House Speaker John Boehner said he is “deeply disappointed” in President Obama’s plan to rename Alaska’s Mount McKinley “Mt. Denali,” joining a chorus of Republican lawmakers, even though the change has roots in the Republican Party.
The peak, which is the tallest in North America, was named after the nation’s 25th president and former Ohio governor, William McKinley, in 1896.
Boehner, from Ohio, joined other lawmakers from his state in condemning the move, which Obama announced Sunday.
“There is a reason President McKinley’s name has served atop the highest peak in North America for more than 100 years, and that is because it is a testament to his great legacy,” Boehner said in a statement Monday. “McKinley served our country with distinction during the Civil War as a member of the Army. He made a difference for his constituents and his state as a member of the House of Representatives and as governor of the great state of Ohio. And he led this nation to prosperity and victory in the Spanish-American War as the 25th president of the United States. I’m deeply disappointed in this decision.”
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, also argued against Obama’s decision in a series of tweets late Sunday.
“Pres. McKinley was a proud Ohioan, and the mountain was named after him, as a way to remember his rich legacy after his assassination,” he wrote. “This decision by the administration is yet another example of the president going around Congress.”
But the move to remain the mountain originates with a powerful Senate Republican.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sponsored a bill in June to rename the mountain “Denali,” which is its native name and means “high one.”
According to Murkowski, the state banished the “McKinley” name in 1975 in favor calling the mountain “Denali” but it has not yet been made official by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
Murkowski said Denali name “holds longstanding significance,” for Alaskans, and she praised Obama’s decision.
