preference of many Alaska residents.
The federal government in recent years has sought to change place names considered disrespectful to Native people.
Denali is an Athabascan word meaning “the high one” or “the great one.” The iconic 20,310-foot mountain, snow-capped and dotted with glaciers, is in Denali National Park and Preserve.
A prospector in 1896 dubbed the peak “Mount McKinley” after President William McKinley, who had never been to Alaska.
The name was formally recognized by the U.S. government until Obama changed it—in spite of opposition from lawmakers in McKinley’s home state of Ohio.
Trump raised the notion of a name change again during a rally late last year, following his election.
“McKinley was a very good, maybe a great president,” Trump said in December. “They took his name off Mount McKinley, right? That’s what they do to people.”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
