webfact Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 White House says Mount McKinley to be renamed DenaliBy JOSH LEDERMAN and MARK THIESSENWASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will change the name of North America's tallest mountain peak from Mount McKinley to Denali, the White House said Sunday, a major symbolic gesture to Alaska Natives on the eve of the president's historic visit to Alaska.By renaming the peak Denali, an Athabascan word meaning "the high one," Obama waded into a sensitive and decades-old conflict between residents of Alaska and Ohio. Alaskans have informally called the mountain Denali for years, but the federal government recognizes its name invoking the 25th president, William McKinley, who was born in Ohio and assassinated early in his second term."With our own sense of reverence for this place, we are officially renaming the mountain Denali in recognition of the traditions of Alaska Natives and the strong support of the people of Alaska," said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.The announcement came as Obama prepared to open a three-day visit to Alaska aimed at infusing fresh urgency into his call to action on climate change. To the dismay of some Alaska Republicans, the White House has choreographed the trip to showcase melting glaciers and other cherished natural wonders in Alaska that Obama says are threatened by warmer temperatures.But Obama's visit is also geared toward displaying solidarity with Alaska Natives, who face immense economic challenges and have warned of insufficient help from the federal government. As his first stop after arriving in Anchorage on Monday, Obama planned to hold a listening session with Alaska Natives. The president was also expected to announce new steps to help Alaska Native communities on Wednesday when he becomes the first sitting president to visit the Alaska Arctic.It was unclear whether Ohio leaders or others would mount an effort to block the name change. There was no immediate response to inquiries seeking comment from House Speaker John Boehner and other Ohio lawmakers.At 20,320 feet, the mountain stands as the continent's tallest, and is still growing at a rate of about one millimeter per year, according to the National Park Service. Known for its majestic views, the mountain is dotted with glaciers and covered at the top with snow year-round, with powerful winds that make it difficult for the adventurous few who seek to climb it.Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who had pushed legislation for years to change the name, said Alaskans were "honored" to recognize the mountain as Denali — a change in tone for the Alaska Republican, who had spoken out against Obama's energy policies in anticipation of his visit to her state."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," Murkowski said in a video message recorded atop the mountain's Ruth Glacier, with cloudy snow-capped peaks behind her.Gov. Bill Walker joined Murkowski and other Alaskans in praising Obama for the change. The state of Alaska has had a standing request to change the name dating back to 1975, when the legislature passed a resolution and then-Gov. Jay Hammond made a request to the federal government.But those efforts and legislation in Congress have been stymied by members of Ohio's congressional delegation. Even when Mount McKinley National Park was renamed Denali National Park in 1980, the federal government retained the use of Mount McKinley to refer to the actual peak.The White House cited Jewell's authority to change the name, and Jewell issued a secretarial order officially changing it to Denali. The Interior Department said the U.S. Board on Geographic Names had been deferring to Congress since 1977, and cited a 1947 law that allows the Interior Department to change names unilaterally when the board fails to act "within a reasonable time." The board shares responsibility with the Interior Department for naming such landmarks.The peak got its officially recognized name in 1898, when a prospector was exploring mountains in central Alaska, the White House said. Upon hearing the news that McKinley, a Republican, had received his party's nomination to be president, the prospector named it after him and the name was formally recognized.Obama won't personally visit the mountain during his tour of Alaska. He'll spend much of the trip in Anchorage, south of the peak, where Obama will speak at a climate change summit on Monday. While in Alaska, Obama also planned to meet with fishermen in Dillingham, hike a glacier in Seward and cross the Arctic Circle to visit the rural town of Kotzebue.___Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.-- (c) Associated Press 2015-08-31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loptr Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Next thing you know he will be changing the name of Mt Rushmore and the American icons memorialized there because they are racist... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 That's nice. Who says Obama won't have a legacy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Troll posts removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheKnave Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I say rename McKinley, President Denali! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geriatrickid Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Next thing you know he will be changing the name of Mt Rushmore and the American icons memorialized there because they are racist... Huh? The mountain was always Denali. That's what the local natives called it, and non native Alaskans called it that too, The McKinley name was forced on the locals. If the Ohio congressional delegation was so obsessed with the legacy of the assassinated president, then they should name another one of their local eyesores in Toledo after the guy. It was idiotic to force the renaming of a local heritage site after someone without any connection whatsoever to the location. How many monuments to his name were needed? Smart move that rights a wrong, only partially corrected in 1980 when Carter returned the name of the national park to Denali from McKinley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F430murci Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I am sure Obama will being looking to change the name if the White House to Black House, Crack House or some more PC before he leaves office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publicus Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 The mountain was named McKinley long before Alaska became a state and once it became a state in 1959 it starting petitioning Washington to change the official name to the actual one. It has finally happened with the support of Sen Murkowski and the governor among many locals. Alaska is one of 27 (or 28) states that have a native name derived from the native inhabitants. The name Alaska comes from the Aleut word alakshak, meaning peninsula or great land. (There are several accounts of the origin names of states.) People in Ohio should understand as the name of their state derives from the Haudenosaunee word oheo or ohioway for the confluence of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers meaning good river and also beautiful river. If Speaker Boehner doesn't like it he might consider going and climbing the mountain and plant a flag. Read more: http://www.powwows.com/2012/03/27/do-you-live-in-a-native-american-state/#ixzz3kMIGdsFg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publicus Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I am sure Obama will being looking to change the name if the White House to Black House, Crack House or some more PC before he leaves office. Predictably OTT right wing garbage redneck post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzik Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) I am sure Obama will being looking to change the name if the White House to Black House, Crack House or some more PC before he leaves office. " The Bathhouse" would be appropriate; especially when Reggie Love was in town. This is hardcore Cultural Marxism. The same denigration of the majority culture and people was done to the Slavic majority by the Bolchevicks in the Soviet Union ( who were overwhemingly non-Russian; especially during the first two decades of the Red Terror) Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote extensively about this history. Edited August 31, 2015 by Merzik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifeincnx Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 No one in Alaska calls it Mount McKinley. It's been Denali for as long as I remember. But maybe they could rename Wasilla "Palinville". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publicus Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Now we've gone from the Black House to Cultural Marxism and a Red Terror. It's morning in Thailand and the looney birds are chirping. Ronnie Raygun Reagan liked to cite the "shining city on the hill" in his morning in America speeches but he never gave credit where credit was due. First Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts twelve times elected coined the term in the 1630s by expanding on the native American name of the state, massawachusett, an Algonquian Narragansett people's name, which means 'green hill.' Rise and shine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgjackson69 Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Truly, who cares? Changing a geographical name is no big thing. It is not as if McKinley was a native son of Alaska. But since it is the Obama Administration, it must be made political. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Credo Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I am sure some are upset about the name change because McKinley was a republican, I believe. I don't think there is much in the way of politics here, otherwise he would have named it something like Mt. Sharpton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomerangutang Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Good move! I've liked Obama all along, and still like him. On a side note: Let's get Mount Everest back to its Tibetan name: Chomolungma Doesn't that sound better than naming the world's tallest mountain after a surveyor who was at a desk in Benares at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baerboxer Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Good move! I've liked Obama all along, and still like him. On a side note: Let's get Mount Everest back to its Tibetan name: Chomolungma Doesn't that sound better than naming the world's tallest mountain after a surveyor who was at a desk in Benares at the time. Why - what do you have against Nepal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seastallion Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I am sure Obama will being looking to change the name if the White House to Black House, Crack House or some more PC before he leaves office. Your cynicism is absurd (to put it nicely), and trollish...but I hope your post does not get deleted, just to remind everyone of your ....hmmmm, I can't think of a word that would not be inflammatory. Crack House? Really? Just because he's black? Your racism is not subtle at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seastallion Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Good move! I've liked Obama all along, and still like him. On a side note: Let's get Mount Everest back to its Tibetan name: Chomolungma Doesn't that sound better than naming the world's tallest mountain after a surveyor who was at a desk in Benares at the time. I agree with native names being the first choice. But in Everest's case, "Hilary" would be acceptable, don't you think? No Sherpa had conquered the mountain before Hilary. Mind you, perhaps Mount Norgay would be better than "Hillary". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckd Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Good move! I've liked Obama all along, and still like him. On a side note: Let's get Mount Everest back to its Tibetan name: Chomolungma Doesn't that sound better than naming the world's tallest mountain after a surveyor who was at a desk in Benares at the time. But wouldn't that ruin Hillary's claim she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary, the first conqueror of Mount Chomolungma? Doesn't seem to have the same mystic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Credo Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Please don't rename it Mount Hillary. I don't think anyone wants to mount Hillary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timendres Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Thank God we are focused on the real issues facing the United States... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) This is a popular decision and a good one. Americans romanticize native Americans. Americans don't give a flying fig about President McKinley! Maybe if it was Mount Reagan things would be different. Besides, Denali is much sweeter on the ear. Edited August 31, 2015 by Jingthing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDGRUEN Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Obama would pander to a cannibal by giving him someone to eat ... it he thought it would get him a few political points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seastallion Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Good move! I've liked Obama all along, and still like him. On a side note: Let's get Mount Everest back to its Tibetan name: Chomolungma Doesn't that sound better than naming the world's tallest mountain after a surveyor who was at a desk in Benares at the time. But wouldn't that ruin Hillary's claim she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary, the first conqueror of Mount Chomolungma? Doesn't seem to have the same mystic. Your feeble attempt to introduce one of HRC's mis-speaks as a way to demonise her, fails with your word choice. "Mystique", perhaps? But even that is a silly choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Obama would pander to a cannibal by giving him someone to eat ... it he thought it would get him a few political points. What politician wouldn't? Anyway Obama doesn't need to pander anymore. He's won his last election, thank you very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seastallion Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Please don't rename it Mount Hillary. I don't think anyone wants to mount Hillary. Come now,......you or me, now, and her 30 years ago, with a few beers.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil B Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Houston airport next??? And a few aircraft carriers due for a new name... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWMcMurray Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) Surprised about All the talking of politics on this... This really doesn't have anything to do with Politics Spent some time living in that area of Alaska.. The National Park is called Denali National Park.. The town right outside is called Denali.. And all the locals call the Mountain Denali ( not just Native Americans) but all the locals So seems just like a correction on the books for what everyone already calls it.. Edited August 31, 2015 by CWMcMurray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publicus Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) Interesting or perhaps curious McKinley is the prez to get aced out in the here and now. McKinley barely won election in 1896 and he won reelection in 1900 by one Electoral College vote (271 with 270 needed to win). Each time he won the states Barack Obama has won in his elections, with only a few exceptions such as Kentucky and West Virginia. McKinley starting in 1896 assembled a transformational electoral coalition that won four straight presidential elections for the Republican party. McKinley forged a coalition in which businessmen, professionals, skilled factory workers and prosperous farmers were heavily represented; he was strongest in the Northeast, Upper Midwest, and Pacific Coast. William Jennings Bryan was the nominee of the Democrats, the Populist Party, and the Silver Republicans. He was strongest in the South, rural Midwest, and Rocky Mountain states. http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential-elections That's the reverse of the general regional voting patterns in each of the present elections of the prez going back to Bush-Clinton in 1992. And it's noted Bryan's budding coalition came to strongly influence the presidencies of FDR, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson. Alaska was admitted as the 49th state in 1959 knowing it was a Republican party state while Hawaii was admitted the same year as the 50th state knowing it was a Democratic party state, each having 3 electoral college votes at the time (Hawaii now has 4). Prez Obama is of course native born from Hawaii and he is a Democrat. Everyone elected from Alaska is a Republican. There are several origin accounts of the name Hawaii, a logical one being the name of the Polynesian guy who first landed on it and settled it, Hawaii Loa. Edited August 31, 2015 by Publicus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publicus Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Thank God we are focused on the real issues facing the United States... God knows this is how elections are won so that Americans can finally get a new law called Obamacare. And a few other laws, treaties, Agreements to boot. This trip to Alaska, where the locals say they look at their natural setting and see the hand of God, has a focus on climate change, global warming and the related issues. Prez McKinley btw never visited Alaska which means he never saw his mountain that was never his in the first place. God has his ways y'know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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