Denali–Mount McKinley naming dispute
This change action was repeatedly blocked by members of the congressional delegation from Ohio, the home state of the mountain's presidential namesake.
[7] In December 2024, President-elect Donald Trump stated that he planned to revert the mountain's official name to Mount McKinley during his second term.
[8][9] On January 20, 2025, during his inauguration speech, President Trump repeated his pledge to reverse the name change of the mountain, and later that evening, he signed an executive order directing the same.
[1][14] The historical first European sighting of Denali took place on May 6, 1794, when George Vancouver was surveying the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet and mentioned "distant stupendous mountains" in his journal.
[13] The mountain was first designated "Mount McKinley" by a New Hampshire-born Seattleite named William Dickey, who led a gold prospecting dig in the sands of the Susitna River in June 1896.
An account written on his return to the contiguous United States appeared in The New York Sun on January 24, 1897, under the title Discoveries in Alaska (1896).
This led to sentiment favoring commemoration of his memory, and the Federal government officially adopted the name Mount McKinley in 1917, when Congress passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed into law "An Act to establish the Mount McKinley National Park in the territory of Alaska" (Public Act No.
[24][25] Ohio congressman Ralph Regula (whose district included Canton, where McKinley spent much of his life) opposed action by the U.S. Board and was able to prevent it.
[24] Later, in 1977, with Secretary Morton no longer at the helm of the Department of the Interior, the Board again prepared to consider the name change, but Regula gathered signatures from every member of the Ohio congressional delegation against renaming Mount McKinley, and no ruling was made.
[34] Despite efforts in Alaska, Ohio Representatives Betty Sutton and Tim Ryan assumed Regula's role as congressional guardians of the Mount McKinley name and introduced H.R.
In June 2015 testimony to Congress, the National Park Service's associate director stated that the NPS "has no objection to adopting the name of Denali for Mt.
[39] Presidential candidate Donald Trump called the name change a "great insult to Ohio" and vowed to reverse the decision if elected.
[40] All 13 Republican members of Ohio's congressional delegation signed a letter of complaint denouncing the "troubling" action of the Obama administration: "William McKinley's legacy has been tarnished by a political stunt.
"[41] U.S. Representative Mike Turner of Ohio vowed to fight the change: "I'm certain [Obama] didn't notify President McKinley's descendants, who find this outrageous.
[43]Ohio native and junior Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, said he was "gratified" that President Obama changed the name.
That's one of the reasons that we're going to bring back the name of Mount McKinley, because I think he deserves it.Both U.S. senators from Alaska, Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, along with Alaska State Senator Scott Kawasaki, a Democrat, strongly opposed Trump's decision, saying "There is only one name worthy of North America’s tallest mountain: Denali — the Great One".
[11][12] The same day, the Associated Press announced that it would use Mount McKinley instead of Denali, with the reasoning that as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names of features lying within national borders.
