On Monday, Donald Trump issued a presidential order requesting that the highest peak in North America, Mount Denali in Alaska, be renamed Mount McKinley, as it was previously known.
He stated his intention to “restore the name of a great president, William McKinley,” explaining that “the president made our country very wealthy through tariffs.”
With this move, the new president revives an idea he had floated years ago, not without sparking reactions.
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski expressed strong opposition, stating she disagrees with Trump’s desire to change Denali’s name.
The mountain, which stands at 6,190 meters (20,310 feet), was named McKinley in 1896 in honor of the then newly-elected Republican president William McKinley.
It was renamed Denali (which means “the great” or “the tall” in a local indigenous language) in 2015 by the Obama administration to reflect the traditions of Alaska’s native people. The renaming had been requested since 1975 but faced resistance from politicians and members of Congress from Ohio, McKinley’s home state.
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