Opinion: Are we really having another conversation about Denali vs. McKinley?

I guess it makes sense that a Republican president who knows nothing about Alaska (Donald Trump) believes our tallest mountain should be named after a Republican president who never set foot in Alaska (William McKinley). I just can’t wrap my head around why an Alaskan would agree.

But here comes Jim Lieb, parroting Trump’s clueless proposal to rename Denali after William McKinley (“Alaskans should vote on McKinley vs. Denali,” Dec. 31). Is a Native American name not good enough for these two?

Lieb shares some “additional information” to convince us he and Trump are right. Problem is, most of Lieb’s information is bad information, provided without sources.

McKinley did say, in his 1897 inaugural address, that: “We want no wars of conquest; we must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression.” But a year later he led us into a war of territorial aggression against Spain. The self-inflicted explosion of a battleship, the U.S.S. Maine, in Cuban waters gave him the excuse he needed to pick a fight. Spain, desperate to avoid a war with the United States, agreed to an armistice. McKinley neglected to tell that to Congress because he hoped, by going to war, to acquire some of Spain’s overseas territories. He ultimately annexed the Philippine Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico and, for good measure, the Hawaiian Islands. Under McKinley, America became a global colonial power. Does Lieb really think we should name the mountain after someone who promised peace but delivered war and colonial oppression?

Lieb claims that many political historians consider McKinley one of the best presidents, again without providing any evidence. Wikipedia summarizes many such surveys of historians, and McKinley never makes it into the top 10. Does Lieb really want to name our singular and magnificent peak after a mediocre president?

Lieb’s most specious argument is that because some of the Native groups living near the mountain used other names for Denali, then it should be named after a politician from Ohio who never visited our state. Does Lieb really believe a name chosen by a white fella in 1897 should trump a name used by Koyukon people for thousands of years just because they didn’t publish it in a newspaper before he did?

In 1975 the Alaska Legislature officially changed the mountain’s name, for state purposes, to Denali, and a Republican governor, Jay Hammond, forwarded their recommendation to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names. Ohio politicians thwarted that change for 40 years despite perennial attempts by Alaska’s politicians. President Barack Obama officially restored the name Denali in 2015.

Lieb tells us Ohioans were greatly insulted when a local name for our tallest peak (20,310 feet) superseded the name of one of their politicians. I wonder if they would be equally insulted if Alaskans demanded that Ohio’s highest peak, Campbell Hill (1,549 feet), be named after one of our politicians … let’s say Sarah Palin. At least Palin has been to Ohio. But of course that would be inappropriate on so many levels that I would never suggest such a thing.

Lieb suggests that Alaskans vote on the name. So he has provided a bunch of misinformation to misinform our decision. Sound familiar? Frankly, I’m surprised Trump hasn’t proposed naming the mountain after himself.

Rick Sinnott is a writer and retired Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist.

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