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Denali Denali (), federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring . On p. 20 of Helm ...
, the highest mountain in North America, became a subject of dispute in 1975, when the
Alaska Legislature The Alaska State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There a ...
asked the U.S. federal government to officially change its name from "Mount McKinley" to "Denali". The name ''Denali'' is based on the Koyukon name of the mountain, ('the high one'). The Koyukon are a people of Alaskan Athabaskans (also known as Dena), who settled in the interior area north of the mountain. The mountain had been unofficially named Mount McKinley in 1896 by a gold prospector and officially by the federal government in 1917 to commemorate
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...
, who was
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. In 1975, the Alaskan government officially recognized Denali as the mountain's name and requested that the mountain be officially recognized as Denali by the federal government, as it was still the common name used in the state and was traditional among Alaska Native peoples. This change action was repeatedly blocked by members of the congressional delegation from Ohio, the home state of the mountain's presidential namesake,
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...
. In August 2015, Secretary of the Interior
Sally Jewell Sarah Margaret "Sally" Roffey Jewell (born February 21, 1956) is a British-American business executive and environmentalist who served as the 51st United States secretary of the interior in the Obama administration from 2013 to 2017. Jewell was ...
officially changed the name to Denali in all federal documents. This came ahead of a visit by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
to Alaska in the first week of September 2015. The Obama administration's measure was met with immediate criticism from the entire congressional delegation from Ohio. In December 2024,
President-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Un ...
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
stated that he planned to revert the mountain's federal name to Mount McKinley during his second term. Trump's proposal was met with criticism from many prominent Alaskans. Upon his inauguration in January 2025, Trump signed executive order
Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness Executive Order 14172, titled "Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness", is an executive order signed by Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States, on January 20, 2025, the day of his Second inauguration of Donald Trump, secon ...
which changed the mountain's official federal name back to Mount McKinley.


Historic names

Numerous Indigenous peoples of the area had their own names for this prominent peak. The local Koyukon
Athabaskan Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, ...
name for the mountain, used by the Indigenous Americans with access to the flanks of the mountain (living in the
Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...
, Tanana and
Kuskokwim The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River ( Yupʼik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanekʼ''; (''Kuskokvim'')) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the Unit ...
basins), is or ( or ). To the South the Dena'ina people in the Susitna River valley used the name ('the big mountain'), anglicized as ''Doleika'' or ''Traleika'', as in Traleika Glacier. The historical first European sighting of Denali took place on May 6, 1794, when
George Vancouver Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...
was surveying the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet and mentioned "distant stupendous mountains" in his journal. However, he uncharacteristically left the mountain unnamed. The mountain is first named on a map by Ferdinand von Wrangel in 1839; the names Tschigmit and ''Tenada'' correspond to the locations of Mount Foraker and McKinley, respectively. Von Wrangel had been chief administrator of the Russian settlements in North America from 1829 to 1835. During the Russian ownership of Alaska, the common name for the mountain was (). The first English names applied to the peak was ''Densmore's Mountain'' and ''Densmore's Peak'', for the gold prospector Frank Densmore, who in 1889 had fervently praised the mountain's majesty; however, the name persevered only locally and informally.


McKinley naming

The mountain was first designated "Mount McKinley" by a New Hampshire-born
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
ite 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 The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...
appeared in ''
The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative Online newspaper, news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) onlin ...
'' on January 24, 1897, under the title ''Discoveries in Alaska (1896)''. Dickey wrote, "We named our great peak Mount McKinley, after William McKinley of Ohio, who had been nominated for the Presidency, and that fact was the first news we received on our way out of that wonderful wilderness." By most accounts, the naming was politically driven; Dickey had met many silver miners who zealously promoted Democratic presidential candidate
William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...
's ideal of a
silver standard The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. Silver was far more widespread than gold as the monetary standard worldwide, from the Sumerians 3000 BC until 1873. Following t ...
, inspiring him to retaliate by naming the mountain after a strong proponent of the
gold standard A gold standard is a backed currency, monetary system in which the standard economics, economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the ...
. McKinley never visited Alaska or had any connection to the mountain. In a
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...
(USGS) report in 1900,
Josiah Edward Spurr Josiah Edward Spurr (1870–1950) was an American geologist, explorer, and author. Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, he was considered something of a failure as a youth, unsuited for the family fishing business, since on a voyage he invariably ...
refers to "the giant mountain variously known to Americans as Mount Allen, Mount McKinley, or Bulshaia, the latter being a corruption of the Russian adjective meaning big." The 1900 report otherwise calls it ''Mount McKinley'', as does the 1911 USGS report ''The Mount McKinley Region, Alaska''. McKinley was assassinated early in his second term, in September 1901. 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. 353).


Alaska State Board on Geographic Names name change

Alaskans, mountaineers, and
Alaska Natives Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tli ...
have commonly referred to the mountain by its Koyukon Athabaskan name ''Denali'', by . In 1975, the Alaska State Board on Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain to Denali, and, at Governor
Jay Hammond Jay Sterner Hammond (July 21, 1922 – August 2, 2005) was an American politician of the Republican Party, who served as the fourth governor of Alaska from 1974 to 1982. Hammond was born in Troy, New York and served as a Marine Corps fighter pi ...
's behest, the
Alaska Legislature The Alaska State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There a ...
officially requested that the
United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...
(BGN), the federal governmental body responsible for naming geographic features in the United States, change the name of the mountain from "Mount McKinley" to "Denali". 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. At first, the Board consideration was delayed by opposition from Secretary of the Interior
Rogers Morton Rogers Clark Ballard Morton (September 19, 1914 – April 19, 1979) was an American politician who served as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce during the administrations of presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, ...
, under whose purview the board fell, as he personally did not favor a change of the mountain's name. 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. On December 2, 1980, with President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
's signing into law of the
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a United States federal law signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980. ANILCA provided varying degrees of special protection to over of land, including national parks, n ...
(ANILCA), McKinley National Park—which had been created on February 26, 1917—was incorporated into a larger protected area named
Denali National Park and Preserve Denali National Park and Preserve, formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park, is a List of national parks of the United States, United States national park and National preserve, preserve located in Interior Alaska, centered on Denali (feder ...
. Naming the new, larger park Denali, while retaining the name Mount McKinley for the actual mountain was thought to be a compromise by many "Mount McKinley" partisans. However, "Denali" advocates, including Alaska Congressman
Don Young Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022) was an American politician from Alaska. He is the List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service, longest-serving Republican Party (United States), Republican in House ...
, rejected the position that the 1980 action constituted a real compromise, and instead argued that naming the mountain and park by different names only created confusion. While the Board was originally set to make a ruling on December 10, 1980, with the passage of Lands Conservation Act on December 2, they opted to defer their ruling yet again. The following year, Regula used a procedural maneuver to prevent any change to the Mount McKinley name. Under U.S. Board on Geographic Names policy, the Board cannot consider any name-change proposal if congressional legislation relating to that name is pending. Thus, Regula began a biennial legislative tradition of either introducing language into Interior Department appropriation bills, or introducing a stand-alone bill that directed that the name of Mount McKinley should not be changed. This effectively killed the Denali name-change proposal pending with the Board.


Renewed efforts to change name – 2009 to 2015

In 2009, the retirement of Regula reinvigorated interest in renaming the mountain. Alaska State Representative Scott Kawasaki sponsored Alaska House Joint Resolution 15, which urges the U.S. Congress to rename the mountain Denali. Despite efforts in Alaska, Ohio Representatives
Betty Sutton Betty Sue Sutton (born July 31, 1963) is an American politician who currently serves as a Judge of Ohio's 9th District Court of Appeals. She previously served as a U.S. Representative for from 2007 to 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Par ...
and Tim Ryan assumed Regula's role as congressional guardians of the Mount McKinley name and introduced H.R. 229 which reads: "Notwithstanding any other authority of law, the mountain located 63 degrees 04 minutes 12 seconds north, by 151 degrees 00 minutes 18 seconds west shall continue to be named and referred to for all purposes as Mount McKinley." A January 2015 bill submitted by Alaska Senator
Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann Murkowski ( ; born May 22, 1957) is an American attorney and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Alaska, having held the seat since 2002. She is the first woman ...
once again proposed renaming the peak to Denali. In June 2015 testimony to Congress, the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
's associate director stated that the NPS "has no objection to adopting the name of Denali for Mt. McKinley".


2015: Official federal name changed to Denali

On August 28, 2015,
Sally Jewell Sarah Margaret "Sally" Roffey Jewell (born February 21, 1956) is a British-American business executive and environmentalist who served as the 51st United States secretary of the interior in the Obama administration from 2013 to 2017. Jewell was ...
renamed the mountain Denali, under authority of federal law which permits her as Secretary of the Interior to name geographic features if the Board on Geographic Names does not act within a "reasonable" period of time. In media interviews, Jewell cited the board's failure to act on the state's four-decade-old request, saying "I think any of us would think that 40 years is an unreasonable amount of time."


Reactions to name change

Ohio Republicans were critical of the renaming.
John Boehner John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. representative ...
, a Representative from Ohio who served as
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House or House speaker, is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United ...
at the time of the name change, said he was "deeply disappointed" by the change, while Regula, who had retired by the time of the name change, commented that Obama "thinks he is a dictator". Presidential candidate
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
called the name change a "great insult to Ohio" and vowed to reverse the decision if elected. 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." U.S. Representative Mike Turner of Ohio vowed to fight the change: "I'm certain bamadidn't notify President McKinley's descendants, who find this outrageous." Not all the state's elected Republicans agreed, however, such as
Ohio Secretary of State The secretary of state of Ohio is an elected statewide official in the state of Ohio. The Secretary of state (U.S. state government), secretary of state is responsible for overseeing elections in the state; registering business entities (corp ...
Jon A. Husted:
I wouldn't want people from Alaska telling me what things in Ohio should be. So I guess we shouldn't tell people from Alaska what they should do in their own state.
In February 2015, in response to the objections from Ohio, Senator
Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann Murkowski ( ; born May 22, 1957) is an American attorney and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Alaska, having held the seat since 2002. She is the first woman ...
of Alaska, a Republican, said:
There's a lot of things in Ohio that are already named after McKinley. This is no affront to our former president; this is all about ensuring that respect for the land and respect for the native people of the region is afforded.
Ohio native and junior Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, said he was "gratified" that President Obama changed the name. Alaska Governor Bill Walker, an independent, said: "Alaska's place names should reflect and respect the rich cultural history of our state, and officially recognizing the name Denali does just that." On August 30, 2015, speaking from Denali's Ruth Glacier, Senator Murkowski said:
For centuries, Alaskans have known this majestic mountain as the 'Great One'. Today we are honored to be able to officially recognize the mountain as Denali. I'd like to thank the President for working with us to achieve this significant change to show honor, respect and gratitude to the Athabascan people of Alaska.
During a "
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
-focused" visit in the first week of September 2015, Obama restated the renaming of the mountain. On September 6, 2015, former Alaska Governor
Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nomi ...
criticized Obama's Alaskan visit and also voiced her opposition to the name change: "The name of the national park was changed to Denali some years ago. So I thought that was good enough. We could keep McKinley as the highest peak on the North American continent. We could keep that name McKinley." After the 2016 presidential election, President Trump and Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke Ryan Keith Zinke ( ; born November 1, 1961) is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. representative for since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Zinke served in the Montana Senate from 2009 to 2013 and as the U.S. re ...
asked Alaskan senators Dan Sullivan and
Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann Murkowski ( ; born May 22, 1957) is an American attorney and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Alaska, having held the seat since 2002. She is the first woman ...
whether they wanted Trump to reverse the name change. The two senators told Trump that they did not want this, and Trump agreed not to reverse the name change.


2024–2025: Official federal name changed back to Mount McKinley

After he won reelection in 2024, President Donald Trump said to supporters in a speech at the AmericaFest convention which was hosted by
Turning Point USA Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for Conservatism in the United States, conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses. It was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgo ...
:
McKinley was a very good, maybe a great president. They took his name off Mount McKinley. That's what they do to people. President McKinley was the president that was responsible for creating a vast sum of money. 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 Lisa Ann Murkowski ( ; born May 22, 1957) is an American attorney and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Alaska, having held the seat since 2002. She is the first woman ...
and Dan Sullivan, along with Alaska State Senator Scott Kawasaki, a Democrat, strongly opposed Trump's decision. Murkowski wrote: "There is only one name worthy of North America’s tallest mountain: Denali — the Great One". On January 20, 2025, on his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order requiring the Obama-era name change to be reverted by the Secretary of the Interior within 30 days of signing. The order includes having members appointed to the Board on Geographic Names to aid in the order's fullfillment. On January 23, 2025, the
Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...
changed the mountain's official federal name back to Mount McKinley. The same day, the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
reverted to using Mount McKinley instead of Denali, reasoning that as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names of features lying within national borders. On February 13, 2025, Murkowski introduced a bill, co-sponsored by Sullivan, to officially restore the name Denali to the federal government.


See also

*
Dual naming Dual naming is the adoption of an official place name that combines two earlier names, or uses both names, often to resolve a disagreement over which of the two individual names is more appropriate. In some cases, the reasons are political. Som ...
*''
Molly of Denali ''Molly of Denali'' (stylized in all caps) is an animated children's television series produced by WGBH-TV, WGBH Kids and animated by Atomic Cartoons, created by Dorothea Gillim and Kathy Waugh for PBS Kids and CBC Kids.
'', an animated children's television series featuring a modern-day Alaska Native protagonist * Gulf of Mexico naming controversy


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denali-Mount McKinley naming dispute 2010s in American politics 2020s in American politics 2015 controversies in the United States 2025 controversies in the United States 2015 in Alaska 2025 in Alaska Alaska placenames of Native American origin American toponymy Naming dispute Geographical naming disputes Legal history of Alaska Mountain names Names of places in the Americas Native American history of Alaska Native American-related controversies Political controversies in the United States Political history of Alaska Politics of Ohio William McKinley