President Barack Obama has declared official the renaming of Alaska's Mount McKinley, North America's tallest mountain, to Denali. While Alaskans applauded the move, many folks in Ohio are not as thrilled.
According to Vanity Fair, Obama's declaration was met with a barrage of statements from Ohio politicians citing their disagreement and disappointment with the President's decision. The negative remarks all stem from the fact that the mountain's namesake, United States' 25th President William McKinley, was a native of Ohio.
House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohioan himself, issued a statement saying there is a reason why the mountain is called McKinley and it's because of the great legacy of the assassinated president. He also added he was very disappointed with Obama's declaration.
In a report by CNN, it was known that President Obama will be visiting Alaska as part of his administration's campaign to address global warming. The name change was said to be dedicated to Alaska's native people who are under threat of the adverse effects of climate change in the region.
The President made a statement on Saturday saying, "This is all real. This is happening to our fellow Americans right now."
The President is reported to stay in Alaska for three days before going back to a busy schedule in Washington. His main goal for the visit is to show the American public the effects of global warming and he wants to be hands-on in delivering the message. It will be a historical visit as Obama will be the first incumbent U.S. president to head out in the arctic.
The park where the mountain sits has already been named Denali since 1980, but the range itself is still registered in federal documents as McKinley. It is expected that the White House will exhaust all means to spread the word of the President's trip via social media.
