Backlash over Obama's renaming North America's highest peak from Mount McKinley to Denali

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Sen. Rob Portman, Speaker of the House John Boehner, Rep. Tim Ryan and Rep. Bob Gibbs have all condemned the renaming
Obama administration announced the decision on the eve of the president's visit to Alaska Monday
Alaskans have long called the 20,320-foot peak by its Althabascan name, Denali, which means 'the high one'
Mount McKinley National Park was renamed Denali National Park 35 years ago, but the peak retained the name Mount McKinley
William McKinley, a native of Niles, Ohio, was the 25th president of the United States who was assassinated in 1901

By Snejana Farberov For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 09:48 EST, 31 August 2015 | Updated: 11:44 EST, 31 August 2015

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A group of Ohio Republicans and Democrats have finally found something to agree on: they are vehemently opposed to President Barack Obama’s renaming of the country's highest peak from Mount McKinley to Denali.

The president is expected to make the long-awaited name change official during his trip to Alaska, where he is expected to arrive this afternoon to take part in a climate change summit.

Rep. Bob Gibbs, a Republican from Ohio, released a statement saying that for nearly a century, the majestic peak has been a testament to President William McKinley's 'years of service to our country.’

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What's in a name? Alaska's Mount McKinley, the tallest peak in North America, will soon bear a new name - Denali - but the change is not sitting well with some Ohio lawmakers

Renamer-in-chief: President Obama, pictured here boarding Air Force One en route to Anchorage, Alaska, announced the renaming on the eve of his trip to Alaska Monday

McKinley, a native of Ohio, was the 25th president of the United States. He was assassinated in September 1901, six months into his second term in office.

Congressman Gibbs slammed the Obama administration’s decision to rechristen the natural landmark 'Denali' as ‘constitutional overreach,' noting that the mountain was originally named in McKinley’s honor by the US Congress in 1917.

‘This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans, and I will be working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action,’ Gibbs said, according to Fox News.

Ohio's favorite son: William McKinley, a native of Niles, Ohio, was the 25th president of the United States who was assassinated in 1901

The outrage over the name swap was not limited to the GOP.

‘We must retain this national landmark's name in order to honor the legacy of this great American president and patriot,’ Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, whose district includes McKinley's hometown of Niles.

House Speaker John Boehner also joined the chorus of discontent over the peak’s rebranding, saying he was 'deeply disappointed.'

Sen Rob Portman, of Ohio, was equally up in arms about the renaming, which he cited as 'yet another example of the president going around Congress.'

Natives of Alaska have long called the 20,320-foot peak by its traditional Native American name, Denali, but until now efforts led by the state's lawmakers to have the name officially changed have been thwarted by their Ohio colleagues.

Even when Mount McKinley National Park was renamed Denali National Park 35 years ago, the peak retained the name Mount McKinley.

The Obama administration announced the name change Sunday, on the eve of the president's trip to Alaska. 'Denali' means 'the high one' in native Athabascan language.

The move elicited praise from Alaska Governor Bill Walker, a Republican turned independent, and Republican elected officials, who more typically are critical of an administration they see as hostile to the oil and gas interests of their state.

‘I'd like to thank the president for working with us to achieve this significant change to show honor, respect, and gratitude to the Athabascan people of Alaska,’ said Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who led the fight for the Denali name in Congress.

Russian settlers in the region called it Bolshaya Gora, or 'big mountain', before Alaska was sold to the US in 1867.

Bipartisan backlash: A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers, among them (clockwise) Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Speaker of the House John Boehner, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio and Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, have condemned the decision to rename the Alaska mountain 'Denali'

A prospector named William Dickey exploring the region renamed it in 1896 when he heard that Ohioan William McKinley, a champion of the gold standard, had won the Republican nomination for president.

McKinley, who never visited Alaska, occupied the White House from 1897 to his assassination in 1901, and the mountain was named after him in legislation signed by Woodrow Wilson in 1917.

However, it has been known as Denali in Alaska since 1975, when a push to have the federal government rename it ended after opposition from Ohio congressman Ralph Regula, who retired in 2009.

Secretary of the Interior Jewell said that the US Board on Geographic Names had been deferring to Congress since the 1970s but that there was a law that allowed her department to unilaterally change the name because the board did not act 'within a reasonable time'.

According to the US Geographic Names Information System, there is still a McKinley Creek in Alaska, as well as schools and parks named for him throughout the country.

While the president is not expected to climb the peak on this trip, his excursion north of the Arctic Circle will make Obama the first occupant of the White House to step foot in the Alaska Arctic.

Special landmark: Natives of Alaska have long called the 20,320-foot peak by its traditional Native American name, Denali, which means 'the high one' in Athabascan language

WHO WAS PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY?

Some Americans may know President William McKinley best for the mountain that was named in his honor.

However, the Ohio Republican achieved popularity and won two terms before his assassination led to the presidency of the more transformational Theodore Roosevelt.

Born in 1834, McKinley would serve in the Union army during the Civil War before opening a law office in Cleveland and entering Congress at age 34.

After serving as governor of Ohio, in 1896 he defeated Democrat Williams Jennings Bryant, who was also his challenger in the 1900 election.

While McKinley as a congressman was focused on domestic policies such as the now-abandoned gold standard, foreign policy occupied much of his presidency, according to WhiteHouse.gov.

Amid fighting between colonial Spain and Cuban revolutionaries, the US intervened and ended up quickly defeating the Spanish on the island as well as in Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Both of the later became American possessions after the war.

The 1898 war led to a boost in popularity for McKinley, who was able to successfully run again for office, again against Bryant, in 1900.

Shortly after winning his second term however, he was shot during a visit to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist of Polish descent, shot him twice with a revolver at the event. The president died eight days later and his vice president Roosevelt would take the Oval Office.

Besides the mountain named in his honor before he became president, William McKinley is best known for his assassination by an anarchist in 1901

The goal of Obama's three-day trip, which kicks off this afternoon in anchorage, is to call attention to the ways he says climate change is already damaging Alaska's stunning scenery.

By showcasing thawing permafrost, melting sea ice and eroding shorelines, Obama hopes to raise the sense of urgency to deal quickly to slow climate change in the U.S. and overseas.

Obama's declarations on climate change have been met with skepticism by leaders in a state that's heavily dependent on oil revenues that have fallen dramatically.

At the same time, environmental groups warned in the lead-up to Obama's trip that he hadn't done enough to protect Alaska and the climate. They took particular offense at his administration's move just a few weeks ago to give Royal Dutch Shell a final permit for expanded drilling off Alaska's northwest coast.

‘I share people's concerns about offshore drilling. I remember the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico all too well,’ Obama said in his weekly address. Yet he said the economy still had to rely on oil and gas while it transitions to cleaner renewable fuels, and said his administration was ensuring risks were minimized.

After touching down in Anchorage in the afternoon, Obama was to hold a listening session with Alaska Natives before speaking at the climate-focused Arctic summit, which involves leaders from Arctic and non-Arctic nations. Setting the stage on Sunday night, Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Alaska that climate change skeptics won't be remembered kindly.

Obama returns a salute as he walks off of Marine One to head to Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base Monday

Obama walks with Air Force Col. John Millard, commander, 89th Airlift Wing, to Air Force One. The president will spend three days in Alaska attending a climate change summit

All smiles: The president appeared to be in high spirits as he embarked on his trip, which will include a journey into the wilderness with survivalist Bear Grylls

No laughing matter: The goal of Obama's trip is to draw attention to Alaska's environmental challenges

‘I think the people who are slow to come to this table will be written up by historians as having been some of the folks most irresponsible in understanding and reacting to scientific analysis,’ Kerry said.

Obama and Kerry are intensely focused on a global climate treaty that nations hope to finalize in December, as the president works to secure his environmental legacy before leaving office.

The president has pledged a US cut in greenhouse gas emissions of up to 28 percent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, and planned to use the Alaska visit to press other nations to commit to similarly ambitious measures.

Following his speech, Obama was to embark on a boat tour Tuesday of Kenai Fjords National Park and to hike to Exit Glacier. The sprawling expanse of ice is retreating, in what environmentalists say is a dramatic sign of warming temperatures.

His visit continues Wednesday in Dillingham, in southwest Alaska, where Obama will meet with fishermen locked in an ongoing conflict with miners over plans to build a massive gold and copper mine in Bristol Bay, home to the world's largest salmon fishery.

Then he'll fly north to Kotzebue, a regional hub in the Alaska Arctic, where Obama will focus on the plight of rural, native villages where livelihoods are threatened by encroaching climate change.