Obama Will Restore Mt. McKinley's Name To Denali On Alaska Trip

[Fearless]

WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday will officially restore Denali as the name of North America's tallest mountain, ending a 40-year battle over what to call the peak that has been known as Mount McKinley.

The symbolic gesture comes at the beginning of a three-day trip to Alaska where Obama hopes to build support for his efforts to address climate change during his remaining 16 months in office.

The peak was named Mount McKinley in 1896 after a gold prospector exploring the region heard that Ohioan William McKinley, a champion of the gold standard, had won the Republican nomination for president.

But Alaska natives had long before called the mountain Denali, meaning "the High One." In 1975, the state of Alaska officially designated the mountain as Denali, and has since been pressing the federal government to do the same.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-denali-alaska_55e36f8ce4b0aec9f35398f3?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013&section=politics

-------------------------

[Cry]

1. Geography is when I was taught the mountain is Mt. McKineley

but during my fact-finding research, I happen to be very fond of the name "Denali" - and it really fits. I'm glad Obama is doing the right thing.

[passiveporcupine]

24. Me too...I love the name Denali

As it should be. Thanks Obama.

[Journeyman]

2. McKinley will always have his monument at Antietam, where he "served" his countrymen . . .

From the monument:

[center]WILLIAM McKINLEY

January 29, 1843 - September 14, 1901
Fourteen Years Member of Congress
Twice Governor of Ohio 1892-3 and 1894-5
Twice President of United States 1897 - 1900 - 1901

Sergeant McKinley Co. E. 23rd Ohio Vol. Infantry,
while in charge of the Commissary Department,
on the afternoon of the day of the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862,
personally and without orders served "hot coffee" and "warm food"
to every man in the Regiment,
on this spot and in doing so had to pass under fire.

[Facility Inspector]

3. Supplying fellow soldiers under fire

is actually very courageous.

And very necessary.

[Journeyman]

7. I didn't say it wasn't. Hell of a monument for it, though, wouldn't you agree?. . .

Especially when compared to the markers at the Burnside Bridge, just a hundred meters down the hill, the place from which the men McKinley served had just passed over after a day's fighting.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/piedmont_fossil/19843473750

[surrealAmerican]

9. I kind of love this monument.

It's a question of values. Is feeding people as important as killing people, or destroying the enemy's things?

It's an odd monument, but it puts things in a different perspective.

[Facility Inspector]

18. We've always memorialized our United States Presidents

[hardluck]

34. I like that he was a sergeant

Enlisted as a private and worked his way up to brevet major. He didn't buy his commission. That's impressive.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. Oooooo, they gon' be mad

[nxylas]

15. They already are

The first I heard about it was when I saw a post on Facebook about it. I don't even know the poster, and have no idea how she came to be in my friends list, she just sort of appeared there. Most of the stuff she posts is innocuous "follow your dreams" glurge, but this was her in "I'm outraged, because Obama" mode. No indication of what is supposed to be outrageous about it, the best the people posting replies could manage is the usual "aren't there more important things he could be doing?" that reich-wingnuts always resort to when they don't want to say the real reason they're upset with Obama.

[roguevalley]

30. I live here. no one calls it McKinley. tell that person to shut up. the native people win this one

[Beartracks]

45. "States' rights! States' rights!" Unless/until...

a) Obama acknowledges or responds positively to what a state wants;

b) a state seeks something that acknowledges or responds to native or traditional things;

c) the state has a Democratic Governor; or

d) Obama.

=============

[GoCubsGo]

5. Meanwhile, an intern at Fox News is now checking if "Denali" is in the Quran.

But, seriously, I thought it had been renamed "Denali" back when they renamed the National Park. I have been calling it "Mt. Denali" for almost 30 years. Better late than never, I guess. I'm sure the wing nuts are having a huge hissy fit over it, though.

[Nye Bevan]

6. I've been there and everyone I met (not just the natives) called it Denali (nt)

[Shandris]

8. I never heard the word before today.

I was taught Mt. McKinley by this ancient video game I used to have (I didn't even know where it was supposed to be at!), and that just stuck in my mind for too many years.

Interesting to learn about it and the naming of the park/mountain. Sounds better, too.

[Agony]

10. about time...

Ohioans will just have to get over it…

Kudos to President Obama for honoring native americans.

[bvf]

69. "Ohioans will just have to get over it…"

HEY!

We're not all like that, y'know...

[randome]

11. Was it the Daily Show or Jon Oliver that did a spot on this?

Regardless, it's good news.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[2naSalit]

21. Jon Stewart...

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/vbp8i5/living-in-denali

[JEB]

12. I wish that allowing oil drilling

was an empty symbolic gesture.

[DinahMoeHum]

13. From what I've read, "Denali" is the original name anyway.

So, I have no real problem with this re-re-naming.

[hifiguy]

14. Kinda like Leningrad reverting to St. Petersburg.

[DinahMoeHum]

35. You got it.

n/t

[kairos12]

16. I climbed it in 1988. It is spectacular by any name.

[tishaLA]

17. Palin Facebook Meltdown Coming in 3....2...1...

[kairos12]

22. She can now see Denali from her house.

[revmclaren]

26. She can see Elves, Goblins, and Orcs from her house ...

because she's _________(fill in the blank).

[roguevalley]

31. she should where she lives. :D

[Blue_In_AK]

68. She actually can see Denali from her house,

or she might have to step out from behind some trees, but it's definitely close to where she lives. I can't see it from my house, but I can see it from about a half mile from here. It's really, REALLY big.

[truebluegreen]

37. The cognitive dissonance and meltdown will be caused by the fact

that she agrees with her president...too funny. Ouch.

I've never met or heard any Alaskan call that mountain anything but Denali. And McKinley never set foot in Alaska, which means he's of no account from the git go (to the rugged individualists up there like Sarah and the First Dude).

[underpants]

54. She'll try to take credit for it

You just watch. Either that or she will go on a rant about having remember a whole knew name for it.

Everybody will laugh at her no matter what she does

[0rganism]

60. nah, he's just shoving unilateral decisions down the throats of American people

it doesn't matter if the American people want the decisions, or at least their results
no one likes having things shoved down their throats
hey, it worked for her bunch in 2010...

[dbackjon]

44. Since she has referred to it as Denali many times

I don't see a meltdown on it.

[underpants]

53. Denali is not just a mountain in Alaska

[pokerfan]

19. I've always called it Denali

I live in Washington State and have a cousin who lives in Alaska.

The mountain was originally known as Denali. Alaska requested that the mountain be recognized as "Denali," meaning "the great one" in the Athabaskan languages of the Alaska Natives living around the mountain, which is the common name in Alaska. Attempts by Alaska to have Mount McKinley's name changed by the federal government were blocked by members of the congressional delegation from Ohio, the homestate of mountain namesake William McKinley. In 2015 the Obama administration restored the name of the mountain to Denali.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denali%E2%80%93Mount_McKinley_naming_dispute

[WinkyDink]

20. Why can't places named after assassinated Presidents STAY named for them, in honor? MEANwhile,

we have Reagan International Airport.

[Action_Patrol]

28. No idea what you mean

I live very close to the airport and it will always be 'National' Airport to me. No idea who the crappy bronze statue out front is supposed to be of though.

[WinkyDink]

57. I have no idea what your point is.

[Action_Patrol]

63. Congratulations.

[Liberal In Texas]

43. Agreed.

You beat me to the post, I refuse to call it anything but National.

[Glassunion]

50. A few reasons

1. It already had a name
2. It wasn't named for an assassinated president
3. It already had a name
4. He already has a shit-ton of stuff named after him
5. It already had a name

[WinkyDink]

58. He eventually WAS assassinated as Pres., so why not leave it be?

[Glassunion]

61. The mountain was named as a political stunt by a prospector

ignoring a thousand years of what the natives called it. That'd be like a real estate agent naming a mountain in Oregon "Mt. Jindal". It's absurd.

[niyad]

65. perhaps because that isn't the name it has been known by for centuries?

[niyad]

66. as a matter of curiosity, how many things/places, etc., are named after lincoln (other than

the car and a city?)

[jberryhill]

52. It wasn't named after an assassinated President - or a president at all

It was called that by a prospector when McKinley was a presidential candidate, and for purely political purposes.

[WinkyDink]

59. Yeah, I READ that, but WE KNOW "the rest of the story," do we not?

[Hekate]

23. Great news!

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. confusing..don't you think.. renaming stuff

[roguevalley]

32. since no one up here calls it McKinley, no. :D

[Liberal_in_LA]

47. ..

[roguevalley]

48. HI, LIBERAL!

[Gothmog]

27. This is so very appropriate

[Jack Rabbit]

29. If the truth be told, it's always been Mt. Denali

. . . and McKinley was a lousy and corrupt President.

[csziggy]

33. Meanwhile I still get Cape Canaveral and Cape Kennedy mixed up

When I was growing up it was Canaveral for all the early space launches. Then it was renamed for President Kennedy after his assassination. Sometime later they renamed the physical location Canaveral and but retained the name for the Kennedy Space Center.

I'm still waiting for the world to stop calling that one mountain "Everest" and call it either Sagarmāthā or Chomolungma.

[1939]

42. Change the name of JFK Airport back to Idlewild

Poor Colonel Idlewild got disrespected back during the rage to rename everything after JFK.

[csziggy]

55. Yeah, I have no objection to that

Considering I have and likely never will fly into that airport.

The Space Center was much more appropriate to name for him. Changing the geographic location was stupid, though.

[niyad]

64. I have been calling it chomolungma ever since I learned that that is its name.

love explaining it to people.

[csziggy]

67. Excellent! n/t

[truebluegreen]

36. Caribou Barbie is gonna be in a quandary.

As a half-term former gov and resident of the great state of Alaska, I bet she approves, as do her former half-term constituents...but but but Obama!

heh

[mhatrw]

38. Denali is not just a mountain in Alaska.

[left-of-center2012]

39. Obama's hatred of white history?

I just saw about 5 minutes of a "news show" on a religious cable channel.
They said "some people" feel Obama is trying to destroy as much white history as possible before he leaves office.

That's when I switched to the Cartoon Network.

[Fearless]

40. You mean switched FROM the Cartoon Network?

[4lbs]

41. Denali sounds cooler. Plus it has some nice meaning in the computer world. :D nt

[Thunderbeast]

46. Let the trend continue in the Cascades

Denali is the proper name for Alaska's magnificent landmark.

Others in the Pacific Northwest have lived with equally misplaced names. Some named for American presidents, others for British military officers who never visited the western hemisphere.

I hope the beautiful original names are returned to these peaks as well.

Kulshan..........Mt. Baker
Tahoma..........Mt. Rainier
Loo Witt..........Mt. St. Helens
Klickitat..........Mt. Adams
Wy'East..........Mt. Hood
Seekseekqua...Mt. Jefferson

[WillowTree]

49. A matter of negative interest to me.

If it's what the locals are happy with, then I'm fine with it.

[Glassunion]

51. I'm still waiting for the checkmate move republicans are always crying about.

Step 1. Take over General Motors
Step 2. Rename National Monuments after GM vehicles
Step 3. ????
Step 4. Fascist 'Merica

[dbackjon]

56. Grand Escalante to be renamed Grand Escalade

Already renamed a lake after the Tahoe

[KamaAina]

62. Honestly, I thought that had been done years ago.