The real question is this: Why was it named Mount McKinley in the first place?
Apparently, North America’s highest peak was named by gold prospector William Dickey in honor of William McKinley, who had just been nominated for the presidency in 1896. McKinley supported a gold standard for the United States Treasury, and when you are a gold prospector, that is worthy of your support. So Dickey named the 20,310-foot Alaskan mountain in honor of McKinley, happily ignoring the fact that the presidential candidate apparently never visited Alaska or acknowledged the mountain in any way.
Well, the name stuck. And when McKinley was elected president, elected a second time, and then assassinated early in his second term, sentiment arose suggesting he should be honored in some fashion. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed a law establishing Mount McKinley National Park and formally establishing the name of the mountain.
All of this is relevant as President Barack Obama announced last week that he has instructed the U.S. Department of the Interior to change the name of the mountain to Denali, which is what the Athabaskans — Alaskan natives — called it for centuries before William McKinley ever pondered the gold standard. Given the way things work in the nation’s capital, this has raised some hackles. “Mount McKinley … has held the name of our nation’s 25th president for over 100 years,” Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, said. “This landmark is a testament to his countless years of service to our country.”