365 Days of Claims
Claim #257 of 365
True but Misleading high confidence

The claim is factually accurate, but its framing creates a misleading impression.

culture-warindigenous-rightsnamingsymbolism

The Claim

Reinstated the name “Mount McKinley” to North America’s highest peak.

The Claim, Unpacked

What is literally being asserted?

That the Trump administration changed the federal name of the highest peak in North America from Denali back to Mount McKinley.

What is being implied but not asserted?

The word “reinstated” frames the prior name — Mount McKinley — as the legitimate one, and the decade-long “Denali” designation as an aberration that needed correcting. The framing implies this is a restoration of proper order. The phrase “North America’s highest peak” emphasizes grandeur in a way that suggests the renaming is itself a grand accomplishment.

What is conspicuously absent?

Everything that matters. The claim omits: (1) that “Denali” is the Koyukon Athabascan name for the mountain, used by Alaska Native peoples for thousands of years before European contact; (2) that the “McKinley” name was applied in 1896 by a gold prospector for partisan political reasons — to celebrate a presidential candidate who supported the gold standard — and that William McKinley never visited Alaska and had no connection to the mountain; (3) that Alaska officially recognized the name Denali in 1975 and has used it as the state-recognized name for 50 years; (4) that the Alaska State Legislature passed a bipartisan resolution (50-8 combined, including a unanimous state Senate) opposing the federal name change; (5) that both of Alaska’s Republican U.S. Senators — Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan — oppose the renaming and have introduced legislation to restore Denali; (6) that the Tanana Chiefs Conference, Alaska Federation of Natives, and other Alaska Native organizations have condemned the renaming; and (7) that the 2015 Obama-era change to Denali was itself the culmination of a 40-year effort by Alaskans to correct a historical injustice.

Evidence Assessment

Established Facts

President Trump signed Executive Order 14172, “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,” on January 20, 2025, his first day in office. The order directed the Secretary of the Interior to “reinstate the name ‘Mount McKinley’” within 30 days and update the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). On January 24, 2025, the Department of the Interior announced the names were “effective immediately for federal use.” Secretary Doug Burgum issued a formal order on February 14, 2025, directing the USGS to update GNIS, retroactive to January 20. The mountain’s federal designation is now Mount McKinley. The national park retains the name Denali National Park and Preserve. 1

The name “Denali” is the Koyukon Athabascan word for the mountain, meaning “the high one” or “the great one,” and has been used by Alaska’s indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The Koyukon Athabascan people and their ancestors have lived in Alaska’s interior for more than 10,000 years. Indigenous names for the mountain exist in at least seven different Alaskan languages. The Tanana Chiefs Conference, representing 42 interior Alaska tribal communities, has supported recognition of the Denali name since 1975. 2

The name “Mount McKinley” was applied in 1896 by gold prospector William A. Dickey, who named it after presidential candidate William McKinley because McKinley supported the gold standard. Dickey, a Princeton-educated Seattleite, published his account in the New York Sun on January 24, 1897, in an article titled “Discoveries in Alaska.” McKinley was the 25th President of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. He never visited Alaska and had no personal, political, or historical connection to the mountain. The federal government adopted the name in 1917 when establishing Mount McKinley National Park. 3

Alaska officially recognized the name Denali in 1975, and the state has used that name continuously for 50 years. The Alaska State Board on Geographic Names changed the mountain’s name to Denali in 1975, and the state legislature formally petitioned the federal Board on Geographic Names to adopt the change. For nearly four decades (1975-2015), Ohio’s congressional delegation blocked federal action by repeatedly introducing legislation to retain “Mount McKinley in perpetuity,” exploiting a BGN policy of deferring decisions on congressionally debated issues. In 2015, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell exercised her authority under a 1947 federal law (43 U.S.C. 364) to rename the mountain Denali, citing the BGN’s failure to act on Alaska’s request within a “reasonable” time — 40 years. 4

The Alaska State Legislature passed a bipartisan joint resolution opposing the federal name change. The Alaska House initially approved House Joint Resolution 4 on January 27, 2025, by a 28-10 vote. After reconsideration, the final House vote was 31-8, with multiple Republicans joining the bipartisan majority. The Alaska Senate passed it unanimously, 19-0, on February 7, 2025. The combined final vote was 50-8 — an overwhelming bipartisan rejection by the elected representatives of the state that contains the mountain. 5

Both of Alaska’s Republican U.S. Senators oppose the renaming and have introduced federal legislation to restore the Denali designation. Senator Lisa Murkowski introduced legislation in February 2025 to designate the mountain as “Denali” in all U.S. laws, maps, regulations, and records, co-sponsored by Senator Dan Sullivan. Sullivan stated: “The naming rights already went to the Alaska Native ancestors of my wife and daughters’ people. The great Athabaskan people, patriotic people, 10,000 years ago named it Denali, so I like that name.” As of December 2025, Murkowski also secured a provision in the Senate Interior Department appropriations bill to address the naming dispute. The National Park Service formally opposes the Murkowski bill, citing conflict with the executive order. 6

Strong Inferences

The renaming is part of a broader pattern of culture-war symbolism disguised as governance. EO 14172 also renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” (item 259). Both name changes were announced on Inauguration Day as headline-generating gestures with no policy substance. The EO was bundled with the military base re-renamings (items 209, 210), which used the same strategy of reversing Obama-era or congressionally mandated name changes. This pattern — reversing predecessors’ symbolic actions while claiming it as a “win” — is a recurring feature of the 365 list. 7

The EO’s promise to work with Alaska Native entities on alternative landmark names has produced no visible results. Section 4 of EO 14172 directs the Interior Secretary to “work with Alaska Native entities and State and local organizations to adopt names for landmarks to honor the history and culture of the Alaskan people.” As of March 2026, no such consultations or designations have been publicly announced. The provision appears to have been included as a gesture to offset the erasure of the Koyukon Athabascan name from the mountain itself. 8

What the Evidence Shows

The factual core of this claim is straightforward: the administration did change the federal name from Denali to Mount McKinley via Executive Order 14172 on January 20, 2025, and the GNIS was updated by February 2025. This happened. The claim is literally accurate.

But “reinstated” is doing heavy rhetorical lifting. What was “reinstated” was a name imposed in 1896 by a gold prospector for partisan reasons, honoring a president from Ohio who never set foot in Alaska. What was displaced was the Koyukon Athabascan name that Alaska’s indigenous peoples had used for thousands of years — a name that Alaska itself had officially recognized for half a century. The framing presents the erasure of an indigenous name as a restoration of proper order, when the actual history runs in exactly the opposite direction.

The political dynamics are striking. This is not a case where the federal government aligned with the wishes of the state that contains the geographic feature. The state of Alaska — through its legislature (50-8), its Republican senators, its tribal organizations, and its Alaska Native communities — overwhelmingly opposes the federal name change. The renaming was imposed on Alaska from Washington by a president from Florida, reversing a decision that had been championed by Alaskans for decades. The EO’s stated rationale — honoring McKinley’s “achievements” and “sacrifice” — has no geographic logic. McKinley can be honored in Ohio, where he lived and governed. The question is why his name should override the indigenous name on a mountain 4,000 miles from his home state, against the wishes of the people who actually live there.

The deeper pattern is the same one seen in items 209 and 210 (the military base re-renamings): symbolic reversals of Obama-era or congressionally mandated changes, presented as governance accomplishments. No policy was enacted. No service was delivered. No problem was solved. The GNIS entry was updated, and the 365 list gained another line item.

The Bottom Line

Steel-man acknowledgment: The claim is factually accurate. The administration did change the federal name, and it has the legal authority to do so through the Interior Secretary’s powers over the Board on Geographic Names. William McKinley was a consequential president whose assassination was tragic, and the mountain bore his name federally from 1917 to 2015.

But listing this as a presidential accomplishment requires ignoring that the people of Alaska — the state where the mountain is located — overwhelmingly rejected the change. It requires treating the erasure of a 10,000-year-old indigenous name as a “win.” It requires pretending that a gold prospector’s 1896 political gesture is more legitimate than the Koyukon Athabascan name that predates European contact by millennia. And it requires the belief that updating a database entry constitutes “making government work for the people” — even when the people most affected don’t want it. The claim is true. The “win” is manufactured symbolism imposed over the objections of Alaska’s own citizens, legislature, and congressional delegation.

Footnotes

  1. White House, “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,” Executive Order 14172, January 20, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness/; Department of the Interior, “Interior Department Advances Restoration of Historic Names Honoring American Greatness,” January 24, 2025. https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-advances-restoration-historic-names-honoring-american-greatness ↩

  2. USGS, “Old Name Officially Returns to Nation’s Highest Peak,” 2015. https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/old-name-officially-returns-nations-highest-peak; Native News Online, “Alaska Native Orgs, Senator Murkowski Decry Trump’s Denali Move,” January 2025. https://nativenewsonline.net/environment/misguided-alaska-native-orgs-senator-lisa-murkowski-decry-trump-s-denali-move; Tanana Chiefs Conference, “TCC Responds to Executive Orders from the Trump Administration,” January 2025. https://www.tananachiefs.org/tcc-responds-to-executive-orders-from-the-trump-administration-and-their-impact-on-the-region/ ↩

  3. History.com, “Why the Name of Alaska’s Peak Changed From Mt. McKinley to Denali.” https://www.history.com/articles/denali-mckinley-mountain-alaska-naming; USGS, “Old Name Officially Returns to Nation’s Highest Peak,” 2015. https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/old-name-officially-returns-nations-highest-peak ↩

  4. USGS, “Old Name Officially Returns to Nation’s Highest Peak,” 2015. https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/old-name-officially-returns-nations-highest-peak; Alaska Public Media, “Alaska Legislature Formally Opposes Trump’s Renaming of Denali as Mt. McKinley,” February 7, 2025. https://alaskapublic.org/news/politics/alaska-legislature/2025-02-07/alaska-legislature-formally-opposes-trumps-renaming-of-denali-as-mt-mckinley ↩

  5. Alaska Public Media, “Alaska Legislature Formally Opposes Trump’s Renaming of Denali as Mt. McKinley,” February 7, 2025. https://alaskapublic.org/news/politics/alaska-legislature/2025-02-07/alaska-legislature-formally-opposes-trumps-renaming-of-denali-as-mt-mckinley ↩

  6. Senator Lisa Murkowski, “Murkowski: It’s Denali,” February 13, 2025. https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-its-denali; NOTUS, “Nearly a Year After Trump’s ‘Mount McKinley’ Name Change, Alaska Republicans Are Still Fighting for ‘Denali,’” December 2025. https://www.notus.org/senate/denali-mount-mckinley-murkowski-sullivan-alaska ↩

  7. White House, Executive Order 14172, January 20, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness/; NPR, “President Trump Promises to Rename the Mountain Denali as Mount McKinley,” January 22, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/22/nx-s1-5269660/president-trump-promises-to-rename-the-mountain-denali-as-mount-mckinley ↩

  8. White House, Executive Order 14172, Section 4, January 20, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness/ ↩