Although he isn't in office yet, President-elect Donald Trump is already making big plans. One of those include his vow to return America's tallest mountain back to its old name.
President Barack Obama changed the name nine years ago, and it appears that it's bothered Trump ever since. Obama changed the name officially to what the local Alaska native community called the mountain. It's a move that's since been replicated in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park with its former peak called Clingmans Dome.
America's tallest mountain is in the Denali National Park and Preserve in south-central Alaska. It towers over 20,000 feet. Since 1917, the mountain was officially called Mount McKinley. It honored 25th president William McKinley, who died after getting assassinated in 1901. However, in 2015, Obama changed the name to Denali. It's what the local natives called the mountain, and it is also the name of the national park.
Trump Targets Mountain
However, Trump wants to reverse that decision and made his disdain for it known during a recent appearance. He vowed to bring the original name back. "They took his name off Mount McKinley," Trump told supporters. "He was a great president. That's one of the reasons that we're going to bring back the name of Mount McKinley because I think he deserves it."
So who exactly was William McKinley? Similar to Trump, McKinley focused a lo on America's industry. Like Trump's plan, McKinley also raised tariffs on outside goods in order to promote American economics. He was also president during the Spanish-American War when the country won. It's easy to see qualities that Trump admires.
However, Obama pointed out that McKinley never visited the Alaskan mountain once during his lifetime, so the name doesn't really apply. Obama said McKinley had no "significant historical connection to the mountain or to Alaska."
Meanwhile, locals have called the mountain Denali, "the High One" for a long time. In 1975, Alaska officially adopted the name as the title of the mountain. Politics urged the federal government to also adopt the name for years. In his previous term, Trump met with two of Alaska's Republican senators.
He broached the name change to them. But the senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, were against changing the name back.
"Lisa - Sen. Murkowski - and I jumped over the desk," Sullivan said, according to the outlet. "We said no, no!"
