JUNEAU, Alaska — President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday calling for North America's tallest peak — Denali in Alaska — to be renamed Mount McKinley, reviving an idea he'd floated years ago and drawing a rebuke from Alaska's Republican senior senator.
The order came hours after Trump, who took office for a second time Monday, said he planned to ''restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs. President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent.''
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski in a statement said she disagrees strongly with Trump wanting to change Denali's name.
''Our nation's tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska's Koyukon Athabascans, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial," she said.
According to the National Park Service, a prospector in 1896 dubbed the peak ''Mount McKinley'' for William McKinley, who was elected president that year. McKinley had never been to Alaska. The name was formally recognized by the U.S. government until it was changed in 2015 by the Obama administration to Denali, to reflect the traditions of Alaska Natives and preference of many Alaskans. The move drew opposition from lawmakers in McKinley's home state of Ohio.
Denali is an Athabascan word meaning ''the high one'' or ''the great one.'' The iconic 20,310-foot (6,190-meter) mountain, snow-capped and dotted with glaciers, is in Denali National Park and Preserve. The Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of Athabascan tribes in Interior Alaska, spent years advocating for the peak to be recognized as Denali.
Trump's executive order celebrates McKinley, saying the 25th president ''championed tariffs to protect U.S. manufacturing, boost domestic production, and drive U.S. industrialization and global reach to new heights.'' McKinley, a Republican, was assassinated early in his second term in 1901.
"This order honors President McKinley for giving his life for our great Nation and dutifully recognizes his historic legacy of protecting America's interests and generating enormous wealth for all Americans," the document states.
