Denali was around before General Motors existed. Denali was ancient before President McKinley was born. Denali had its name before this land was called America. As the highest mountain peak in North America, Denali is the rightful name of the Great One.
Why then are Ohio Republicans fuming at the renaming of Mount McKinley? Simply because William McKinley was born in Ohio. Why are others complaining about Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell changing the name of Mount McKinley to Denali? Simply because she’s a member of President Barack Obama’s administration and some Americans will grasp at any excuse to criticize Obama, no matter how illegitimate.
Renaming the mountain Denali is an illegitimate complaint. “Denali” is the Athabaskan word meaning “the great one.” Native Americans living on the flanks of Denali gave the mountain that name long before any non-indigenous American ever laid eyes on it.
Then in 1896, a gold prospector from Seattle named William Dickey saw the mountain and was understandably inspired by it. He returned to the lower 48 states the following year and published an article in The New York Sun about the mountain calling it “Mount McKinley.” That was the first most Americans had ever heard of the mountain and they had no idea that it was actually named Denali.
But the mountain was not given its new name to honor President McKinley. He was not even president when it was first called by his name. McKinley had just been nominated to the Republican ticket for the presidency when the gold prospector named it after the presidential candidate because McKinley supported the gold standard. In fact, McKinley never set foot within a thousand miles of the mountain.
Some people say that it was dishonorable to change the name of the mountain back to Denali. But Alaskans and Native Americans from the region thought it was dishonorable to name it Mount McKinley in the first place. They have been lobbying to get the name officially changed back to Denali for decades. The Ohio delegation has been blocking those efforts by continually introducing legislation to keep the name Mount McKinley.
However, Congress passed a law in 1947 stating that the Secretary of the Interior shall “provide for uniformity in geographic nomenclature and orthography throughout the Federal Government” (i.e. specify the official name for geographic features in the USA). Renaming Denali was not President Obama running an end-around Congress. It was Sally Jewell exercising the function that Congress authorized her to perform.
Now its traditional name has been restored to Denali. No, I’m not talking about the SUV—I’m talking about one of the Seven Natural Wonders of North America. The Great One once again has a name befitting its grandeur.
The Progressive Zone 