Trump Promises to Restore Original Name of North America’s Tallest Mountain

December 22, 2024 TruthUSA

The president-elect announced his intention to change the names of several U.S. military bases.

President-elect Donald Trump stated on Sunday that he would change the name of Denali, the highest mountain in the United States, back to Mount McKinley once he assumes office.

In 2015, President Barack Obama officially renamed the Alaskan mountain Denali, resolving a long-standing dispute over its designation. The peak was originally named Mount McKinley in 1917, in honor of the 25th president, William McKinley.

“They removed his name from Mount McKinley,” Trump remarked during a speech at Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest event in Arizona on Sunday.

“He was a remarkable president,” Trump added, referring to McKinley.

Trump pledged that his administration would “restore the name of Mount McKinley because I believe he deserves it,” he further stated.

Mount McKinley, standing at 20,310 feet, was named in 1896 after a gold prospector in the area heard that McKinley, an advocate for the gold standard, had received the Republican presidential nomination. McKinley served as president from 1897 until 1901 when he was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of the Interior issued an order under Obama that officially changed the mountain’s name to Denali. The directive noted that McKinley had never visited the mountain and held no significant historical ties to it or to Alaska beyond the name.

Denali means “the tall one” or “high mountain” in the local Athabascan language.

Located in the Alaska Range, Denali is the tallest peak in the U.S. and North America. However, the tallest mountain in the contiguous 48 states is Mt. Whitney in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. For climbers, Denali is considered one of the most challenging peaks to summit due to its unpredictable weather, elevation, cold temperatures, and technical difficulty.

McKinley served two terms as Ohio’s governor before becoming president in 1897, leading the nation to victory in the Spanish-American War and implementing protective tariffs to bolster U.S. industry, as stated on the White House’s official presidential website.

On Sunday, Trump noted McKinley’s commitment to tariffs, labeling him a “strong believer in tariffs” and a “very successful businessman.”

During the 2016 election, Trump had also expressed on social media his desire to revert the name back, tweeting in mid-2015, “President Obama wants to change the name of Mt. McKinley to Denali after more than 100 years. Great insult to Ohio. I will change it back!”

However, upon taking office, Trump’s efforts to rename the mountain were halted after Alaska’s senators showed resistance.

“He looked at me and said, ‘I heard that the big mountain in Alaska also had—also its name was changed by executive action,’” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) recounted to a local news outlet in 2017, recalling Trump’s inquiry. “‘Do you want us to reverse that?’” he said.

Sullivan recounted that both he and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) swiftly opposed the idea, saying, “No! No. Don’t want to reverse that.”

On Sunday, Trump indicated during the Arizona event that he plans to rename various military bases, including shifting Fort Liberty back to its original name of Fort Bragg.

“As commander in chief, I will restore the proud and historic names of our esteemed military bases like Fort Bragg,” Trump asserted. “We’re going to reclaim them. The woke movement must cease because it’s eroding our nation.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

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