Trump signs order to rename North America’s tallest mountain to honor Niles-born U.S. president
President Donald Trump issued several executive orders during his first week back in office, including changing the name of North America’s tallest mountain.
According to President Trump’s executive order, the mountain will regain its original name in honor of Ohioan William McKinley.
Mount McKinley is located in the Alaska Range, and the executive order explains that the national park area surrounding Mount McKinley will still be called the Denali National Park and Preserve.
The executive order says the Secretary of the Interior will officially bring the name “Mount McKinley” back on federal maps and records within the next 30 days.
History of Denali National Park and Preserve
The name was changed from Mount McKinley to Mount Denali in 2015, which was supported by Native Americans in Alaska to honor the history of several Indigenous groups, including: the Ahtna, Dena’ina, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, and Tanana peoples.
Denali translates to “the high one,” according to the National Park Service. Mount Denali is 20,310 feet tall, making it the tallest mountain in North America.
The Koyukon Athabaskan tribe were the first in recorded history to climb the mountain and live in the millions of acres of wildlife in the area.
Trump first announced his intent to change the name back to Mount McKinley during a speech at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix.
In the executive order, it reads:
“In 1917, the country officially honored President McKinley through the naming of North America’s highest peak. Yet after nearly a century, President Obama’s administration, in 2015, stripped the McKinley name from federal nomenclature, an affront to President McKinley’s life, his achievements, and his sacrifice. He was tragically assassinated in an attack on our Nation’s values and our success, and he should be honored for his steadfast commitment to American greatness.”
Who was William McKinley?
William McKinley was born on South Main Street on January 29, 1843 in Niles.
According to Trump’s executive order, the name reinstatement “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.”
Before becoming president, McKinley attended classes in a one-room schoolhouse in Niles, now home to the memorial as well as the McKinley Memorial Library.
McKinley had seven siblings and his father owned several Ohio iron foundries.
After briefly attending Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania and working as a schoolteacher, McKinley joined the Poland Guards. He was a private in the Union Army’s newly-formed 23d Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment recruited from Poland, Ohio.
After the Civil War, McKinley went to school to study law before coming back to Ohio to start his own law office in Canton in 1867.
In 1877, McKinley won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1890, Rep. McKinley became attached to the Republican-supported tariff bill, commonly called the McKinley Tariff.
According to Tax Foundation, tariffs are “taxes levied on foreign goods, generally with the intention of increasing the consumption of goods manufactured at home.”
Clothes, metals, cotton, sugar and other items were affected by the tax.
From 1892 to 1896, McKinley became the 39th Governor of Ohio and the Republican party’s pick for president.
Then, McKinley won the election of 1896, campaigning about restoring American prosperity through high tariffs.
