# Legal question about Mt. McKinley/Denali name change **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531 "2015-08-31T19:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/41 "2015-09-01T18:18:04Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Which was, of course, itself renamed Denali National Park by Congress in 1980. Nitpick: Denali National Park & Preserve combined the Mt. McKinley National Park and the Denali National Monument. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/42 "2015-09-01T18:57:55Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Wow. Somebody’s got some butthurt here. No, I just have some awareness of how many North American peaks and natural monuments have been given stupid, even offensive Anglicized names even after longstanding aboriginal and native names were known. There may not be much we can do to undo the damage done to Native Americans, but remembering and respecting the names they used when Columbus was still shitting in his didies would be a good start. Unless, for every “Devil’s \_\_\_\_\_\_\_” around (meaning “Them savages think that’s a holy place, and they don’t even know Jesus!”) you’d like to add “Pederast” to the name of the nearest cathedral? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/43 "2015-09-01T19:29:15Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > I lived in AK for 5 years. We used Mt. Denali and Mt. McKinley interchangeably with no confusion. I predict, despite the official name change, folks will continue to do that, legal name not withstanding. [relevant but distracting interjection] I’m still not sure, like anyone I’ve asked, if that big tall building downtown is The World Trade Center or Freedom Tower or what. The subway stop is World Trade Center. [/] ETA: re-read thread. **sealcleaner** made similar relevant but distracting interjection, and just when ahead and did it. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/44 "2015-09-02T03:56:07Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Exactly. If Ohio’s politicians want something named after their native son, find something in your own danged state to rename! Or, let the state of Ohio just outright _buy_ that big mountain in Alaska, then name it what they want. They could even relocate it to Ohio if they want. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/45 "2015-09-02T09:56:19Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > Does this mean Mt. Rainier is up for a name change? > [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Is there a movement to change it? Yes, to Mt Tacoma or Tahoma. For inexplicable reasons, this idea is more popular in Tacoma than Seattle. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/46 "2015-09-02T13:25:36Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Or, let the state of Ohio just outright _buy_ that big mountain in Alaska, then name it what they want. They could even relocate it to Ohio if they want. Move a mountain from Alaska to Ohio? That solution is both silly and cost-prohibitive. \*Tectonics \*is the serious solution. Just crack the perimeter of Ohio down to the lower mantle, forming its own plate. Then have Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Lake Erie give Ohio a big squeeze, till it rises higher than Mt. Everest. If there are remaining funds, they should drill a big hole down the middle and turn it into a volcano. _Volcano McKinley_—that’s got a nice ring to it. If my calculations are off and Ohio sinks instead of rises, they can call it _Hellhole McKinley_. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/47 "2015-09-02T14:02:37Z")
That’s ridiculously complicated. Just sell Ohio to Central America and plop it down on any volcano vent you like. Presto. Mount/Volcano McK, and we get rid of the biggest PITA state in politics (after maybe New Hampshuh.) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/48 "2015-09-02T15:16:25Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > That’s not a mountain. That’s a speed bump. Not just “a” speedbump. The McKinley Speedbump. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/49 "2015-09-02T18:42:47Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Other than that some folks have to get over the horrible fact that Obama Did It! I figure that if The Usual Suspects are going to piss and moan anyway, he might as well give them something to piss and moan about. “Alinksy National Airport” has a ring to it, dontcha think? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/50 "2015-09-02T18:48:36Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I figure that if The Usual Suspects are going to piss and moan anyway, he might as well give them something to piss and moan about. “Alinksy National Airport” has a ring to it, dontcha think? And from there, it’s a quick ride down the Jeremiah Wright Expressway to Ayers National Park. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/51 "2015-09-02T19:55:26Z")
> [@BlueOhio](#): > > As an Ohioan, I couldn’t care less that they renamed it. Me either. There are something like 6 or 7 presidents from Ohio depending how you count them and none of them were spectacular President. Grant was a decent General but not much to speak of as President. McKinley, I’ve forgotten long ago that he was from Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/52 "2015-09-02T20:05:33Z")
Disagree about Grant. He is overshadowed, and justly, by Lincoln; he may have been too easygoing on subordinates, but the caricature of him as a disengaged drunk is just that. He believed strongly in the idea that blacks deserved the same rights as whites, and sent troops to the south to break the KKK. But there were limits to what he could do, the country wasn’t eager to re-open hostilities. And he was what passed for a liberal on Native American rights. Not great, but unjustly maligned. As for Denali, I thought it had been renamed years ago. I guess I was confused by the park renaming. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/53 "2015-09-02T20:24:21Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And from there, it’s a quick ride down the Jeremiah Wright Expressway to Ayers National Park. Or for a real “fuck you”, change the name of Mt. Denali/McKinley to Mt. Czolgosz. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/54 "2015-09-02T20:47:01Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > McKinley, I’ve forgotten long ago that he was from Ohio. First five words were enough. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/55 "2015-09-02T21:05:32Z")
Saw a Facebook thing today with a photo of President McKinley, capioned: Hero to millions of Republicans, as of yesterday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531.md?page=2)