'In Alaska, It's Denali'

Alaska's 2 GOP senators introduce bill to reverse Trump order on mountain's name
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 14, 2025 1:16 PM CST
Murkowski: 'In Alaska, It's Denali'
Denali is visible from Pt. Woronzof as a person rides a bicycle on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.   (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Alaska's two senators, both Republicans, are trying to reverse one of President Trump's Day 1 executive orders. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has introduced a bill to change the federal government's name for America's tallest peak back to Denali from Mount McKinley. It was co-sponsored by Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is "more closely aligned with Trump," the Anchorage Daily News reports.

  • "Once you see it in person, and take in the majesty of its size and breathe in its cold air, you can understand why the Koyukon Athabascans referred to it as The Great One," Murkowski said in a statement. "This isn't a political issue—Alaskans from every walk of life have long been advocating for this mountain to be recognized by its true name."

  • The bill calls for the mountain to be called Denali, in any federal "reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record," Politico reports.
  • Denali, which means "great one" or "high one," is the name that has been used for thousands of years by Indigenous people in Alaska, the Guardian reports. It has officially been called Denali in Alaska since 1975, 40 years before Barack Obama changed it at the federal level.
  • In 1917, the federal government recognized the name Mount McKinley, the name given to it by a prospector in 1896, the year before William McKinley became the 25th president. He was assassinated by an anarchist in 1901.
  • In his executive order, Trump said McKinley "should be honored for his steadfast commitment to American greatness." He said the change under the Obama administration was "an affront to President McKinley's life, his achievements, and his sacrifice."
  • After Trump signed the order, the Alaska House voted 31-8 and the Alaska Senate voted 19-0 in favor of a resolution urging Trump to "maintain Denali as the official name for the tallest mountain in North America."
(More Denali stories.)

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